Re: HOT patch, missing things

Heikki Linnakangas wrote:
> There's three things clearly missing in the patch:
>
> 1. HOT updates on tables with expression or partial indexes. Hasn't been
> done yet because it should be pretty straightforward and we've had more
> important things to do. Though not critical, should be finished before
> release in my opinion.

sounds like a rather common use case to me and I think this should
really be in a patch that is accepted for 8.3...

>
> 2. Pointer swinging. At the moment, after a row is HOT updated, the only
> way to get rid of the redirecting line pointer is to run VACUUM FULL or
> CLUSTER (or delete or cold update the row and vacuum). If we want to
> implement pointer swinging before release, we have to get started now.
> If we're happy to release without it and address the issue in later
> releases if it seems important, we need to make a conscious decision on
> that, now. I personally think we can release without it.

hmm - I don't really understand most of the stuff behind HOT but does
this mean that VACUUM FULL (or CLUSTER) is becoming a recommended or
even required routine maintenance task for people using HOT ?

Stefan