Support Parallel Append plan nodes.

When we create an Append node, we can spread out the workers over the
subplans instead of piling on to each subplan one at a time, which
should typically be a bit more efficient, both because the startup
cost of any plan executed entirely by one worker is paid only once and
also because of reduced contention.  We can also construct Append
plans using a mix of partial and non-partial subplans, which may allow
for parallelism in places that otherwise couldn't support it.
Unfortunately, this patch doesn't handle the important case of
parallelizing UNION ALL by running each branch in a separate worker;
the executor infrastructure is added here, but more planner work is
needed.

Amit Khandekar, Robert Haas, Amul Sul, reviewed and tested by
Ashutosh Bapat, Amit Langote, Rafia Sabih, Amit Kapila, and
Rajkumar Raghuwanshi.

Discussion: http://postgr.es/m/CAJ3gD9dy0K_E8r727heqXoBmWZ83HwLFwdcaSSmBQ1+S+vRuUQ@mail.gmail.com

1 files changed, 70 insertions, 18 deletions

diff --git a/src/backend/optimizer/util/pathnode.c b/src/backend/optimizer/util/pathnode.c
index bc0841bf0b8..54126fbb6a5 100644
--- a/src/backend/optimizer/util/pathnode.c
+++ b/src/backend/optimizer/util/pathnode.c
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ typedef enum
 #define STD_FUZZ_FACTOR 1.01
 
 static List *translate_sub_tlist(List *tlist, int relid);
+static int	append_total_cost_compare(const void *a, const void *b);
+static int	append_startup_cost_compare(const void *a, const void *b);
 static List *reparameterize_pathlist_by_child(PlannerInfo *root,
 								 List *pathlist,
 								 RelOptInfo *child_rel);
@@ -1208,44 +1210,50 @@ create_tidscan_path(PlannerInfo *root, RelOptInfo *rel, List *tidquals,
  * Note that we must handle subpaths = NIL, representing a dummy access path.
  */
 AppendPath *
-create_append_path(RelOptInfo *rel, List *subpaths, Relids required_outer,
-				   int parallel_workers, List *partitioned_rels)
+create_append_path(RelOptInfo *rel,
+				   List *subpaths, List *partial_subpaths,
+				   Relids required_outer,
+				   int parallel_workers, bool parallel_aware,
+				   List *partitioned_rels, double rows)
 {
 	AppendPath *pathnode = makeNode(AppendPath);
 	ListCell   *l;
 
+	Assert(!parallel_aware || parallel_workers > 0);
+
 	pathnode->path.pathtype = T_Append;
 	pathnode->path.parent = rel;
 	pathnode->path.pathtarget = rel->reltarget;
 	pathnode->path.param_info = get_appendrel_parampathinfo(rel,
 															required_outer);
-	pathnode->path.parallel_aware = false;
+	pathnode->path.parallel_aware = parallel_aware;
 	pathnode->path.parallel_safe = rel->consider_parallel;
 	pathnode->path.parallel_workers = parallel_workers;
 	pathnode->path.pathkeys = NIL;	/* result is always considered unsorted */
 	pathnode->partitioned_rels = list_copy(partitioned_rels);
-	pathnode->subpaths = subpaths;
 
 	/*
-	 * We don't bother with inventing a cost_append(), but just do it here.
-	 *
-	 * Compute rows and costs as sums of subplan rows and costs.  We charge
-	 * nothing extra for the Append itself, which perhaps is too optimistic,
-	 * but since it doesn't do any selection or projection, it is a pretty
-	 * cheap node.
+	 * For parallel append, non-partial paths are sorted by descending total
+	 * costs. That way, the total time to finish all non-partial paths is
+	 * minimized.  Also, the partial paths are sorted by descending startup
+	 * costs.  There may be some paths that require to do startup work by a
+	 * single worker.  In such case, it's better for workers to choose the
+	 * expensive ones first, whereas the leader should choose the cheapest
+	 * startup plan.
 	 */
-	pathnode->path.rows = 0;
-	pathnode->path.startup_cost = 0;
-	pathnode->path.total_cost = 0;
+	if (pathnode->path.parallel_aware)
+	{
+		subpaths = list_qsort(subpaths, append_total_cost_compare);
+		partial_subpaths = list_qsort(partial_subpaths,
+									  append_startup_cost_compare);
+	}
+	pathnode->first_partial_path = list_length(subpaths);
+	pathnode->subpaths = list_concat(subpaths, partial_subpaths);
+
 	foreach(l, subpaths)
 	{
 		Path	   *subpath = (Path *) lfirst(l);
 
-		pathnode->path.rows += subpath->rows;
-
-		if (l == list_head(subpaths))	/* first node? */
-			pathnode->path.startup_cost = subpath->startup_cost;
-		pathnode->path.total_cost += subpath->total_cost;
 		pathnode->path.parallel_safe = pathnode->path.parallel_safe &&
 			subpath->parallel_safe;
 
@@ -1253,10 +1261,54 @@ create_append_path(RelOptInfo *rel, List *subpaths, Relids required_outer,
 		Assert(bms_equal(PATH_REQ_OUTER(subpath), required_outer));
 	}
 
+	Assert(!parallel_aware || pathnode->path.parallel_safe);
+
+	cost_append(pathnode);
+
+	/* If the caller provided a row estimate, override the computed value. */
+	if (rows >= 0)
+		pathnode->path.rows = rows;
+
 	return pathnode;
 }
 
 /*
+ * append_total_cost_compare
+ *	  list_qsort comparator for sorting append child paths by total_cost
+ */
+static int
+append_total_cost_compare(const void *a, const void *b)
+{
+	Path	   *path1 = (Path *) lfirst(*(ListCell **) a);
+	Path	   *path2 = (Path *) lfirst(*(ListCell **) b);
+
+	if (path1->total_cost > path2->total_cost)
+		return -1;
+	if (path1->total_cost < path2->total_cost)
+		return 1;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/*
+ * append_startup_cost_compare
+ *	  list_qsort comparator for sorting append child paths by startup_cost
+ */
+static int
+append_startup_cost_compare(const void *a, const void *b)
+{
+	Path	   *path1 = (Path *) lfirst(*(ListCell **) a);
+	Path	   *path2 = (Path *) lfirst(*(ListCell **) b);
+
+	if (path1->startup_cost > path2->startup_cost)
+		return -1;
+	if (path1->startup_cost < path2->startup_cost)
+		return 1;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/*
  * create_merge_append_path
  *	  Creates a path corresponding to a MergeAppend plan, returning the
  *	  pathnode.