summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 12:17:33 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 12:17:33 +0000
commit5e45211a64149b3c659b90ff2de6fa982a5a93ed (patch)
tree739caf8c461053357daa9f162bef34516c7bf452 /doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html
parentInitial commit. (diff)
downloadpostgresql-15-5e45211a64149b3c659b90ff2de6fa982a5a93ed.tar.xz
postgresql-15-5e45211a64149b3c659b90ff2de6fa982a5a93ed.zip
Adding upstream version 15.5.upstream/15.5
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html')
-rw-r--r--doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html396
1 files changed, 396 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html b/doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a28c47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/html/explicit-locking.html
@@ -0,0 +1,396 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>13.3. Explicit Locking</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="transaction-iso.html" title="13.2. Transaction Isolation" /><link rel="next" href="applevel-consistency.html" title="13.4. Data Consistency Checks at the Application Level" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">13.3. Explicit Locking</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="transaction-iso.html" title="13.2. Transaction Isolation">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="mvcc.html" title="Chapter 13. Concurrency Control">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 13. Concurrency Control</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="applevel-consistency.html" title="13.4. Data Consistency Checks at the Application Level">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="EXPLICIT-LOCKING"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">13.3. Explicit Locking</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="explicit-locking.html#LOCKING-TABLES">13.3.1. Table-Level Locks</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="explicit-locking.html#LOCKING-ROWS">13.3.2. Row-Level Locks</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="explicit-locking.html#LOCKING-PAGES">13.3.3. Page-Level Locks</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="explicit-locking.html#LOCKING-DEADLOCKS">13.3.4. Deadlocks</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="explicit-locking.html#ADVISORY-LOCKS">13.3.5. Advisory Locks</a></span></dt></dl></div><a id="id-1.5.12.6.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> provides various lock modes
+ to control concurrent access to data in tables. These modes can
+ be used for application-controlled locking in situations where
+ <acronym class="acronym">MVCC</acronym> does not give the desired behavior. Also,
+ most <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> commands automatically
+ acquire locks of appropriate modes to ensure that referenced
+ tables are not dropped or modified in incompatible ways while the
+ command executes. (For example, <code class="command">TRUNCATE</code> cannot safely be
+ executed concurrently with other operations on the same table, so it
+ obtains an <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock on the table to
+ enforce that.)
+ </p><p>
+ To examine a list of the currently outstanding locks in a database
+ server, use the
+ <a class="link" href="view-pg-locks.html" title="54.12. pg_locks"><code class="structname">pg_locks</code></a>
+ system view. For more information on monitoring the status of the lock
+ manager subsystem, refer to <a class="xref" href="monitoring.html" title="Chapter 28. Monitoring Database Activity">Chapter 28</a>.
+ </p><div class="sect2" id="LOCKING-TABLES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">13.3.1. Table-Level Locks</h3></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.12.6.5.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ The list below shows the available lock modes and the contexts in
+ which they are used automatically by
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. You can also acquire any
+ of these locks explicitly with the command <a class="xref" href="sql-lock.html" title="LOCK"><span class="refentrytitle">LOCK</span></a>.
+ Remember that all of these lock modes are table-level locks,
+ even if the name contains the word
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">row</span>”</span>; the names of the lock modes are historical.
+ To some extent the names reflect the typical usage of each lock
+ mode — but the semantics are all the same. The only real difference
+ between one lock mode and another is the set of lock modes with
+ which each conflicts (see <a class="xref" href="explicit-locking.html#TABLE-LOCK-COMPATIBILITY" title="Table 13.2. Conflicting Lock Modes">Table 13.2</a>).
+ Two transactions cannot hold locks of conflicting
+ modes on the same table at the same time. (However, a transaction
+ never conflicts with itself. For example, it might acquire
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock and later acquire
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code> lock on the same table.) Non-conflicting
+ lock modes can be held concurrently by many transactions. Notice in
+ particular that some lock modes are self-conflicting (for example,
+ an <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock cannot be held by more than one
+ transaction at a time) while others are not self-conflicting (for example,
+ an <code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code> lock can be held by multiple transactions).
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><p class="title"><strong>Table-Level Lock Modes</strong></p><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code> (<code class="literal">AccessShareLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock
+ mode only.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="command">SELECT</code> command acquires a lock of this mode on
+ referenced tables. In general, any query that only <span class="emphasis"><em>reads</em></span> a table
+ and does not modify it will acquire this lock mode.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">ROW SHARE</code> (<code class="literal">RowShareLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code> and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock modes.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="command">SELECT</code> command acquires a lock of this mode
+ on all tables on which one of the <code class="option">FOR UPDATE</code>,
+ <code class="option">FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code>,
+ <code class="option">FOR SHARE</code>, or
+ <code class="option">FOR KEY SHARE</code> options is specified
+ (in addition to <code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code> locks on any other
+ tables that are referenced without any explicit
+ <code class="option">FOR ...</code> locking option).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">ROW EXCLUSIVE</code> (<code class="literal">RowExclusiveLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE ROW
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock modes.
+ </p><p>
+ The commands <code class="command">UPDATE</code>,
+ <code class="command">DELETE</code>, <code class="command">INSERT</code>, and
+ <code class="command">MERGE</code>
+ acquire this lock mode on the target table (in addition to
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code> locks on any other referenced
+ tables). In general, this lock mode will be acquired by any
+ command that <span class="emphasis"><em>modifies data</em></span> in a table.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE</code> (<code class="literal">ShareUpdateExclusiveLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE</code>,
+ <code class="literal">SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE ROW
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock modes.
+ This mode protects a table against
+ concurrent schema changes and <code class="command">VACUUM</code> runs.
+ </p><p>
+ Acquired by <code class="command">VACUUM</code> (without <code class="option">FULL</code>),
+ <code class="command">ANALYZE</code>, <code class="command">CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY</code>,
+ <code class="command">CREATE STATISTICS</code>, <code class="command">COMMENT ON</code>,
+ <code class="command">REINDEX CONCURRENTLY</code>,
+ and certain <a class="link" href="sql-alterindex.html" title="ALTER INDEX"><code class="command">ALTER INDEX</code></a>
+ and <a class="link" href="sql-altertable.html" title="ALTER TABLE"><code class="command">ALTER TABLE</code></a> variants
+ (for full details see the documentation of these commands).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">SHARE</code> (<code class="literal">ShareLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">ROW EXCLUSIVE</code>,
+ <code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE ROW
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock modes.
+ This mode protects a table against concurrent data changes.
+ </p><p>
+ Acquired by <code class="command">CREATE INDEX</code>
+ (without <code class="option">CONCURRENTLY</code>).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">SHARE ROW EXCLUSIVE</code> (<code class="literal">ShareRowExclusiveLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">ROW EXCLUSIVE</code>,
+ <code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE</code>,
+ <code class="literal">SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE ROW
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock modes.
+ This mode protects a table against concurrent data changes, and
+ is self-exclusive so that only one session can hold it at a time.
+ </p><p>
+ Acquired by <code class="command">CREATE TRIGGER</code> and some forms of
+ <a class="link" href="sql-altertable.html" title="ALTER TABLE"><code class="command">ALTER TABLE</code></a>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code> (<code class="literal">ExclusiveLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with the <code class="literal">ROW SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">ROW
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE
+ ROW EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock modes.
+ This mode allows only concurrent <code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code> locks,
+ i.e., only reads from the table can proceed in parallel with a
+ transaction holding this lock mode.
+ </p><p>
+ Acquired by <code class="command">REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW CONCURRENTLY</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> (<code class="literal">AccessExclusiveLock</code>)
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Conflicts with locks of all modes (<code class="literal">ACCESS
+ SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">ROW SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">ROW
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE
+ EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE</code>, <code class="literal">SHARE
+ ROW EXCLUSIVE</code>, <code class="literal">EXCLUSIVE</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code>).
+ This mode guarantees that the
+ holder is the only transaction accessing the table in any way.
+ </p><p>
+ Acquired by the <code class="command">DROP TABLE</code>,
+ <code class="command">TRUNCATE</code>, <code class="command">REINDEX</code>,
+ <code class="command">CLUSTER</code>, <code class="command">VACUUM FULL</code>,
+ and <code class="command">REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW</code> (without
+ <code class="option">CONCURRENTLY</code>)
+ commands. Many forms of <code class="command">ALTER INDEX</code> and <code class="command">ALTER TABLE</code> also acquire
+ a lock at this level. This is also the default lock mode for
+ <code class="command">LOCK TABLE</code> statements that do not specify
+ a mode explicitly.
+ </p></dd></dl></div><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ Only an <code class="literal">ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</code> lock blocks a
+ <code class="command">SELECT</code> (without <code class="option">FOR UPDATE/SHARE</code>)
+ statement.
+ </p></div><p>
+ Once acquired, a lock is normally held until the end of the transaction. But if a
+ lock is acquired after establishing a savepoint, the lock is released
+ immediately if the savepoint is rolled back to. This is consistent with
+ the principle that <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code> cancels all effects of the
+ commands since the savepoint. The same holds for locks acquired within a
+ <span class="application">PL/pgSQL</span> exception block: an error escape from the block
+ releases locks acquired within it.
+ </p><div class="table" id="TABLE-LOCK-COMPATIBILITY"><p class="title"><strong>Table 13.2. Conflicting Lock Modes</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Conflicting Lock Modes" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col class="lockst" /><col /><col /><col /><col /><col /><col /><col class="lockend" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Requested Lock Mode</th><th colspan="8" align="center">Existing Lock Mode</th></tr><tr><th><code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code></th><th><code class="literal">ROW SHARE</code></th><th><code class="literal">ROW EXCL.</code></th><th><code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE EXCL.</code></th><th><code class="literal">SHARE</code></th><th><code class="literal">SHARE ROW EXCL.</code></th><th><code class="literal">EXCL.</code></th><th><code class="literal">ACCESS EXCL.</code></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="literal">ACCESS SHARE</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">ROW SHARE</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">ROW EXCL.</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">SHARE UPDATE EXCL.</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">SHARE</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">SHARE ROW EXCL.</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">EXCL.</code></td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td><code class="literal">ACCESS EXCL.</code></td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /></div><div class="sect2" id="LOCKING-ROWS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">13.3.2. Row-Level Locks</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ In addition to table-level locks, there are row-level locks, which
+ are listed as below with the contexts in which they are used
+ automatically by <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. See
+ <a class="xref" href="explicit-locking.html#ROW-LOCK-COMPATIBILITY" title="Table 13.3. Conflicting Row-Level Locks">Table 13.3</a> for a complete table of
+ row-level lock conflicts. Note that a transaction can hold
+ conflicting locks on the same row, even in different subtransactions;
+ but other than that, two transactions can never hold conflicting locks
+ on the same row. Row-level locks do not affect data querying; they
+ block only <span class="emphasis"><em>writers and lockers</em></span> to the same
+ row. Row-level locks are released at transaction end or during
+ savepoint rollback, just like table-level locks.
+
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><p class="title"><strong>Row-Level Lock Modes</strong></p><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">FOR UPDATE</code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ <code class="literal">FOR UPDATE</code> causes the rows retrieved by the
+ <code class="command">SELECT</code> statement to be locked as though for
+ update. This prevents them from being locked, modified or deleted by
+ other transactions until the current transaction ends. That is,
+ other transactions that attempt <code class="command">UPDATE</code>,
+ <code class="command">DELETE</code>,
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR UPDATE</code>,
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code>,
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR SHARE</code> or
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR KEY SHARE</code>
+ of these rows will be blocked until the current transaction ends;
+ conversely, <code class="command">SELECT FOR UPDATE</code> will wait for a
+ concurrent transaction that has run any of those commands on the
+ same row,
+ and will then lock and return the updated row (or no row, if the
+ row was deleted). Within a <code class="literal">REPEATABLE READ</code> or
+ <code class="literal">SERIALIZABLE</code> transaction,
+ however, an error will be thrown if a row to be locked has changed
+ since the transaction started. For further discussion see
+ <a class="xref" href="applevel-consistency.html" title="13.4. Data Consistency Checks at the Application Level">Section 13.4</a>.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="literal">FOR UPDATE</code> lock mode
+ is also acquired by any <code class="command">DELETE</code> on a row, and also by an
+ <code class="command">UPDATE</code> that modifies the values of certain columns. Currently,
+ the set of columns considered for the <code class="command">UPDATE</code> case are those that
+ have a unique index on them that can be used in a foreign key (so partial
+ indexes and expressional indexes are not considered), but this may change
+ in the future.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Behaves similarly to <code class="literal">FOR UPDATE</code>, except that the lock
+ acquired is weaker: this lock will not block
+ <code class="literal">SELECT FOR KEY SHARE</code> commands that attempt to acquire
+ a lock on the same rows. This lock mode is also acquired by any
+ <code class="command">UPDATE</code> that does not acquire a <code class="literal">FOR UPDATE</code> lock.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">FOR SHARE</code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Behaves similarly to <code class="literal">FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code>, except that it
+ acquires a shared lock rather than exclusive lock on each retrieved
+ row. A shared lock blocks other transactions from performing
+ <code class="command">UPDATE</code>, <code class="command">DELETE</code>,
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR UPDATE</code> or
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code> on these rows, but it does not
+ prevent them from performing <code class="command">SELECT FOR SHARE</code> or
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR KEY SHARE</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">FOR KEY SHARE</code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Behaves similarly to <code class="literal">FOR SHARE</code>, except that the
+ lock is weaker: <code class="literal">SELECT FOR UPDATE</code> is blocked, but not
+ <code class="literal">SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code>. A key-shared lock blocks
+ other transactions from performing <code class="command">DELETE</code> or
+ any <code class="command">UPDATE</code> that changes the key values, but not
+ other <code class="command">UPDATE</code>, and neither does it prevent
+ <code class="command">SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATE</code>, <code class="command">SELECT FOR SHARE</code>,
+ or <code class="command">SELECT FOR KEY SHARE</code>.
+ </p></dd></dl></div><p>
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> doesn't remember any
+ information about modified rows in memory, so there is no limit on
+ the number of rows locked at one time. However, locking a row
+ might cause a disk write, e.g., <code class="command">SELECT FOR
+ UPDATE</code> modifies selected rows to mark them locked, and so
+ will result in disk writes.
+ </p><div class="table" id="ROW-LOCK-COMPATIBILITY"><p class="title"><strong>Table 13.3. Conflicting Row-Level Locks</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Conflicting Row-Level Locks" border="1"><colgroup><col class="col1" /><col class="lockst" /><col class="col3" /><col class="col4" /><col class="lockend" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Requested Lock Mode</th><th colspan="4">Current Lock Mode</th></tr><tr><th>FOR KEY SHARE</th><th>FOR SHARE</th><th>FOR NO KEY UPDATE</th><th>FOR UPDATE</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>FOR KEY SHARE</td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td>FOR SHARE</td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td>FOR NO KEY UPDATE</td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr><tr><td>FOR UPDATE</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td><td align="center">X</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /></div><div class="sect2" id="LOCKING-PAGES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">13.3.3. Page-Level Locks</h3></div></div></div><p>
+ In addition to table and row locks, page-level share/exclusive locks are
+ used to control read/write access to table pages in the shared buffer
+ pool. These locks are released immediately after a row is fetched or
+ updated. Application developers normally need not be concerned with
+ page-level locks, but they are mentioned here for completeness.
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="LOCKING-DEADLOCKS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">13.3.4. Deadlocks</h3></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.12.6.8.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ The use of explicit locking can increase the likelihood of
+ <em class="firstterm">deadlocks</em>, wherein two (or more) transactions each
+ hold locks that the other wants. For example, if transaction 1
+ acquires an exclusive lock on table A and then tries to acquire
+ an exclusive lock on table B, while transaction 2 has already
+ exclusive-locked table B and now wants an exclusive lock on table
+ A, then neither one can proceed.
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> automatically detects
+ deadlock situations and resolves them by aborting one of the
+ transactions involved, allowing the other(s) to complete.
+ (Exactly which transaction will be aborted is difficult to
+ predict and should not be relied upon.)
+ </p><p>
+ Note that deadlocks can also occur as the result of row-level
+ locks (and thus, they can occur even if explicit locking is not
+ used). Consider the case in which two concurrent
+ transactions modify a table. The first transaction executes:
+
+</p><pre class="screen">
+UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100.00 WHERE acctnum = 11111;
+</pre><p>
+
+ This acquires a row-level lock on the row with the specified
+ account number. Then, the second transaction executes:
+
+</p><pre class="screen">
+UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100.00 WHERE acctnum = 22222;
+UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100.00 WHERE acctnum = 11111;
+</pre><p>
+
+ The first <code class="command">UPDATE</code> statement successfully
+ acquires a row-level lock on the specified row, so it succeeds in
+ updating that row. However, the second <code class="command">UPDATE</code>
+ statement finds that the row it is attempting to update has
+ already been locked, so it waits for the transaction that
+ acquired the lock to complete. Transaction two is now waiting on
+ transaction one to complete before it continues execution. Now,
+ transaction one executes:
+
+</p><pre class="screen">
+UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100.00 WHERE acctnum = 22222;
+</pre><p>
+
+ Transaction one attempts to acquire a row-level lock on the
+ specified row, but it cannot: transaction two already holds such
+ a lock. So it waits for transaction two to complete. Thus,
+ transaction one is blocked on transaction two, and transaction
+ two is blocked on transaction one: a deadlock
+ condition. <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> will detect this
+ situation and abort one of the transactions.
+ </p><p>
+ The best defense against deadlocks is generally to avoid them by
+ being certain that all applications using a database acquire
+ locks on multiple objects in a consistent order. In the example
+ above, if both transactions
+ had updated the rows in the same order, no deadlock would have
+ occurred. One should also ensure that the first lock acquired on
+ an object in a transaction is the most restrictive mode that will be
+ needed for that object. If it is not feasible to verify this in
+ advance, then deadlocks can be handled on-the-fly by retrying
+ transactions that abort due to deadlocks.
+ </p><p>
+ So long as no deadlock situation is detected, a transaction seeking
+ either a table-level or row-level lock will wait indefinitely for
+ conflicting locks to be released. This means it is a bad idea for
+ applications to hold transactions open for long periods of time
+ (e.g., while waiting for user input).
+ </p></div><div class="sect2" id="ADVISORY-LOCKS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">13.3.5. Advisory Locks</h3></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.12.6.9.2" class="indexterm"></a><a id="id-1.5.12.6.9.3" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> provides a means for
+ creating locks that have application-defined meanings. These are
+ called <em class="firstterm">advisory locks</em>, because the system does not
+ enforce their use — it is up to the application to use them
+ correctly. Advisory locks can be useful for locking strategies
+ that are an awkward fit for the MVCC model.
+ For example, a common use of advisory locks is to emulate pessimistic
+ locking strategies typical of so-called <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">flat file</span>”</span> data
+ management systems.
+ While a flag stored in a table could be used for the same purpose,
+ advisory locks are faster, avoid table bloat, and are automatically
+ cleaned up by the server at the end of the session.
+ </p><p>
+ There are two ways to acquire an advisory lock in
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>: at session level or at
+ transaction level.
+ Once acquired at session level, an advisory lock is held until
+ explicitly released or the session ends. Unlike standard lock requests,
+ session-level advisory lock requests do not honor transaction semantics:
+ a lock acquired during a transaction that is later rolled back will still
+ be held following the rollback, and likewise an unlock is effective even
+ if the calling transaction fails later. A lock can be acquired multiple
+ times by its owning process; for each completed lock request there must
+ be a corresponding unlock request before the lock is actually released.
+ Transaction-level lock requests, on the other hand, behave more like
+ regular lock requests: they are automatically released at the end of the
+ transaction, and there is no explicit unlock operation. This behavior
+ is often more convenient than the session-level behavior for short-term
+ usage of an advisory lock.
+ Session-level and transaction-level lock requests for the same advisory
+ lock identifier will block each other in the expected way.
+ If a session already holds a given advisory lock, additional requests by
+ it will always succeed, even if other sessions are awaiting the lock; this
+ statement is true regardless of whether the existing lock hold and new
+ request are at session level or transaction level.
+ </p><p>
+ Like all locks in
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, a complete list of advisory locks
+ currently held by any session can be found in the <a class="link" href="view-pg-locks.html" title="54.12. pg_locks"><code class="structname">pg_locks</code></a> system
+ view.
+ </p><p>
+ Both advisory locks and regular locks are stored in a shared memory
+ pool whose size is defined by the configuration variables
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-locks.html#GUC-MAX-LOCKS-PER-TRANSACTION">max_locks_per_transaction</a> and
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-MAX-CONNECTIONS">max_connections</a>.
+ Care must be taken not to exhaust this
+ memory or the server will be unable to grant any locks at all.
+ This imposes an upper limit on the number of advisory locks
+ grantable by the server, typically in the tens to hundreds of thousands
+ depending on how the server is configured.
+ </p><p>
+ In certain cases using advisory locking methods, especially in queries
+ involving explicit ordering and <code class="literal">LIMIT</code> clauses, care must be
+ taken to control the locks acquired because of the order in which SQL
+ expressions are evaluated. For example:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+SELECT pg_advisory_lock(id) FROM foo WHERE id = 12345; -- ok
+SELECT pg_advisory_lock(id) FROM foo WHERE id &gt; 12345 LIMIT 100; -- danger!
+SELECT pg_advisory_lock(q.id) FROM
+(
+ SELECT id FROM foo WHERE id &gt; 12345 LIMIT 100
+) q; -- ok
+</pre><p>
+ In the above queries, the second form is dangerous because the
+ <code class="literal">LIMIT</code> is not guaranteed to be applied before the locking
+ function is executed. This might cause some locks to be acquired
+ that the application was not expecting, and hence would fail to release
+ (until it ends the session).
+ From the point of view of the application, such locks
+ would be dangling, although still viewable in
+ <code class="structname">pg_locks</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ The functions provided to manipulate advisory locks are described in
+ <a class="xref" href="functions-admin.html#FUNCTIONS-ADVISORY-LOCKS" title="9.27.10. Advisory Lock Functions">Section 9.27.10</a>.
+ </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="transaction-iso.html" title="13.2. Transaction Isolation">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="mvcc.html" title="Chapter 13. Concurrency Control">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="applevel-consistency.html" title="13.4. Data Consistency Checks at the Application Level">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">13.2. Transaction Isolation </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 13.4. Data Consistency Checks at the Application Level</td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file