postgres=# select * from sessions where video_id = '6kqpjnpl5Gc';

Precise wait-event tracing, part 2

· 60:51 · Observability

Low-overhead per-event timing and trace capture.

session summary

The group compared pg_wait_tracer's external eBPF hardware-watchpoint tracing with Dmitri Fomin's new Postgres patch, which records wait transitions into per-backend lock-free ring buffers. They designed a shared-buffer-thrashing benchmark to stress transition overhead, explored transition, concurrency, and query-profile visualizations, and discussed eventual EXPLAIN integration. Preliminary claims of roughly 2% patched overhead were treated as unverified; the agreed next steps were finish benchmarks, publish the tool, review the code, and prepare a pgsql-hackers proposal.

timecodes

  1. How precise wait-event tracing works
  2. ASH dashboard, AAS, and wait hierarchy
  3. Why tracing needs a Postgres patch
  4. Designing a transition-heavy overhead benchmark
  5. Per-backend lock-free ring-buffer design
  6. Transition paths and concurrency analysis
  7. Toward wait events in EXPLAIN
  8. Publishing and presenting the patch upstream