What Happens In A Pack

Let us begin by examining this diagram of a database being packed.

In this model, a row represents an object (with an unchanging OID but a changing state) and a column represents a transaction (aka revision).

Legend:

>

Modified in transaction, refers to no other objects

>n

Modified in transaction, has a reference to object n

Red

Will be packed

Yellow

History will terminate (not go back farther than) this revision

Brown

Packed previously

White

Not packed

Grey

Pseudo-transaction

../_images/pack_policy.png

Interpretation

What does this mean for each object?

1

Revisions 14, 13 and 12 are kept, while revision 10 is dropped. The prev_tid of revision 12 is set to 0. Until the current revision, this object referred to object 9.

2

Both revisions (13 and 11) are kept. This object is keeping object 3 alive. Although nothing refers to this object, packing does not remove objects with revisions beyond pack_tid.

3

Since a current revision of object 2 refers to this object, revision 12 is kept, but its history is cut short (revision 11 is dropped and the prev_tid for revision 12 is set to 0).

5

Nothing refers to this object, so the OID is completely removed from the database.

7

Since a current revision of object 3 refers to this object, revision 11 is kept.

9

Revision 13 of object 1, which refers to this object, will not be packed, so this OID must be kept even though no current revision refers to it. This object is keeping alive transaction 10, which was packed earlier.

0

This is the root object since its OID is 0. The root object is never removed from the database, but its history will be cut short: revision 10 will be removed and the prev_tid of revision 11 will be set to 0.

Notes

  • Packing removes both columns and rows from the table, with exceptions.

  • We always pack a list of transactions ranging from just after tid 0 (which is a pseudo-transaction) to pack_tid, which is the last transaction committed before an application-specified time.

  • The list of columns to remove is 0 < tid <= pack_tid.

  • The list of rows to remove is in the temporary table pack_object, where keep_tid is NULL.

  • The list of rows to cut short (i.e. leave only the current state and otherwise pack) is also in the temporary table pack_object, where keep_tid is not null.

  • The keep_tid value of the pack_object table, when set, is copied from current_object.

  • Some of the transactions may have been packed already. Previously packed transactions hang around until they contain no object states.

  • Packing does not change current_object except when it removes objects from the database.

  • After packing, some of the packed transactions may be kept because object states need them, but they will not appear in the list of undoable transactions because the packed bit is set.

  • In the model above, all of the transactions are kept (with the packed bit set), but many object states are removed. If there were a purely red or purely brown column, it would be removed completely.