Subject: [PATCH v4 2/4] Add GUC to specify non-transactional statistics flush interval

From: Bertrand Drouvot <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 07:53:13 +0000

Adding pgstat_flush_interval, a new GUC to set the interval between flushes of
non-transactional statistics.
---
 doc/src/sgml/config.sgml                      | 32 +++++++++++++++++++
 src/backend/storage/lmgr/proc.c               |  2 +-
 src/backend/tcop/postgres.c                   |  2 +-
 src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c           | 15 +++++++++
 src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c             |  2 +-
 src/backend/utils/misc/guc_parameters.dat     | 10 ++++++
 src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample |  1 +
 src/include/pgstat.h                          |  1 +
 src/include/utils/guc_hooks.h                 |  1 +
 9 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
  55.5% doc/src/sgml/
   5.3% src/backend/storage/lmgr/
  12.6% src/backend/utils/activity/
   5.3% src/backend/utils/init/
  14.9% src/backend/utils/misc/
   3.9% src/include/

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
index 5560b95ee60..3136816a933 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -8834,6 +8834,38 @@ COPY postgres_log FROM '/full/path/to/logfile.csv' WITH csv;
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
 
+     <varlistentry id="guc-stats-flush-interval" xreflabel="stats_flush_interval">
+      <term><varname>stats_flush_interval</varname> (<type>integer</type>)
+      <indexterm>
+       <primary><varname>stats_flush_interval</varname> configuration parameter</primary>
+      </indexterm>
+      </term>
+      <listitem>
+       <para>
+        Sets the interval at which non-transactional statistics are made visible
+        during running transactions. Non-transactional statistics include, for
+        example, WAL activity and I/O operations.
+        They become visible at that interval in monitoring views such as
+        <link linkend="monitoring-pg-stat-io-view"> <structname>pg_stat_io</structname></link>
+        and <link linkend="monitoring-pg-stat-wal-view"> <structname>pg_stat_wal</structname></link>
+        during running transactions.
+        If this value is specified without units, it is taken as milliseconds.
+        The default is 10 seconds (<literal>10s</literal>), which is probably
+        about the smallest value you would want in practice for long running
+        transactions.
+       </para>
+       <note>
+        <para>
+         This parameter does not affect transactional statistics such as
+         <structname>pg_stat_all_tables</structname> columns (like
+         <structfield>n_tup_ins</structfield>, <structfield>n_tup_upd</structfield>,
+         <structfield>n_tup_del</structfield>), which are always flushed at transaction
+         boundaries to maintain consistency.
+        </para>
+       </note>
+      </listitem>
+     </varlistentry>
+
      </variablelist>
     </sect2>
 
diff --git a/src/backend/storage/lmgr/proc.c b/src/backend/storage/lmgr/proc.c
index 012705a2ee6..caa6eecca88 100644
--- a/src/backend/storage/lmgr/proc.c
+++ b/src/backend/storage/lmgr/proc.c
@@ -1669,7 +1669,7 @@ ProcSleep(LOCALLOCK *locallock)
 	} while (myWaitStatus == PROC_WAIT_STATUS_WAITING);
 
 	if (anytime_timeout_was_active)
-		enable_timeout_after(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT, PGSTAT_MIN_INTERVAL);
+		enable_timeout_after(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT, pgstat_flush_interval);
 
 	/*
 	 * Disable the timers, if they are still running.  As in LockErrorCleanup,
diff --git a/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c b/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c
index 132fae61423..c0e81cb13d0 100644
--- a/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c
+++ b/src/backend/tcop/postgres.c
@@ -3543,7 +3543,7 @@ ProcessInterrupts(void)
 
 		/* Schedule next timeout */
 		enable_timeout_after(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT,
-							 PGSTAT_MIN_INTERVAL);
+							 pgstat_flush_interval);
 	}
 
 	if (ProcSignalBarrierPending)
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c
index ab4d9088a9a..ca08dd49cd7 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/activity/pgstat.c
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@
 #include "utils/memutils.h"
 #include "utils/pgstat_internal.h"
 #include "utils/timestamp.h"
+#include "utils/timeout.h"

 /* ----------
@@ -202,6 +203,7 @@ static inline bool pgstat_is_kind_valid(PgStat_Kind kind);
 
 bool		pgstat_track_counts = false;
 int			pgstat_fetch_consistency = PGSTAT_FETCH_CONSISTENCY_CACHE;
+int			pgstat_flush_interval = 10000;

 /* ----------
@@ -2165,6 +2167,19 @@ assign_stats_fetch_consistency(int newval, void *extra)
 		force_stats_snapshot_clear = true;
 }
 
+/*
+ * GUC assign_hook for stats_flush_interval.
+ */
+void
+assign_stats_flush_interval(int newval, void *extra)
+{
+	if (get_timeout_active(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT))
+	{
+		disable_timeout(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT, false);
+		enable_timeout_after(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT, newval);
+	}
+}
+
 /*
  * Flushes only FLUSH_ANYTIME stats using non-blocking locks. Transactional
  * stats (FLUSH_AT_TXN_BOUNDARY) remain pending until transaction boundary.
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c b/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c
index 6076f531c4a..c7c0d618671 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c
@@ -768,7 +768,7 @@ InitPostgres(const char *in_dbname, Oid dboid,
 						IdleStatsUpdateTimeoutHandler);
 		RegisterTimeout(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT,
 						AnytimeStatsUpdateTimeoutHandler);
-		enable_timeout_after(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT, PGSTAT_MIN_INTERVAL);
+		enable_timeout_after(ANYTIME_STATS_UPDATE_TIMEOUT, pgstat_flush_interval);
 	}
 
 	/*
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_parameters.dat b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_parameters.dat
index f0260e6e412..3bb43362e51 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_parameters.dat
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc_parameters.dat
@@ -2782,6 +2782,16 @@
   assign_hook => 'assign_stats_fetch_consistency',
 },
 
+{ name => 'stats_flush_interval', type => 'int', context => 'PGC_USERSET', group => 'STATS_CUMULATIVE',
+  short_desc => 'Sets the interval between flushes of non-transactional statistics.',
+  flags => 'GUC_UNIT_MS',
+  variable => 'pgstat_flush_interval',
+  boot_val => '10000',
+  min => '1000',
+  max => 'INT_MAX',
+  assign_hook => 'assign_stats_flush_interval'
+},
+
 { name => 'subtransaction_buffers', type => 'int', context => 'PGC_POSTMASTER', group => 'RESOURCES_MEM',
   short_desc => 'Sets the size of the dedicated buffer pool used for the subtransaction cache.',
   long_desc => '0 means use a fraction of "shared_buffers".',
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample b/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
index c4f92fcdac8..6ce5a250170 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
@@ -669,6 +669,7 @@
 #track_wal_io_timing = off
 #track_functions = none                 # none, pl, all
 #stats_fetch_consistency = cache        # cache, none, snapshot
+#stats_flush_interval = 10s             # in milliseconds

 # - Monitoring -
diff --git a/src/include/pgstat.h b/src/include/pgstat.h
index 1651f16f966..e0f222695bf 100644
--- a/src/include/pgstat.h
+++ b/src/include/pgstat.h
@@ -816,6 +816,7 @@ extern PgStat_WalStats *pgstat_fetch_stat_wal(void);
 extern PGDLLIMPORT bool pgstat_track_counts;
 extern PGDLLIMPORT int pgstat_track_functions;
 extern PGDLLIMPORT int pgstat_fetch_consistency;
+extern PGDLLIMPORT int pgstat_flush_interval;

 /*
diff --git a/src/include/utils/guc_hooks.h b/src/include/utils/guc_hooks.h
index b6ecb0e769f..3a2ae6c41cd 100644
--- a/src/include/utils/guc_hooks.h
+++ b/src/include/utils/guc_hooks.h
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ extern bool check_session_authorization(char **newval, void **extra, GucSource s
 extern void assign_session_authorization(const char *newval, void *extra);
 extern void assign_session_replication_role(int newval, void *extra);
 extern void assign_stats_fetch_consistency(int newval, void *extra);
+extern void assign_stats_flush_interval(int newval, void *extra);
 extern bool check_ssl(bool *newval, void **extra, GucSource source);
 extern bool check_stage_log_stats(bool *newval, void **extra, GucSource source);
 extern bool check_standard_conforming_strings(bool *newval, void **extra,
-- 
2.34.1

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