On 25/08/2009 8:07 PM, Fernando Velloso Tanure wrote:

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference:      5009
Logged by:          Fernando Velloso Tanure
Email address:      f_tan...@terra.com.br
PostgreSQL version: 8.1.11
Operating system:   CentOS5.3 Red Hat Enterprise Linux RHEL
Description:        Loss of information
Details:

Good afternoon

I'm having problem in postgres where some rows inserted or changed during
the day was lost as a rollback was executed.
I am using a system developed in Delphi with Zeos components for access to
the database.
The sequences used in the inserts are not lost.

That sounds like "database working exactly as designed" to me.

If you issue a sequence of statements like:

-- Given the table structure:
CREATE TABLE x ( id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, n INTEGER NOT NULL);

-- Program issues:
BEGIN;
INSERT INTO x(n) VALUES (1);
INSERT INTO x(n) VALUES (3);
INSERT INTO x(n) VALUES (9);
INSERT INTO x(n) VALUES (42);


... then either you disconnect, the DB server is restarted, or your client issues a ROLLBACK, then you'll end up with an empty table `x' and the sequence x_id_seq will be 4.

Why? Because sequences are, by design, not transactional. For good reasons. See the manual for the SERIAL pseudo-type and for SEQUENCEs.

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/datatype-numeric.html#DATATYPE-SERIAL

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/functions-sequence.html

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/sql-createsequence.html

Note that with some database driver interfaces the BEGIN may be implicit, especially if it defaults to "non-autocommit" or "autocommit off" ... so just because you didn't open a transaction doesn't mean one wasn't open.

If your application really needs gapless sequences where a rollback also rolls back the sequence counter, there are options available - but they have HORRIBLE effects on performance, especially with concurrent inserts. They can be kind of OK if all you do in the transaction is:

BEGIN;
INSERT blah
COMMIT;

(or just use an implicit autocommit transaction) but if you do anything more complex in your transactions you risk deadlocks between concurrent transactions, awful performance, huge commit delays, and more.

Search the pgsql-general mailing list archives for "gapless sequence" for more information.

--
Craig Ringer

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