Add to Win32 discussion.

Author: bmomjian

doc/TODO.detail/win32

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+From pgsql-hackers-win32-owner+M201@postgresql.org Tue Nov 11 15:00:07 2003
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+Subject: [pgsql-hackers-win32] CreateProcess vs. CreateThread (was: Committing Resources to Win32)
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+Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 14:58:23 -0500
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+Thread-Topic: CreateProcess vs. CreateThread (was: Committing Resources to Win32)
+Thread-Index: AcOocYEp+LfkD1VdRtuF8Post6o+9gACl8Hg
+From: "Merlin Moncure" <merlin.moncure@rcsonline.com>
+To: "Joshua D. Drake" <jd@commandprompt.com>
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+
+Joshua D. Drake wrote:
+> >problem is the ipc-daemon which has a tendency to crash.  It seems
+> >slower on writes, but that is strictly anecdotal.  With synching off,
+it
+> >hums along happily.
+> >
+> It is slower on rights, connection startup, limited on connections,
+> tcp/ip transfer and you should
+> never run PostgreSQL with sync off unless you are not worried about
+data
+> integrity.
+
+I agree 100%.  See notes below.
+
+> >The perceived win32 process management problems are a total red
+herring.
+> >
+> >
+> I disagree... read the other posts. CreateProcess does not scale like
+> CreateThread.
+
+Here is a good resource comparing process creation on Linux and NT (with
+source).  
+
+http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-rt7/?t=gr,Redhat=T
+headsMgt
+
+NT can create 150 processes/sec (vs. 300+ on Linux 2.4.2).  Even with
+the slower process creation time, most postgres applications will spend
+a tiny fraction of their time inside process creation.  Again, this is
+much more relevant to a web server than a database server.  Compile and
+run the code supplied in the link if you don't believe me (and I don't
+expect you to :)).
+
+My point about cygwin was to try and illustrate that the performance
+problems wrt postgres on win32 are almost certainly going to be I/O
+based, not process based (as evidenced by the decent performance with
+fsync=off), and this is due to the way files are synched (somebody
+correct me if I'm wrong on this point).  I would hate to see you spend a
+bunch of time implementing threading only to find out you are better off
+than with the cygwin version.  In case I am wrong, it might be
+informative to fire up a threaded port to see if the end justifies the
+means.  The best apples to apples comparison is to run cygwin/peerdirect
+fsync=off vs. linux fsync=off.  This is not useful in a production
+sense, but will help tell the relative performance wrt threads vs.
+processes.
+
+My gut tells me the proper path is to:
+1. Implement no frills process based port to win32 based on (as much as
+possible) native sources and native build environment.
+2. Troubleshoot specific performance problems, which will most likely be
+on the I/O side.  Fixing them may ultimately lead to api level file
+calls (possibly including asynch I/O) on win32, which may be the only
+way that platform will ever run postgres as good as on the unix side of
+things.
+
+Regards,
+Merlin
+
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