Recent discussion led me to realize we are also contrary to the SQL
Standard here. v3 updates the Commit reference page to reflect this fact.
Leaving ready-to-commit.
David J.
From 9e19152958130f7610feab7983221aace7abfe20 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "David G. Johnston" <david.g.johns...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 28 May 2025 16:11:51 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] [PATCH] doc: Commit performs rollback of aborted transactions
The Commit command handles an aborted transaction in the same
manner as the Rollback command. This needs to be documented.
Add it to both the reference page as well mentioning the behavior
in the official material for introducting transactions - the tutorial.
Note the our behavior is contrary to the SQL Standard as well.
In passing, make the description of the Commit reference page
self-contained by mentioning the 'and chain' behavior.
---
doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml | 18 +++++++++++++---
doc/src/sgml/ref/commit.sgml | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
2 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
index e15a3323dfb..db77ca39e73 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ DETAIL: Key (city)=(Berkeley) is not present in table "cities".
systems. The essential point of a transaction is that it bundles
multiple steps into a single, all-or-nothing operation. The intermediate
states between the steps are not visible to other concurrent transactions,
- and if some failure occurs that prevents the transaction from completing,
+ and if <link linkend="tutorial-transactions-aborted">an error</link>
+ occurs that prevents the transaction from completing,
then none of the steps affect the database at all.
</para>
@@ -218,7 +219,8 @@ UPDATE branches SET balance = balance + 100.00
<para>
In <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, a transaction is set up by surrounding
the SQL commands of the transaction with
- <command>BEGIN</command> and <command>COMMIT</command> commands. So our banking
+ <xref linkend="sql-begin"/> and
+ <xref linkend="sql-commit"/> commands. So our banking
transaction would actually look like:
<programlisting>
@@ -233,7 +235,7 @@ COMMIT;
<para>
If, partway through the transaction, we decide we do not want to
commit (perhaps we just noticed that Alice's balance went negative),
- we can issue the command <command>ROLLBACK</command> instead of
+ we can issue the command <xref linkend="sql-rollback"/> instead of
<command>COMMIT</command>, and all our updates so far will be canceled.
</para>
@@ -256,6 +258,16 @@ COMMIT;
</para>
</note>
+ <para id="tutorial-transactions-aborted">
+ When an error occurs within a transaction block the transaction is not ended
+ but instead goes into an aborted state. While in this state all commands except
+ <xref linkend="sql-commit"/> and <xref linkend="sql-rollback"/> are ignored and,
+ importantly, both those commands behave identically - they roll-back and close
+ the current transaction, returning the session to a state where new commands can
+ be issued. They will also automatically begin a new transaction if executed
+ with an <literal>AND CHAIN</literal> parameter.
+ </para>
+
<para>
It's possible to control the statements in a transaction in a more
granular fashion through the use of <firstterm>savepoints</firstterm>. Savepoints
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/commit.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/commit.sgml
index 7e2dcac5a33..80c2ecd799e 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/commit.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/commit.sgml
@@ -33,6 +33,19 @@ COMMIT [ WORK | TRANSACTION ] [ AND [ NO ] CHAIN ]
changes made by the transaction become visible to others
and are guaranteed to be durable if a crash occurs.
</para>
+ <para>
+ If the transaction is in an aborted state then no changes will be made
+ and the effect of the <command>COMMIT</command> will be identical to that
+ of <command>ROLLBACK</command>, including the command tag output.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In either situation, if the <literal>AND CHAIN</literal> parameter is
+ specified a new, identically configured, transaction is started.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ For more information regarding transactions see
+ <xref linkend="tutorial-transactions"/>.
+ </para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
@@ -67,6 +80,25 @@ COMMIT [ WORK | TRANSACTION ] [ AND [ NO ] CHAIN ]
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Outputs</title>
+
+ <para>
+ On successful completion on a non-aborted transaction, a <command>COMMIT</command>
+ command returns a command tag of the form
+<screen>
+COMMIT
+</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ However, on an aborted transaction, a <command>COMMIT</command>
+ command returns a command tag of the form
+<screen>
+ROLLBACK
+</screen>
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
<refsect1>
<title>Notes</title>
@@ -96,8 +128,13 @@ COMMIT;
<title>Compatibility</title>
<para>
- The command <command>COMMIT</command> conforms to the SQL standard. The
- form <literal>COMMIT TRANSACTION</literal> is a PostgreSQL extension.
+ The command <command>COMMIT</command> conforms to the SQL standard, except
+ that no exception condition is raised in the case where an already aborted
+ transaction is committed.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The form <literal>COMMIT TRANSACTION</literal> is a PostgreSQL extension.
</para>
</refsect1>
@@ -107,6 +144,7 @@ COMMIT;
<simplelist type="inline">
<member><xref linkend="sql-begin"/></member>
<member><xref linkend="sql-rollback"/></member>
+ <member><xref linkend="tutorial-transactions"/></member>
</simplelist>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
--
2.34.1
