Again fix initialization of auto-tuned effective_cache_size.

The previous method was overly complex and underly correct; in particular,
by assigning the default value with PGC_S_OVERRIDE, it prevented later
attempts to change the setting in postgresql.conf, as noted by Jeff Janes.
We should just assign the default value with source PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT,
which will have the desired priority relative to the boot_val as well as
user-set values.

There is still a gap in this method: if there's an explicit assignment of
effective_cache_size = -1 in the postgresql.conf file, and that assignment
appears before shared_buffers is assigned, the code will substitute 4 times
the bootstrap default for shared_buffers, and that value will then persist
(since it will have source PGC_S_FILE).  I don't see any very nice way
to avoid that though, and it's not a case to be expected in practice.
The existing comments in guc-file.l look forward to a redesign of the
DYNAMIC_DEFAULT mechanism; if that ever happens, we should consider this
case as one of the things we'd like to improve.

diff --git a/src/backend/optimizer/path/costsize.c b/src/backend/optimizer/path/costsize.c
index 9bca96849d31f4ff7ce0f6d37849ac276ef6823a..326794acb85a3af8525288c6ec1fab9b150688cb 100644 (file)
--- a/src/backend/optimizer/path/costsize.c
+++ b/src/backend/optimizer/path/costsize.c
@@ -4107,16 +4107,7 @@ check_effective_cache_size(int *newval, void **extra, GucSource source)
    if (*newval <= 0)
    {
        /*
-        * If we haven't yet changed the initial default of -1, just let it
-        * be.  We'll fix it later on during GUC initialization, when
-        * set_default_effective_cache_size is called.  (If we try to do it
-        * immediately, we may not be looking at the final value of NBuffers.)
-        */
-       if (effective_cache_size == -1)
-           return true;
-
-       /*
-        * Otherwise, substitute the auto-tune value, being wary of overflow.
+        * Substitute the auto-tune value, being wary of overflow.
         */
        if (NBuffers < INT_MAX / 4)
            *newval = NBuffers * 4;
@@ -4130,22 +4121,22 @@ check_effective_cache_size(int *newval, void **extra, GucSource source)
 }
 
 /*
- * initialize effective_cache_size at the end of GUC startup
+ * Initialize effective_cache_size at the end of GUC startup, or when
+ * a setting in postgresql.conf is removed.
+ *
+ * Note: check_effective_cache_size() will have been called when the boot_val
+ * was installed, but we will not have known the final value of NBuffers at
+ * that time, which is why this has to be called at the end of GUC startup.
  */
 void
 set_default_effective_cache_size(void)
 {
    /*
-    * If the value of effective_cache_size is still -1 (or zero), replace it
-    * with the auto-tune value.
+    * We let check_effective_cache_size() compute the actual setting.  Note
+    * that this call is a no-op if the user has supplied a setting (since
+    * that will have a higher priority than PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT).
     */
-   if (effective_cache_size <= 0)
-   {
-       /* disable the short-circuit in check_effective_cache_size */
-       effective_cache_size = 0;
-       /* and let check_effective_cache_size() compute the setting */
-       SetConfigOption("effective_cache_size", "-1",
-                       PGC_POSTMASTER, PGC_S_OVERRIDE);
-   }
+   SetConfigOption("effective_cache_size", "-1",
+                   PGC_POSTMASTER, PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT);
    Assert(effective_cache_size > 0);
 }

diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc-file.l b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc-file.l
index 5d830c79d0155effd8979af2e8ec2059b5be11f5..ee3804052153654a01421a138b91040bf9d0f197 100644 (file)
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc-file.l
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc-file.l
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ ProcessConfigFile(GucContext context)
    {
        InitializeGUCOptionsFromEnvironment();
        pg_timezone_abbrev_initialize();
+       set_default_effective_cache_size();
        /* this selects SQL_ASCII in processes not connected to a database */
        SetConfigOption("client_encoding", GetDatabaseEncodingName(),
                        PGC_BACKEND, PGC_S_DYNAMIC_DEFAULT);