squawk

linter for Postgres migrations
Why?
Prevent unexpected downtime caused by database migrations.
Also it seemed like a nice project to spend more time with Rust.
Install
Note: due to squawk's dependency on
libpg_query, squawk
only supports Linux and macOS
cargo install squawk
# macOS
brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sbdchd/squawk/master/Formula/squawk.rb
# or install binaries directly via the releases page
https://github.com/sbdchd/squawk/releases
Usage
❯ squawk example.sql
example.sql:2:1: warning: prefer-text-field
2 | --
3 | -- Create model Bar
4 | --
5 | CREATE TABLE "core_bar" (
6 | "id" serial NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
7 | "alpha" varchar(100) NOT NULL
8 | );
note: Changing the size of a varchar field requires an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock.
help: Use a text field with a check constraint.
example.sql:9:2: warning: require-concurrent-index-creation
9 |
10 | CREATE INDEX "field_name_idx" ON "table_name" ("field_name");
note: Creating an index blocks writes.
note: Create the index CONCURRENTLY.
example.sql:11:2: warning: disallowed-unique-constraint
11 |
12 | ALTER TABLE table_name ADD CONSTRAINT field_name_constraint UNIQUE (field_name);
note: Adding a UNIQUE constraint requires an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock which blocks reads.
help: Create an index CONCURRENTLY and create the constraint using the index.
example.sql:13:2: warning: adding-field-with-default
13 |
14 | ALTER TABLE "core_recipe" ADD COLUMN "foo" integer DEFAULT 10;
note: In Postgres versions <11 adding a field with a DEFAULT requires a table rewrite with an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock.
help: Add the field as nullable, then set a default, backfill, and remove nullabilty.
squawk --help
squawk
Find problems in your SQL
USAGE:
squawk [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [--] [paths]...
FLAGS:
-h, --help
Prints help information
--list-rules
List all available rules
-V, --version
Prints version information
OPTIONS:
--dump-ast <dump-ast>
Output AST in JSON [possible values: Raw, Parsed]
-e, --exclude <exclude>...
Exclude specific warnings
For example: --exclude=require-concurrent-index-creation,ban-drop-database
--explain <explain>
Provide documentation on the given rule
--reporter <reporter>
Style of error reporting [possible values: Tty, Gcc, Json]
ARGS:
<paths>...
Paths to search
Rules
Individual rules can be disabled via the --exclude flag
squawk --exclude=adding-field-with-default,disallowed-unique-constraint example.sql
require-concurrent-index-creation
Ensure all index creations use the CONCURRENTLY option.
This rule ignores indexes added to tables created in the same transaction.
During a normal index creation updates are blocked. CONCURRENTLY avoids the
issue of blocking.
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-createindex.html#SQL-CREATEINDEX-CONCURRENTLY
constraint-missing-not-valid
Check that all new constraints have NOT VALID.
By default new constraints require a table scan and block writes to the
table. Using NOT VALID with a later VALIDATE CONSTRAINT call prevents the
table scan and results in the validation step only requiring a SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE lock.
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-altertable.html#SQL-ALTERTABLE-NOTES
adding-field-with-default
On Postgres versions less than 11, adding a field with a DEFAULT requires a
table rewrite with an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock.
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/10/sql-altertable.html#SQL-ALTERTABLE-NOTES
changing-column-type
Changing a column type requires an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock on the table which blocks reads.
Changing the type of the column may also break other clients reading from the table.
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-altertable.html#SQL-ALTERTABLE-NOTES
adding-not-nullable-field
A NOT NULL constraint requires a table scan and the ALTER TABLE requires
an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock.
Usually this is paired with a DEFAULT which has issues on version less than
\11. See the adding-field-with-default rule.
renaming-column
Renaming a column may break existing clients.
renaming-table
Renaming a table may break existing clients.
disallowed-unique-constraint
Adding a UNIQUE constraint requires an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock which blocks reads.
Instead create an index CONCURRENTLY and create the CONSTRAINT USING the index.
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-altertable.html
ban-drop-database
Dropping a database may break existing clients.
prefer-text-field
Changing the size of a varchar field requires an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock.
Using a text field with a CHECK CONSTRAINT makes it easier to change the
max length. See the constraint-missing-not-valid rule.
prior art
related tools
- https://github.com/yandex/zero-downtime-migrations
- https://github.com/tbicr/django-pg-zero-downtime-migrations
- https://github.com/3YOURMIND/django-migration-linter
related blog posts / SE Posts / PG Docs
- https://www.braintreepayments.com/blog/safe-operations-for-high-volume-postgresql/
- https://gocardless.com/blog/zero-downtime-postgres-migrations-the-hard-parts/
- https://www.citusdata.com/blog/2018/02/22/seven-tips-for-dealing-with-postgres-locks/
- https://realpython.com/create-django-index-without-downtime/#non-atomic-migrations
- https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/158499/postgres-how-is-set-not-null-more-efficient-than-check-constraint
- https://www.postgresql.org/docs/10/sql-altertable.html#SQL-ALTERTABLE-NOTES
- https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/explicit-locking.html
- https://benchling.engineering/move-fast-and-migrate-things-how-we-automated-migrations-in-postgres-d60aba0fc3d4
dev
cargo install
cargo run
./s/test
./s/lint
./s/fmt
how it works
squawk wraps calls to libpg_query-sys in a safe interface and parses the JSON into eaiser to work with structures. libpg_query-sys in turn uses bindgen to bind to libpg_query, which itself wraps Postgres' SQL parser in a bit of C code that outputs the parsed AST into a JSON string.
Squawk then runs the rule functions over the parsed AST, gathers and pretty prints the rule violations.