Misleading comment about single_copy, and some bikeshedding
Hi,
/*
* GatherMergePath runs several copies of a plan in parallel and collects
* the results, preserving their common sort order. For gather merge, the
* parallel leader always executes the plan too, so we don't need single_copy.
*/
typedef struct GatherMergePath
The second sentence is not true as of commit e5253fdc, and the
attached patch removes it.
Even before that commit, the comment was a bit circular: the reason
GatherMergePath doesn't need a single_copy field is because
force_parallel_mode specifically means "try to stick a Gather node on
top in a test mode with one worker and no leader participation", and
this isn't a Gather node.
Hmm. I wonder if we should rename force_parallel_mode to
force_gather_node in v13. The current name has always seemed slightly
misleading to me; it sounds like some kind of turbo boost button but
really it's a developer-only test mode. Also, does it belong under
DEVELOPER_OPTIONS instead of QUERY_TUNING_OTHER? I'm also wondering
if the variable single_copy would be better named
no_leader_participation or single_participant. I find "copy" a
slightly strange way to refer to the number of copies *allowed to
run*, but maybe that's just me.
--
Thomas Munro
https://enterprisedb.com
Attachments:
0001-Remove-misleading-comment-from-pathnodes.h.patchapplication/octet-stream; name=0001-Remove-misleading-comment-from-pathnodes.h.patchDownload+1-3
Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com> writes:
Hmm. I wonder if we should rename force_parallel_mode to
force_gather_node in v13. The current name has always seemed slightly
misleading to me; it sounds like some kind of turbo boost button but
really it's a developer-only test mode. Also, does it belong under
DEVELOPER_OPTIONS instead of QUERY_TUNING_OTHER? I'm also wondering
if the variable single_copy would be better named
no_leader_participation or single_participant. I find "copy" a
slightly strange way to refer to the number of copies *allowed to
run*, but maybe that's just me.
FWIW, I agree 100% that these names are opaque. I don't know if your
suggestions are the best we can do, but they each seem like improvements.
And yes, force_parallel_mode should be under DEVELOPER_OPTIONS; it's a
performance-losing test option.
regards, tom lane