Re: pg_terminate_backend() issues

Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> writes:
> Tom Lane wrote:
>> The closest thing I can think of to an automated test is to run repeated
>> sets of the parallel regression tests, and each time SIGTERM a randomly
>> chosen backend at a randomly chosen time. Then see if anything "funny"

> Yep, that was my plan, plus running the parallel regression tests you
> get the possibility of >2 backends.

I was intentionally suggesting only one kill per test cycle. Multiple
kills will probably create an O(N^2) explosion in the set of possible
downstream-failure deltas. I doubt you'd really get any improvement
in testing coverage to justify the much larger amount of hand validation
needed.

It also strikes me that you could make some simple alterations to the
regression tests to reduce the set of observable downstream deltas.
For example, anyplace where a test loads a table with successive INSERTs
and that table is used by later tests, wrap the INSERT sequence with
BEGIN/END. Then there is only one possible downstream delta (empty
table) and not N different possibilities for an N-row table.

regards, tom lane