5 PostgreSQL locking behaviors that trip people up
5 points by sjamaan
5 points by sjamaan
As much as I like PostgreSQL, I have been wondering for a while whether MVCC is overhyped, especially in certain academic circles. The “this doesn't block that” mantra seems to clash with reality.
All major transactional databases that support concurrent transactions use MVCC. But yes there's usually always more to it than just the MVCC system itself.
True, but in some systems at least it is an optional feature, added to an otherwise classical lock-based engine. It may also be that everyone has it because everyone else has it. I'd be curious to hear from professionals using SQL Server or similar systems what trade-offs encounter when running transactions in serializable vs snapshot isolation, and what they find more performant.