Signals, Latches, and Interrupts
October 20–23
Level: Advanced
How do backend processes communicate with each other in a PostgreSQL server? We have built many different mechanisms over the years, ranging from Unix signals and semaphores to co-operative signal handling through "interrupts" and homegrown condition variables. Some mechanisms are redundant and exist for historical reasons, some to serve some special needs.
In this presentation, I will cover the most important mechanisms in detail, and present a new "interrupts" mechanisms that I have been working on, which has hopefully been committed for v20 by the time of the conference.
