[postgis-users] OID usage with PosGIS

[R. Paul Warriner]

Hello Folks,

 

Are OIDs something to be worried about with PostGIS, since they will not be
manadatory in the future for PostgreSQL?

 

Partial PostgreSQL FAQ:


4.12) What is an OID? What is a CTID?


Every row that is created in PostgreSQL gets a unique OID unless created
WITHOUT OIDS. OIDs are autotomatically assigned unique 4-byte integers that
are unique across the entire installation. However, they overflow at 4
billion, and then the OIDs start being duplicated. PostgreSQL uses OIDs to
link its internal system tables together.

To uniquely number columns in user tables, it is best to use SERIAL rather
than OIDs because SERIAL sequences are unique only within a single table.
and are therefore less likely to overflow. SERIAL8 is available for storing
eight-byte sequence values.

CTIDs are used to identify specific physical rows with block and offset
values. CTIDs change after rows are modified or reloaded. They are used by
index entries to point to physical rows.

 

Partial PostGIS mail from
http://postgis.refractions.net/pipermail/postgis-users/2005-May/007995.html:

Ok. Next release will have OID usage forced.

Both 1.0 and HEAD branches updated like this.

I wouldn't know where to put the workaround documentation, hopefully

affected people are ok with this list's archive.

 

Regards,

Paul

 

R. Paul Warriner

Network Coordinator

Town of Orchard Park

4295 South Buffalo St

Orchard Park, NY 14127

(716) 662-6403

(716) 662-6479 fax

 

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