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146 lines
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146 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
Developer's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for PostgreSQL
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Last updated: Wed Feb 11 20:23:01 EST 1998
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Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (maillist@candle.pha.pa.us)
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The most recent version of this document can be viewed at the postgreSQL Web
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site, http://postgreSQL.org.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Questions answered:
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1) What tools are available for developers?
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2) What books are good for developers?
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3) Why do we use palloc() and pfree() to allocate memory?
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4) Why do we use Node and List to make data structures?
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5) How do I add a feature or fix a bug?
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6) How do I download/update the current source tree?
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7) How do I test my changes?
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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1) What tools are available for developers?
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Aside from the User documentation mentioned in the regular FAQ, there
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are several development tools available. First, all the files in the
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pgsql/src/tools directory are designed for developers.
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RELEASE_CHANGES changes we have to make for each release
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SQL_keywords standard SQL'92 keywords
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backend web flowchart of the backend directories
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ccsym find standard defines made by your compiler
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entab converts tabs to spaces, used by pgindent
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find_static finds functions that could be made static
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find_typedef get a list of typedefs in the source code
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make_ctags make vi 'tags' file in each directory
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make_diff make *.orig and diffs of source
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make_etags make emacs 'etags' files
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make_keywords.README make comparison of our keywords and SQL'92
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make_mkid make mkid ID files
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mkldexport create AIX exports file
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pgindent indents C source files
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Let me note some of these. If you point your browser at the
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pgsql/src/tools/backend directory, you will see all the backend
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components in a flow chart. You can click on any one to see a
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description. If you then click on the directory name, you will be taken
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to the source directory, to browse the actual source code behind it. We
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also have several README files in some source directories to describe
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the function of the module. The browser will display these when you
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enter the directory also. The pgsql/src/tools/backend directory is also
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contained on our web page under the title Backend Flowchart.
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Second, you really should have an editor that can handle tags, so you can
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tag a function call to see the function definition, and then tag inside that
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function to see an even lower-level function, and then back out twice to
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return to the original function. Most editors support this via tags or etags
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files.
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Third, you need to get mkid from ftp.postgresql.org. By running
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tools/make_mkid, an archive of source symbols can be created that can be
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rapidly queried like grep or edited.
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make_diff has tools to create patch diff files that can be applied to the
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distribution.
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pgindent will format source files to match our standard format, which has
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four-space tabs, and an indenting format specified by flags to the your
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operating system's utility indent.
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2) What books are good for developers?
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I have three good books, An Introduction to Database Systems, by C.J. Date,
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Addison, Wesley, A Guide to the SQL Standard, by C.J. Date, et. al,
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Addison, Wesley, and Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques,
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by Jim Gray and Andreas Reuter, Morgan, Kaufmann.
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3) Why do we use palloc() and pfree() to allocate memory?
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palloc() and pfree() are used in place of malloc() and free() because we
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automatically free all memory allocated when a transaction completes. This
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makes it easier to make sure we free memory that gets allocated in one
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place, but only freed much later. There are several contexts that memory can
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be allocated in, and this controls when the allocated memory is
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automatically freed by the backend.
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4) Why do we use Node and List to make data structures?
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We do this because this allows a consistent way to pass data inside the
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backend in a flexible way. Every node has a NodeTag which specifies what
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type of data is inside the Node. Lists are lists of Nodes. lfirst(),
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lnext(), and foreach() are used to get, skip, and traverse through Lists.
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5) How do I add a feature or fix a bug?
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The source code is over 250,000 lines. Many problems/features are isolated
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to one specific area of the code. Others require knowledge of much of the
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source. If you are confused about where to start, ask the hackers list, and
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they will be glad to assess the complexity and give pointers on where to
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start.
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Another thing to keep in mind is that many fixes and features can be added
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with surprisingly little code. I often start by adding code, then looking at
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other areas in the code where similar things are done, and by the time I am
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finished, the patch is quite small and compact.
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When adding code, keep in mind that it should use the existing facilities in
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the source, for performance reasons and for simplicity. Often a review of
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existing code doing similar things is helpful.
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6) How do I download/update the current source tree?
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There are several ways to obtain the source tree. Occasional developers can
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just get the most recent source tree snapshot from ftp.postgresql.org. For
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regular developers, you can use CVSup, which is available from
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ftp.postgresql.org too. CVSup allows you to download the source tree, then
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occasionally update your copy of the source tree with any new changes. Using
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CVSup, you don't have to download the entire source each time, only the
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changed files. CVSup does not allow developers to update the source tree.
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Anonymous CVS is available too. See the doc/FAQ_CVS file for more
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information.
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To update the source tree, there are two ways. You can generate a patch
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against your current source tree, perhaps using the make_diff tools
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mentioned above, and send them to the patches list. They will be reviewed,
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and applied in a timely manner. If the patch is major, and we are in beta
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testing, the developers may wait for the final release before applying your
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patches.
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For hard-core developers, Marc(scrappy@postgresql.org) will give you a Unix
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shell account on postgresql.org, and you can ftp your files into your
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account, patch, and cvs install the changes directly into the source tree.
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6) How do I test my changes?
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First, use psql to make sure it is working as you expect. Then run
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src/test/regress and get the output of src/test/regress/checkresults with
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and without your changes, to see that your patch does not change the
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regression test in unexpected ways. This practice has saved me many times.
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The regression tests test the code in ways I would never do, and has caught
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many bugs in my patches. By finding the problems now, you save yourself a
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lot of debugging later when things are broken, and you can't figure out when
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it happened.
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