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<!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>68.4. Implementation</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="gist-extensibility.html" title="68.3. Extensibility" /><link rel="next" href="gist-examples.html" title="68.5. Examples" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">68.4. Implementation</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gist-extensibility.html" title="68.3. Extensibility">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="gist.html" title="Chapter 68. GiST Indexes">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 68. GiST Indexes</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.7 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gist-examples.html" title="68.5. Examples">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="GIST-IMPLEMENTATION"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">68.4. Implementation</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="gist-implementation.html#GIST-BUFFERING-BUILD">68.4.1. GiST Index Build Methods</a></span></dt></dl></div><div class="sect2" id="GIST-BUFFERING-BUILD"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">68.4.1. GiST Index Build Methods</h3></div></div></div><p>
   The simplest way to build a GiST index is just to insert all the entries,
   one by one.  This tends to be slow for large indexes, because if the
   index tuples are scattered across the index and the index is large enough
   to not fit in cache, a lot of random I/O will be
   needed.  <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> supports two alternative
   methods for initial build of a GiST index: <em class="firstterm">sorted</em>
   and <em class="firstterm">buffered</em> modes.
  </p><p>
   The sorted method is only available if each of the opclasses used by the
   index provides a <code class="function">sortsupport</code> function, as described
   in <a class="xref" href="gist-extensibility.html" title="68.3. Extensibility">Section 68.3</a>.  If they do, this method is
   usually the best, so it is used by default.
  </p><p>
   The buffered method works by not inserting tuples directly into the index
   right away.  It can dramatically reduce the amount of random I/O needed
   for non-ordered data sets.  For well-ordered data sets the benefit is
   smaller or non-existent, because only a small number of pages receive new
   tuples at a time, and those pages fit in cache even if the index as a
   whole does not.
  </p><p>
   The buffered method needs to call the <code class="function">penalty</code>
   function more often than the simple method does, which consumes some
   extra CPU resources. Also, the buffers need temporary disk space, up to
   the size of the resulting index. Buffering can also influence the quality
   of the resulting index, in both positive and negative directions. That
   influence depends on various factors, like the distribution of the input
   data and the operator class implementation.
  </p><p>
   If sorting is not possible, then by default a GiST index build switches
   to the buffering method when the index size reaches
   <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-query.html#GUC-EFFECTIVE-CACHE-SIZE">effective_cache_size</a>.  Buffering can be manually
   forced or prevented by the <code class="literal">buffering</code> parameter to the
   CREATE INDEX command.  The default behavior is good for most cases, but
   turning buffering off might speed up the build somewhat if the input data
   is ordered.
  </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gist-extensibility.html" title="68.3. Extensibility">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="gist.html" title="Chapter 68. GiST Indexes">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gist-examples.html" title="68.5. Examples">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">68.3. Extensibility </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.7 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 68.5. Examples</td></tr></table></div></body></html>