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+<!--
+doc/src/sgml/ref/prepare_transaction.sgml
+PostgreSQL documentation
+-->
+
+<refentry id="sql-prepare-transaction">
+ <indexterm zone="sql-prepare-transaction">
+ <primary>PREPARE TRANSACTION</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>PREPARE TRANSACTION</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv>
+ <refname>PREPARE TRANSACTION</refname>
+ <refpurpose>prepare the current transaction for two-phase commit</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsynopsisdiv>
+<synopsis>
+PREPARE TRANSACTION <replaceable class="parameter">transaction_id</replaceable>
+</synopsis>
+ </refsynopsisdiv>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Description</title>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</command> prepares the current transaction
+ for two-phase commit. After this command, the transaction is no longer
+ associated with the current session; instead, its state is fully stored on
+ disk, and there is a very high probability that it can be committed
+ successfully, even if a database crash occurs before the commit is
+ requested.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Once prepared, a transaction can later be committed or rolled back
+ with <link linkend="sql-commit-prepared"><command>COMMIT PREPARED</command></link>
+ or <link linkend="sql-rollback-prepared"><command>ROLLBACK PREPARED</command></link>,
+ respectively. Those commands can be issued from any session, not
+ only the one that executed the original transaction.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ From the point of view of the issuing session, <command>PREPARE
+ TRANSACTION</command> is not unlike a <command>ROLLBACK</command> command:
+ after executing it, there is no active current transaction, and the
+ effects of the prepared transaction are no longer visible. (The effects
+ will become visible again if the transaction is committed.)
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If the <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</command> command fails for any
+ reason, it becomes a <command>ROLLBACK</command>: the current transaction
+ is canceled.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Parameters</title>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><replaceable class="parameter">transaction_id</replaceable></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ An arbitrary identifier that later identifies this transaction for
+ <command>COMMIT PREPARED</command> or <command>ROLLBACK PREPARED</command>.
+ The identifier must be written as a string literal, and must be
+ less than 200 bytes long. It must not be the same as the identifier
+ used for any currently prepared transaction.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Notes</title>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</command> is not intended for use in applications
+ or interactive sessions. Its purpose is to allow an external
+ transaction manager to perform atomic global transactions across multiple
+ databases or other transactional resources. Unless you're writing a
+ transaction manager, you probably shouldn't be using <command>PREPARE
+ TRANSACTION</command>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ This command must be used inside a transaction block. Use <link
+ linkend="sql-begin"><command>BEGIN</command></link> to start one.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ It is not currently allowed to <command>PREPARE</command> a transaction that
+ has executed any operations involving temporary tables or the session's
+ temporary namespace, created any cursors <literal>WITH HOLD</literal>, or
+ executed <command>LISTEN</command>, <command>UNLISTEN</command>, or
+ <command>NOTIFY</command>.
+ Those features are too tightly
+ tied to the current session to be useful in a transaction to be prepared.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If the transaction modified any run-time parameters with <command>SET</command>
+ (without the <literal>LOCAL</literal> option),
+ those effects persist after <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</command>, and will not
+ be affected by any later <command>COMMIT PREPARED</command> or
+ <command>ROLLBACK PREPARED</command>. Thus, in this one respect
+ <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</command> acts more like <command>COMMIT</command> than
+ <command>ROLLBACK</command>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ All currently available prepared transactions are listed in the
+ <link linkend="view-pg-prepared-xacts"><structname>pg_prepared_xacts</structname></link>
+ system view.
+ </para>
+
+ <caution>
+ <para>
+ It is unwise to leave transactions in the prepared state for a long time.
+ This will interfere with the ability of <command>VACUUM</command> to reclaim
+ storage, and in extreme cases could cause the database to shut down
+ to prevent transaction ID wraparound (see <xref
+ linkend="vacuum-for-wraparound"/>). Keep in mind also that the transaction
+ continues to hold whatever locks it held. The intended usage of the
+ feature is that a prepared transaction will normally be committed or
+ rolled back as soon as an external transaction manager has verified that
+ other databases are also prepared to commit.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If you have not set up an external transaction manager to track prepared
+ transactions and ensure they get closed out promptly, it is best to keep
+ the prepared-transaction feature disabled by setting
+ <xref linkend="guc-max-prepared-transactions"/> to zero. This will
+ prevent accidental creation of prepared transactions that might then
+ be forgotten and eventually cause problems.
+ </para>
+ </caution>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1 id="sql-prepare-transaction-examples">
+ <title>Examples</title>
+ <para>
+ Prepare the current transaction for two-phase commit, using
+ <literal>foobar</literal> as the transaction identifier:
+
+<programlisting>
+PREPARE TRANSACTION 'foobar';
+</programlisting></para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Compatibility</title>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</command> is a
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension. It is intended for use by
+ external transaction management systems, some of which are covered by
+ standards (such as X/Open XA), but the SQL side of those systems is not
+ standardized.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>See Also</title>
+
+ <simplelist type="inline">
+ <member><xref linkend="sql-commit-prepared"/></member>
+ <member><xref linkend="sql-rollback-prepared"/></member>
+ </simplelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+</refentry>