Re: generalizing the planner knobs

On Thu, Dec 01, 2005 at 12:32:12PM -0500, Qingqing Zhou wrote:
>
> "Neil Conway" <neilc(at)samurai(dot)com> wrote
> >
> > This would also be useful when diagnosing bad query plans: for example,
> > setting enable_seqscan=false often causes the planner to disregard the
> > use of *any* sequential scan, anywhere in the plan. The ability to
> > slightly bump up the cost of particular operations would allow more
> > alternative plans to be examined.
> >
>
> This method also has the problem of "enable_seqscan=false" in some
> situations. I would vote we implement the final general solution like query
> plan hints directly.

BTW, there's another end to the 'enable_seqscan=false' problem... it
sometimes doesn't work! Last I looked, enable_seqscan=false only added a
fixed overhead cost to a seqscan (1000000 IIRC). The problem is, some
queries will produce estimates for other methodes that are more
expensive than a seqscan even with the added burden. If instead of
adding a fixed amount enable_seqscan=false multiplied by some amount
then this would probably be impossible to occur.

(And before someone asks, no, I don't remember which query was actually
faster...)
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com
Pervasive Software http://pervasive.com work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf cell: 512-569-9461