Re: 'locking' the SELECTs based on indices...

On Wed, 2006-02-22 at 13:58 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> Mario Splivalo <mario(dot)splivalo(at)mobart(dot)hr> writes:
> > Now, when I do this from one connection (psql shell, for instance):
>
> > [A]BEGIN TRANSACTION;
> > [A]SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 FOR UPDATE;
>
> > and then, from another psql i do:
> > [B]SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 FOR UPDATE
>
> > the second SELECT will wait untill I rollback or commit first
> > transaction. That is cool.
>
> > But, if I do second SELECT like this:
>
> > [C]SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 2 FOR UPDATE
>
> > I will get the rows.
>
> Well, of course. Why would you want something different? Why do you
> think the table's indexes should have anything to do with it?
>
> If you want a full-table lock then some form of LOCK TABLE seems like
> the proper answer. SELECT FOR UPDATE is designed to lock the specified
> rows, no more.

Hm. But, is there a way to have just a part of table locked, for
instance:

BEGIN;
SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 AND code_value = 'abla' FOR UPDATE

and then, in second connection:

BEGIN;
SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 AND code_value = 'eble' FOR UPDATE

I'd like to have second SELECT to hold. Now I'm doing it like this:

First connection:
BEGIN;
SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 FOR UPDATE -- this is just for lock
SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 AND code_value = 'abla' FOR UPDATE
...

Second connection:
BEGIN;
SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 FOR UPDATE -- here it'll wait
SELECT * FROM bla WHERE code_id = 1 AND code_value = 'eble' FOR UPDATE

Since I'm actually doing this inside of a function, i'll use PERFORM for
the first select. The problem is that SELECT COUNT(*) FROM bla WHERE
code_id = 1 will return some 10M rows (on live data, my test data has
some 100k rows, and I don't see any performance impact - yet).

Is this a right way to go?

> > If I erase the index bla_idx1, then [C] select will wait, same as [B]
> > select will wait.
>
> I don't think so. If it does, it's a bug; please provide a reproducible
> test case.
>

It's not a bug. My high fever must have something to do with it. I just
tried it, removed the index, and [C] isn't waiting.

Mike