I see that we are kind of stuck at this point. I agree that it is possible to
change pgbench without changing libpq, even though I am not sure that this is
better. I would like to submit another approach, which introduces a new state
into the pgbench state machine to wait for the response to a Parse message.
From 093e801ab8ba953736ff2b9f6c3da59321105f84 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dmitrii Bondar <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:29:32 +0700
Subject: [PATCH v4] Remove synchronous prepare from pgbench
Pgbench waits for the result of a prepare packet synchronously
when the prepared protocol flag is provided. For this reason
it is impossible to use it with some poolers (such as PgBouncer)
in the session pooling mode.
Replace the blocking PQprepare() call in the single-command path
with an async PQsendPrepare(), and add a new CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT
state to the connection state machine that drains the prepare result
without stalling the thread's event loop. After the prepare succeeds,
the prepared flag is set and the actual query is sent via
PQsendQueryPrepared as before. The pipeline path
(prepareCommandsInPipeline) is left synchronous because prepares must
complete before PQenterPipelineMode to avoid acquiring a snapshot
that would break BEGIN ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE.
Also fix a latent bug: prepareCommand used to set the prepared flag
to true even when the prepare failed, so subsequent attempts ran
PQsendQueryPrepared against a non-existent statement. The flag is
now set only on success, and prepare failures are routed through the
normal error path (CSTATE_ERROR for retryable errors, CSTATE_ABORTED
otherwise). Update the sql-syntax-error TAP test accordingly: it no
longer expects the downstream "prepared statement does not exist"
error.
---
src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c | 138 +++++++++++++++++--
src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl | 1 -
2 files changed, 123 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
diff --git a/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c b/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
index 90d22e12fdb..2ddf97e41fa 100644
--- a/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
+++ b/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
@@ -537,6 +537,11 @@ typedef enum
* CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT waits until we get a result set back from the server
* for the current command.
*
+ * CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT waits for the result of an async PQsendPrepare
+ * issued from CSTATE_START_COMMAND in QUERY_PREPARED mode. Once the prepare
+ * succeeds, the prepared flag is set and we loop back to CSTATE_START_COMMAND
+ * to send the actual query. On failure we go to CSTATE_ERROR.
+ *
* CSTATE_SLEEP waits until the end of \sleep.
*
* CSTATE_END_COMMAND records the end-of-command timestamp, increments the
@@ -549,6 +554,7 @@ typedef enum
*/
CSTATE_START_COMMAND,
CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT,
+ CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT,
CSTATE_SLEEP,
CSTATE_END_COMMAND,
CSTATE_SKIP_COMMAND,
@@ -3108,6 +3114,30 @@ prepareCommand(CState *st, int command_num)
}
}
+/*
+ * Asynchronously start preparing the SQL command from st->use_file at
+ * command_num. Caller must ensure st->prepared is allocated and that the
+ * command is not yet prepared. Returns true if the Prepare was sent; the
+ * caller must then wait for the result in CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT and set
+ * the prepared flag only after the result is read successfully.
+ *
+ * Unlike prepareCommand (synchronous, used for the pipeline path), this does
+ * not set st->prepared[...].
+ */
+static bool
+sendPrepareCommand(CState *st, int command_num)
+{
+ Command *command = sql_script[st->use_file].commands[command_num];
+
+ Assert(command->type == SQL_COMMAND);
+ Assert(st->prepared != NULL);
+ Assert(!st->prepared[st->use_file][command_num]);
+
+ pg_log_debug("client %d preparing %s", st->id, command->prepname);
+ return PQsendPrepare(st->con, command->prepname,
+ command->argv[0], command->argc - 1, NULL) != 0;
+}
+
/*
* Prepare all the commands in the script that come after the \startpipeline
* that's at position st->command, and the first \endpipeline we find.
@@ -3147,8 +3177,16 @@ prepareCommandsInPipeline(CState *st)
st->prepared[st->use_file][st->command] = true;
}
+/* Result of sendCommand(). */
+typedef enum
+{
+ SEND_FAILED, /* could not send */
+ SEND_OK, /* sent; wait for query result */
+ SEND_PREPARE_PENDING, /* async Prepare issued; wait for prepare result */
+} SendCommandResult;
+
/* Send a SQL command, using the chosen querymode */
-static bool
+static SendCommandResult
sendCommand(CState *st, Command *command)
{
int r;
@@ -3179,7 +3217,20 @@ sendCommand(CState *st, Command *command)
{
const char *params[MAX_ARGS];
- prepareCommand(st, st->command);
+ if (!st->prepared)
+ allocCStatePrepared(st);
+
+ if (!st->prepared[st->use_file][st->command])
+ {
+ if (!sendPrepareCommand(st, st->command))
+ {
+ pg_log_debug("client %d could not send %s",
+ st->id, command->argv[0]);
+ return SEND_FAILED;
+ }
+ return SEND_PREPARE_PENDING;
+ }
+
getQueryParams(&st->variables, command, params);
pg_log_debug("client %d sending %s", st->id, command->prepname);
@@ -3192,10 +3243,10 @@ sendCommand(CState *st, Command *command)
if (r == 0)
{
pg_log_debug("client %d could not send %s", st->id, command->argv[0]);
- return false;
+ return SEND_FAILED;
}
else
- return true;
+ return SEND_OK;
}
/*
@@ -3894,18 +3945,23 @@ advanceConnectionState(TState *thread, CState *st, StatsData *agg)
}
}
- if (!sendCommand(st, command))
+ switch (sendCommand(st, command))
{
- commandFailed(st, "SQL", "SQL command send failed");
- st->state = CSTATE_ABORTED;
- }
- else
- {
- /* Wait for results, unless in pipeline mode */
- if (PQpipelineStatus(st->con) == PQ_PIPELINE_OFF)
- st->state = CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT;
- else
- st->state = CSTATE_END_COMMAND;
+ case SEND_FAILED:
+ commandFailed(st, "SQL", "SQL command send failed");
+ st->state = CSTATE_ABORTED;
+ break;
+ case SEND_PREPARE_PENDING:
+ /* Wait for the async Prepare result */
+ st->state = CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT;
+ break;
+ case SEND_OK:
+ /* Wait for results, unless in pipeline mode */
+ if (PQpipelineStatus(st->con) == PQ_PIPELINE_OFF)
+ st->state = CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT;
+ else
+ st->state = CSTATE_END_COMMAND;
+ break;
}
}
else if (command->type == META_COMMAND)
@@ -3927,6 +3983,7 @@ advanceConnectionState(TState *thread, CState *st, StatsData *agg)
* something bad happened.
*/
Assert(st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT ||
+ st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT ||
st->state == CSTATE_END_COMMAND ||
st->state == CSTATE_SLEEP ||
st->state == CSTATE_ABORTED);
@@ -4070,6 +4127,55 @@ advanceConnectionState(TState *thread, CState *st, StatsData *agg)
st->state = CSTATE_ABORTED;
break;
+ /*
+ * Wait for the async PQsendPrepare result.
+ */
+ case CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT:
+ {
+ PGresult *res;
+
+ pg_log_debug("client %d receiving prepare result", st->id);
+
+ if (PQisBusy(st->con) && !PQconsumeInput(st->con))
+ {
+ commandFailed(st, "SQL", "perhaps the backend died while preparing");
+ st->state = CSTATE_ABORTED;
+ break;
+ }
+ if (PQisBusy(st->con))
+ return; /* don't have the whole result yet */
+
+ res = PQgetResult(st->con);
+ if (PQresultStatus(res) == PGRES_COMMAND_OK)
+ {
+ PQclear(res);
+ /* null terminator expected after a single result */
+ res = PQgetResult(st->con);
+ Assert(res == NULL);
+
+ st->prepared[st->use_file][st->command] = true;
+ /* Re-enter START_COMMAND to send the actual query */
+ st->state = CSTATE_START_COMMAND;
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ const char *sqlstate = PQresultErrorField(res,
+ PG_DIAG_SQLSTATE);
+ st->estatus = getSQLErrorStatus(st, sqlstate);
+ pg_log_error("%s", PQerrorMessage(st->con));
+ PQclear(res);
+ /* drain anything else pending on this command */
+ while ((res = PQgetResult(st->con)) != NULL)
+ PQclear(res);
+ if (canRetryError(st->estatus) ||
+ canContinueOnError(st->estatus))
+ st->state = CSTATE_ERROR;
+ else
+ st->state = CSTATE_ABORTED;
+ }
+ break;
+ }
+
/*
* Wait until sleep is done. This state is entered after a
* \sleep metacommand. The behavior is similar to
@@ -7631,6 +7737,7 @@ threadRun(void *arg)
min_usec = this_usec;
}
else if (st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT ||
+ st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT ||
st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_ROLLBACK_RESULT)
{
/*
@@ -7721,6 +7828,7 @@ threadRun(void *arg)
CState *st = &state[i];
if (st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_RESULT ||
+ st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_PREPARE_RESULT ||
st->state == CSTATE_WAIT_ROLLBACK_RESULT)
{
/* don't call advanceConnectionState unless data is available */
diff --git a/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl b/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl
index bb12ade59f5..5306c8c1abc 100644
--- a/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl
+++ b/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl
@@ -1231,7 +1231,6 @@ my @errors = (
2,
[
qr{ERROR: syntax error},
- qr{prepared statement .* does not exist}
],
q{-- SQL syntax error
SELECT 1 + ;
--
2.54.0
