Ensure that whole-row junk Vars are always of composite type.

tglsfdc · tglsfdc · commit b09fc7c39dd6 · 2011-11-27T22:27:39.000-05:00
The EvalPlanQual machinery assumes that whole-row Vars generated for the
outputs of non-table RTEs will be of composite types.  However, for the
case where the RTE is a function call returning a scalar type, we were
doing the wrong thing, as a result of sharing code with a parser case
where the function's scalar output is wanted.  (Or at least, that's what
that case has done historically; it does seem a bit inconsistent.)

To fix, extend makeWholeRowVar's API so that it can support both use-cases.
This fixes Belinda Cussen's report of crashes during concurrent execution
of UPDATEs involving joins to the result of UNNEST() --- in READ COMMITTED
mode, we'd run the EvalPlanQual machinery after a conflicting row update
commits, and it was expecting to get a HeapTuple not a scalar datum from
the "wholerowN" variable referencing the function RTE.

Back-patch to 9.0 where the current EvalPlanQual implementation appeared.

In 9.1 and up, this patch also fixes failure to attach the correct
collation to the Var generated for a scalar-result case.  An example:
regression=# select upper(x.*) from textcat('ab', 'cd') x;
ERROR:  could not determine which collation to use for upper() function
diff --git a/src/backend/nodes/makefuncs.c b/src/backend/nodes/makefuncs.c
@@ -101,11 +101,17 @@ makeVar(Index varno,
  * with error cases, but it's not worth changing now.)  The vartype indicates
  * a rowtype; either a named composite type, or RECORD.  This function
  * encapsulates the logic for determining the correct rowtype OID to use.
+ *
+ * If allowScalar is true, then for the case where the RTE is a function
+ * returning a non-composite result type, we produce a normal Var referencing
+ * the function's result directly, instead of the single-column composite
+ * value that the whole-row notation might otherwise suggest.
  */
 Var *
 makeWholeRowVar(RangeTblEntry *rte,
 				Index varno,
-				Index varlevelsup)
+				Index varlevelsup,
+				bool allowScalar)
 {
 	Var		   *result;
 	Oid			toid;
@@ -135,37 +141,32 @@ makeWholeRowVar(RangeTblEntry *rte,
 								 -1,
 								 varlevelsup);
 			}
-			else
+			else if (allowScalar)
 			{
-				/*
-				 * func returns scalar; instead of making a whole-row Var,
-				 * just reference the function's scalar output.  (XXX this
-				 * seems a tad inconsistent, especially if "f.*" was
-				 * explicitly written ...)
-				 */
+				/* func returns scalar; just return its output as-is */
 				result = makeVar(varno,
 								 1,
 								 toid,
 								 -1,
 								 varlevelsup);
 			}
-			break;
-		case RTE_VALUES:
-			toid = RECORDOID;
-			/* returns composite; same as relation case */
-			result = makeVar(varno,
-							 InvalidAttrNumber,
-							 toid,
-							 -1,
-							 varlevelsup);
+			else
+			{
+				/* func returns scalar, but we want a composite result */
+				result = makeVar(varno,
+								 InvalidAttrNumber,
+								 RECORDOID,
+								 -1,
+								 varlevelsup);
+			}
 			break;
 		default:
 
 			/*
-			 * RTE is a join or subselect.	We represent this as a whole-row
-			 * Var of RECORD type.	(Note that in most cases the Var will be
-			 * expanded to a RowExpr during planning, but that is not our
-			 * concern here.)
+			 * RTE is a join, subselect, or VALUES.  We represent this as a
+			 * whole-row Var of RECORD type. (Note that in most cases the Var
+			 * will be expanded to a RowExpr during planning, but that is not
+			 * our concern here.)
 			 */
 			result = makeVar(varno,
 							 InvalidAttrNumber,
diff --git a/src/backend/optimizer/prep/preptlist.c b/src/backend/optimizer/prep/preptlist.c
@@ -160,7 +160,8 @@ preprocess_targetlist(PlannerInfo *root, List *tlist)
 			/* Not a table, so we need the whole row as a junk var */
 			var = makeWholeRowVar(rt_fetch(rc->rti, range_table),
 								  rc->rti,
-								  0);
+								  0,
+								  false);
 			snprintf(resname, sizeof(resname), "wholerow%u", rc->rowmarkId);
 			tle = makeTargetEntry((Expr *) var,
 								  list_length(tlist) + 1,
diff --git a/src/backend/parser/parse_expr.c b/src/backend/parser/parse_expr.c
@@ -2029,8 +2029,15 @@ transformWholeRowRef(ParseState *pstate, RangeTblEntry *rte, int location)
 	/* Find the RTE's rangetable location */
 	vnum = RTERangeTablePosn(pstate, rte, &sublevels_up);
 
-	/* Build the appropriate referencing node */
-	result = makeWholeRowVar(rte, vnum, sublevels_up);
+	/*
+	 * Build the appropriate referencing node.  Note that if the RTE is a
+	 * function returning scalar, we create just a plain reference to the
+	 * function value, not a composite containing a single column.  This is
+	 * pretty inconsistent at first sight, but it's what we've done
+	 * historically.  One argument for it is that "rel" and "rel.*" mean the
+	 * same thing for composite relations, so why not for scalar functions...
+	 */
+	result = makeWholeRowVar(rte, vnum, sublevels_up, true);
 
 	/* location is not filled in by makeWholeRowVar */
 	result->location = location;
diff --git a/src/include/nodes/makefuncs.h b/src/include/nodes/makefuncs.h
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ extern Var *makeVar(Index varno,
 
 extern Var *makeWholeRowVar(RangeTblEntry *rte,
 				Index varno,
-				Index varlevelsup);
+				Index varlevelsup,
+				bool allowScalar);
 
 extern TargetEntry *makeTargetEntry(Expr *expr,
 				AttrNumber resno,
