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Postgres like most other databases pretty much copied MVCC from Interbase/Firebird. I found the following explanations for Transactions in Firebird very helpful

Postgres like most other databases pretty much copied MVCC from Interbase/Firebird. I found the following explanations for Transactions in Firebird very helpful in terms of understanding MVCC aka MGA (multi-generational architecture) https://ib-aid.com/en/transactions-in-firebird-acid-isolation-levels-deadlocks-and-update-conflicts-resolution/ https://ib-aid.com/en/transactions-in-firebird-acid-isolatio... https://www.slideshare.net/ibsurgeon/3-how-transactionswork https://www.slideshare.net/ibsurgeon/3-how-transactionswork

eternalban 7y ago
MVCC was described in detail by David Reed in his 1978 thesis. Everyone "copied" him. Do you have cites for your assertion that Postgresql copied Interbase and not read published CS papers on the topic? The term "MGA" also seems to be a rebranding private to the Interbase universe so I question that "MVCC aka MGA" bit as well.
- tempguy9999 7y ago
  I looked that up. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterBase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterBase "Although InterBase's implementation is much more similar to the system described by Reed in his MIT dissertation than any other database that existed at the time and Starkey knew Bernstein from his previous position at the Computer Corporation of America and later at DEC, Starkey has stated that he arrived at the idea of multiversion concurrency control independently.[3] In the same comment, Starkey says: The inspiration for multi-generational concurrency control was a database system done by Prime that supported page level snapshots. The intention of the feature was to give a reader a consistent view of the database without blocking writers. The idea intrigued me as a very useful characteristic of a database system." Seems you're right. Curiously, I'd assumed before starting to read about MVCC that history was done at a page level as described above, whereas it seems it's generally done at the row/tuple level
- barking 7y ago
  Didn't mean to trod on anyone's toes. I think interbase (from which firebird forked) was the first successful/important database system to use MVCC. I just mentioned MGA because that was how I first and commonly have heard MVCC described. I guess David Reed was the first to come up with the idea even if he never implemented it. But I doubt that Postgres ignored what Interbase had demonstrated as being feasible and successful in practice.
sterwill 7y ago
I haven't heard of a link between Firebird and PostgreSQL with regards to MVCC before. I remember using PostgreSQL 6.5 with MVCC on a project back in 1999, but Borland didn't open-source InterBase (as Firebird) until after that project. Are you saying PostgreSQL "pretty much copied" the concept of MVCC, or some specific implementation? I thought MVCC was decades old by 1999.
- barking 7y ago
  Interbase might not have open-sourced by 1999 but they were using MVCC from the early 80s.

eternalban 7y ago

MVCC was described in detail by David Reed in his 1978 thesis. Everyone "copied" him. Do you have cites for your assertion that Postgresql copied Interbase and not read published CS papers on the topic? The term "MGA" also seems to be a rebranding private to the Interbase universe so I question that "MVCC aka MGA" bit as well.

tempguy9999 7y ago
I looked that up. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterBase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterBase "Although InterBase's implementation is much more similar to the system described by Reed in his MIT dissertation than any other database that existed at the time and Starkey knew Bernstein from his previous position at the Computer Corporation of America and later at DEC, Starkey has stated that he arrived at the idea of multiversion concurrency control independently.[3] In the same comment, Starkey says: The inspiration for multi-generational concurrency control was a database system done by Prime that supported page level snapshots. The intention of the feature was to give a reader a consistent view of the database without blocking writers. The idea intrigued me as a very useful characteristic of a database system." Seems you're right. Curiously, I'd assumed before starting to read about MVCC that history was done at a page level as described above, whereas it seems it's generally done at the row/tuple level
barking 7y ago
Didn't mean to trod on anyone's toes. I think interbase (from which firebird forked) was the first successful/important database system to use MVCC. I just mentioned MGA because that was how I first and commonly have heard MVCC described. I guess David Reed was the first to come up with the idea even if he never implemented it. But I doubt that Postgres ignored what Interbase had demonstrated as being feasible and successful in practice.

sterwill 7y ago

I haven't heard of a link between Firebird and PostgreSQL with regards to MVCC before. I remember using PostgreSQL 6.5 with MVCC on a project back in 1999, but Borland didn't open-source InterBase (as Firebird) until after that project. Are you saying PostgreSQL "pretty much copied" the concept of MVCC, or some specific implementation? I thought MVCC was decades old by 1999.

barking 7y ago
Interbase might not have open-sourced by 1999 but they were using MVCC from the early 80s.