We have been discussing heap tuple header changes for a while now. Here is my proposal for omitting the oid, when it is not needed:
First let's eliminate t_oid from HeapTupleHeaderData. Then add the oid to the end of the structure, if and only if it is needed. The tricky part here is that there is a variable length field (t_bits) and the oid has to be properly aligned. This pseudo code snippet illustrates what I plan to do: len = offsetof(HeapTupleHeaderData, t_bits); /* 23 */ if (hasnulls) { len += BITMAPLEN(NumberOfAttributes); } if (hasoid) { len += sizeof(Oid); } len = MAXALIGN(len); hoff = len; oidoff = hoff - sizeof(Oid); #define HeapTupleHeaderGetOid(hth) \ ( *((Oid *)((char *)(hth) + (hth)->t_hoff - sizeof(Oid))) ) And this is how the structure would look like: 1 2 3 0 4 0 0 34 78 2 now oooo<---------fix--------->.x___X___ +oid <---------fix--------->.oooox___ MAXALIGN 4 +oid <---------fix--------->.....ooooX___ MAXALIGN 8 -oid <---------fix--------->.X___ 1: now oooo<---------fix--------->bx___X___ +oid <---------fix--------->boooox___ MAXALIGN 4 +oid <---------fix--------->b....ooooX___ MAXALIGN 8 -oid <---------fix--------->bX___ 2: now oooo<---------fix--------->bb...X___ +oid <---------fix--------->bb...ooooX___ MAXALIGN 4 und 8 -oid <---------fix--------->bb...x___X___ 3 4 6: 2 6 0 now oooo<---------fix--------->bbbbbb...x___X___ +oid <---------fix--------->bbbbbb...oooox___ MAXALIGN 4 +oid <---------fix--------->bbbbbb.......ooooX___ MAXALIGN 8 -oid <---------fix--------->bbbbbb...X___ where <---------fix---------> fixed sized part without oid, 23 bytes oooo oid, 4 bytes b one bitmap byte . one padding byte x start of data area (= hoff) with 4-byte-alignment X start of data area (= hoff) with 8-byte-alignment Bytes saved on architectures with 4/8 byte alignment: hoff bytes natts bitmaplen hoff72 oidoff woo saved 0 28/32 24 24/24 4/8 1-8 1 28/32 24 24/24 4/8 9-40 2-5 32/32 28 28/32 4/0 41-72 6-9 36/40 32 32/32 4/8 As a first step I've already posted a patch that eliminates direct access to t_oid. The final patch will change not much more than the getter and setter macros. Problems I have identified so far: . heap_formtuple needs a parameter bool withoid . Does heap_addheader *always* create a header with oid? . Have to check heap_xlog_xxxx routines . Occasionally a heap tuple header is copied by memmove. Comments? Servus Manfred ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to [EMAIL PROTECTED])