Phil Currier wrote: > On 2/21/07, Alvaro Herrera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'd expect the system being able to reoder the columns to the most > > efficient order possible (performance-wise and padding-saving-wise), > > automatically. When you create a table, sort the columns to the most > > efficient order; ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN just puts the new columns at the > > end of the tuple; and anything that requires a rewrite of the table > > (ALTER TABLE ... ALTER TYPE for example; would be cool to have CLUSTER > > do it as well; and do it on TRUNCATE also) again recomputes the most > > efficient order. > > That's exactly what I'm proposing. On table creation, the system > chooses an efficient column order for you. The next time an ALTER > TABLE operation forces a rewrite, the system would recompute the > column storage order. I hadn't thought of having CLUSTER also redo > the storage order, but that seems safe since it takes an exclusive > lock on the table. I'm less sure about whether it's safe to do this > during a TRUNCATE.
Keep in mind we have a patch in process to reduce the varlena length and reduce alignment requirements, so once that is in, reordering columns will not be as important. -- Bruce Momjian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://momjian.us EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. + ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 7: You can help support the PostgreSQL project by donating at http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate
