From 2a67d6440db4360efff2078a05bc172ca8f34b2b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Tom Lane Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2018 12:33:15 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Add commentary explaining why MaxIndexTuplesPerPage calculation is safe. MaxIndexTuplesPerPage ignores the fact that btree indexes sometimes store tuples with no data payload. But it also ignores the possibility of "special space" on index pages, which offsets that, so that the result isn't an underestimate. This all seems worth documenting, though. In passing, remove #define MinIndexTupleSize, which was added by commit 2c03216d8 but not used in that commit nor later ones. Comment text by me; issue noticed by Peter Geoghegan. Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAH2-WzkQmb54Kbx-YHXstRKXcNc+_87jwV3DRb54xcybLR7Oig@mail.gmail.com --- src/include/access/itup.h | 10 +++++++++- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/src/include/access/itup.h b/src/include/access/itup.h index 04526a8e59..555434ca80 100644 --- a/src/include/access/itup.h +++ b/src/include/access/itup.h @@ -132,8 +132,16 @@ typedef IndexAttributeBitMapData * IndexAttributeBitMap; * bitmap, so we can safely assume it's at least 1 byte bigger than a bare * IndexTupleData struct. We arrive at the divisor because each tuple * must be maxaligned, and it must have an associated item pointer. + * + * To be index-type-independent, this does not account for any special space + * on the page, and is thus conservative. + * + * Note: in btree non-leaf pages, the first tuple has no key (it's implicitly + * minus infinity), thus breaking the "at least 1 byte bigger" assumption. + * On such a page, N tuples could take one MAXALIGN quantum less space than + * estimated here, seemingly allowing one more tuple than estimated here. + * But such a page always has at least MAXALIGN special space, so we're safe. */ -#define MinIndexTupleSize MAXALIGN(sizeof(IndexTupleData) + 1) #define MaxIndexTuplesPerPage \ ((int) ((BLCKSZ - SizeOfPageHeaderData) / \ (MAXALIGN(sizeof(IndexTupleData) + 1) + sizeof(ItemIdData)))) -- 2.40.0