Add options to control whether VACUUM runs vac_update_datfrozenxid.

VACUUM normally ends by running vac_update_datfrozenxid(), which
requires a scan of pg_class.  Therefore, if one attempts to vacuum a
database one table at a time --- as vacuumdb has done since v12 ---
we will spend O(N^2) time in vac_update_datfrozenxid().  That causes
serious performance problems in databases with tens of thousands of
tables, and indeed the effect is measurable with only a few hundred.
To add insult to injury, only one process can run
vac_update_datfrozenxid at the same time per DB, so this behavior
largely defeats vacuumdb's -j option.

Hence, invent options SKIP_DATABASE_STATS and ONLY_DATABASE_STATS
to allow applications to postpone vac_update_datfrozenxid() until the
end of a series of VACUUM requests, and teach vacuumdb to use them.

Per bug #17717 from Gunnar L.  Sadly, this answer doesn't seem
like something we'd consider back-patching, so the performance
problem will remain in v12-v15.

Tom Lane and Nathan Bossart

Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/17717-6c50eb1c7d23a886@postgresql.org

1 files changed, 2 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/include/commands/vacuum.h b/src/include/commands/vacuum.h
index 5efb9423683..689dbb77024 100644
--- a/src/include/commands/vacuum.h
+++ b/src/include/commands/vacuum.h
@@ -188,6 +188,8 @@ typedef struct VacAttrStats
 #define VACOPT_SKIP_LOCKED 0x20 /* skip if cannot get lock */
 #define VACOPT_PROCESS_TOAST 0x40	/* process the TOAST table, if any */
 #define VACOPT_DISABLE_PAGE_SKIPPING 0x80	/* don't skip any pages */
+#define VACOPT_SKIP_DATABASE_STATS 0x100	/* skip vac_update_datfrozenxid() */
+#define VACOPT_ONLY_DATABASE_STATS 0x200	/* only vac_update_datfrozenxid() */
 
 /*
  * Values used by index_cleanup and truncate params.