Received: from malur.postgresql.org ([217.196.149.56]) by arkaria.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1aWrJN-0004ld-4o for pgsql-hackers@arkaria.postgresql.org; Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:05:57 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=postgresql.org) by malur.postgresql.org with smtp (Exim 4.84) (envelope-from ) id 1aWrJM-0001L4-JT for pgsql-hackers@arkaria.postgresql.org; Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:05:56 +0000 Received: from makus.postgresql.org ([2001:4800:1501:1::229]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.84) (envelope-from ) id 1aWrJL-0001Ku-SY; Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:05:56 +0000 Received: from out.smtp-auth.no-ip.com ([8.23.224.60]) by makus.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.84) (envelope-from ) id 1aWrJI-0002CS-MY; Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:05:54 +0000 X-No-IP: alvh.no-ip.org@noip-smtp X-Report-Spam-To: abuse@no-ip.com Received: from alvin.alvh.no-ip.org (unknown [200.83.202.40]) (Authenticated sender: alvh.no-ip.org@noip-smtp) by smtp-auth.no-ip.com (Postfix) with ESMTPA id 500CA401125; Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:05:47 -0800 (PST) Received: by alvin.alvh.no-ip.org (Postfix, from userid 1000) id F0606584; Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:05:44 -0300 (CLT) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:05:44 -0300 From: Alvaro Herrera To: Peter Geoghegan Cc: Tom Lane , =?utf-8?B?5aSn5aGa5oay5Y+4?= , pgsql-docs@postgresql.org, Pg Hackers Subject: Re: [DOCS] The number of bytes is stored in index_size of pgstatindex() ? Message-ID: <20160219200544.GA137983@alvherre.pgsql> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) X-Pg-Spam-Score: -1.1 (-) List-Archive: List-Help: List-ID: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Mailing-List: pgsql-hackers Precedence: bulk Sender: pgsql-hackers-owner@postgresql.org Peter Geoghegan wrote: > On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 4:53 PM, Tom Lane wrote: > >> there are usage patterns where half-dead pages might accumulate. > > > > Other than a usage pattern of "randomly SIGKILL backends every few > > seconds", I don't see how that would happen. > > I meant where pages could accumulate without being recycled. But those pages are supposed to be used as the index grows. So unless they are forgotten by the FSM, they shouldn't accumulate. (Except where the table doesn't grow but only shrinks, so there's no need for new index pages, but I don't think that's an interesting case.) -- Álvaro Herrera http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/ PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers