[PATCHES] Configure template change to use SysV Semaphors on darwin

[Chris Marcellino]

Tom mentioned,

AFAIK the only platform where the POSIX sema code is really used is

The problem with it is that *every* semaphore corresponds to an open

child.  So N backend slots cost you O(N^2) in kernel filehandles and
process fork overhead, plus if N is big you're taking a serious hit in
the number of disk files any one backend can have open.  This problem
may be specific to Darwin's implementation of the POSIX spec, but it's
real enough there.  If you trawl the archives you'll probably notice a

why.

Darwin (OS X), and it is not something I'd use there if I had a choice. file handle in the postmaster that has to be inherited by *every* forked lack of people running big Postgres installations on Darwin, and this is

--- /Users/chrismarcellino/darwin       Wed Feb  7 13:56:01 2007
***************
*** 4,8 ****

  CC="$CC -no-cpp-precomp"

! # Select appropriate semaphore support
! USE_NAMED_POSIX_SEMAPHORES=1
--- 4,16 ----

  CC="$CC -no-cpp-precomp"


! # support System V semaphores for better peformance.
! case $host_os in
!   darwin[015].*)
!     USE_NAMED_POSIX_SEMAPHORES=1
!     ;;
!   *)
!     USE_SYSV_SEMAPHORES=1
!     ;;
! esac



Thanks,
Chris Marcellino

I searched through the archives and I can't find a mention of why the posix_sema code was written for Darwin. I assume it is because before Darwin 6.0/Mac OS X 10.2 there was not kernel support for SysV semaphores. If this is in fact the case, I have a trivial patch to conditionally enable SysV semaphores based on the OS release: *** /Users/chrismarcellino/postgresql-8.2.2/src/template/darwin Fri Mar 10 20:38:40 2006 # (Note: on OS X before 10.2, you might need -traditional-cpp instead) # (Note: on OS X before 10.2, you might need -traditional-cpp instead) ! # Select appropriate semaphore support. Darwin 6.0 (Mac OS X 10.2) and higher

darwin
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