rudb_common/

memory.rs

//! How much memory a query is allowed to hold.

use std::sync::Arc;
use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU64, Ordering};

use crate::error::{Error, Result};

/// A budget shared by everything running against one database.
///
/// Cheap to clone, and a clone shares the total with the budget it came from, so two queries running
/// at once are held to one limit between them rather than to one each. That is what DuckDB's
/// `memory_limit` means and it is the only reading that is any use: a limit that each query gets a
/// fresh copy of is not a limit on the process.
///
/// # What it counts
///
/// What an operator says it is holding. Nothing here hooks the allocator, so the number is the sum
/// of what the buffering operators reserved and not the resident size of the process. The gap is
/// real and it is in one direction, since an operator charges for what it asked for and never for
/// more.
///
/// How large the gap is decides whether the limit is any use. Under reporting is the safe direction
/// only while it is small: a budget that is spent at two fifths of the real footprint is not a
/// conservative limit, it is a limit that lets a query take two and a half times what it was
/// allowed and get killed from outside anyway, which is exactly what it was there to prevent. #227
/// found the aggregate doing that and it is why the operators charge a container for its capacity
/// rather than its length and add [`ALLOCATION`] per block. [`Memory::peak`] is the accounted side
/// of that comparison, so the gap can be measured rather than assumed.
///
/// The operators that reserve are the ones that buffer without bound, which is sorting, grouping,
/// duplicate elimination, joining, set operations and the result a query hands back. A streaming
/// operator holds one chunk and gives it away again, so charging it would be counting the same
/// megabyte once per level of the tree.
///
/// # Why a reservation rather than a pair of calls
///
/// [`Memory::reserve`] hands back a [`Reservation`] that releases what it took when it is dropped,
/// so an operator that fails halfway through, or a query stopped by an interrupt, gives its memory
/// back without anybody writing the release. A pair of `take` and `give` calls is the version where
/// the release is missed on the error path, and the error path here is the one that matters, since
/// running out of memory is itself an error and it unwinds through every operator below.
#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
pub struct Memory {
    inner: Arc<Budget>,
}

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Budget {
    used: AtomicU64,
    /// The limit, with [`NO_LIMIT`] meaning there is none.
    ///
    /// Atomic rather than plain, because `SET memory_limit` changes it while queries are running
    /// and the budget is shared by every one of them. A query that is already holding more than a
    /// new limit allows is not stopped: it keeps what it has and is refused the next time it asks
    /// for more, which is what DuckDB does and is the only behaviour that does not turn a setting
    /// into a way of killing whatever happens to be running.
    limit: AtomicU64,
    /// The most that has ever been held at once, which nothing gives back.
    ///
    /// Added for #227, where the question was how far the accounting is from what the process
    /// actually takes, and the only way to ask it was to run a query under `/usr/bin/time -v` and
    /// compare by hand. Now the accounted side of that comparison is a number the database will
    /// say, so a test can assert on it and a benchmark can print it beside the resident set.
    peak: AtomicU64,
}

/// What the limit holds when there is no limit.
///
/// A sentinel rather than an `Option`, because an `Option<u64>` is not atomic and a lock around the
/// limit would be a lock taken on every reservation.
const NO_LIMIT: u64 = u64::MAX;

/// What the allocator takes on top of a block, for every block handed out.
///
/// Every general purpose allocator keeps a header beside the block and rounds the size up to an
/// alignment, and none of them will say by how much. Sixteen is glibc's, an eight byte header and a
/// sixteen byte alignment, and it is a floor rather than an average, so a caller that adds this per
/// allocation is still under reporting and is under reporting by much less than one that adds
/// nothing.
///
/// It matters because the things this budget counts are made of small allocations. A hash table of
/// seventeen million groups is seventeen million blocks, and sixteen bytes apiece is a quarter of a
/// gigabyte that was invisible before #227.
pub const ALLOCATION: u64 = 16;

impl Default for Memory {
    fn default() -> Self {
        Self::unlimited()
    }
}

impl Memory {
    /// A budget nothing is refused against, which still counts what is held.
    ///
    /// The counting is kept because [`Memory::used`] is worth reading whether or not there is a
    /// limit, and because a query that behaves differently depending on whether a limit is set is a
    /// query whose limit cannot be tested by setting one.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn unlimited() -> Self {
        Self::new(None)
    }

    /// A budget of this many bytes.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn with_limit(bytes: u64) -> Self {
        Self::new(Some(bytes))
    }

    /// A budget of this many bytes, or no limit at all.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn new(limit: Option<u64>) -> Self {
        let limit = AtomicU64::new(limit.unwrap_or(NO_LIMIT));
        Self { inner: Arc::new(Budget { used: AtomicU64::new(0), limit, peak: AtomicU64::new(0) }) }
    }

    /// The limit, if there is one.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn limit(&self) -> Option<u64> {
        match self.inner.limit.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
            NO_LIMIT => None,
            limit => Some(limit),
        }
    }

    /// Changes the limit, for every query holding this budget.
    ///
    /// A limit below what is already held is allowed and refuses the next reservation rather than
    /// stopping anything, which is what DuckDB does and is the only behaviour that does not turn a
    /// setting into a way of killing whatever happens to be running.
    pub fn set_limit(&self, limit: Option<u64>) {
        self.inner.limit.store(limit.unwrap_or(NO_LIMIT), Ordering::Relaxed);
    }

    /// How many bytes are held right now.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn used(&self) -> u64 {
        self.inner.used.load(Ordering::Relaxed)
    }

    /// The most that was ever held at once since the last [`Memory::forget_peak`].
    ///
    /// [`Memory::used`] falls back to zero when a query ends, so it answers what is held and never
    /// what was held, and what was held is the number worth knowing. It is what a query cost, it is
    /// what has to be compared against the resident set to find out whether the accounting means
    /// anything, and it is the one to print beside a benchmark row.
    ///
    /// It is a property of the budget rather than of a query, so two queries running at once share
    /// one and it is the peak of the pair.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn peak(&self) -> u64 {
        self.inner.peak.load(Ordering::Relaxed)
    }

    /// Puts the high water mark back to what is held right now.
    ///
    /// Back to what is held rather than to zero, because a mark below the current total would be a
    /// number that says less was held than is held.
    pub fn forget_peak(&self) {
        self.inner.peak.store(self.used(), Ordering::Relaxed);
    }

    /// A reservation on this budget that is holding nothing yet.
    ///
    /// What a buffering operator starts with, because it is built before it has read anything and
    /// its constructor has no error to report. It grows as the input arrives.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn reservation(&self) -> Reservation {
        Reservation { memory: self.clone(), bytes: 0 }
    }

    /// Takes `bytes` out of the budget, to be given back when the reservation is dropped.
    ///
    /// Reserving nothing always works and is the way an operator gets a handle it can grow later.
    ///
    /// # Errors
    ///
    /// [`crate::ErrorCode::OutOfMemory`] when the limit is set and this would pass it. Nothing is
    /// taken in that case, so a caller that carries on after catching it is holding what it held
    /// before.
    pub fn reserve(&self, bytes: u64) -> Result<Reservation> {
        self.take(bytes)?;
        Ok(Reservation { memory: self.clone(), bytes })
    }

    /// Adds to the total, or reports that it cannot.
    ///
    /// The loop is a compare and exchange rather than a fetch and add with a check afterwards,
    /// because a fetch and add that has to be undone is a window in which another thread sees a
    /// total that was never allowed and refuses a query that would have fit.
    fn take(&self, bytes: u64) -> Result<()> {
        let Some(limit) = self.limit() else {
            let was = self.inner.used.fetch_add(bytes, Ordering::Relaxed);
            self.inner.peak.fetch_max(was + bytes, Ordering::Relaxed);
            return Ok(());
        };
        let mut used = self.inner.used.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
        loop {
            let wanted = used.saturating_add(bytes);
            if wanted > limit {
                return Err(Error::out_of_memory(format!(
                    "could not allocate {} ({}/{} used)",
                    human(bytes),
                    human(used),
                    human(limit)
                )));
            }
            match self.inner.used.compare_exchange_weak(
                used,
                wanted,
                Ordering::Relaxed,
                Ordering::Relaxed,
            ) {
                Ok(_) => {
                    self.inner.peak.fetch_max(wanted, Ordering::Relaxed);
                    return Ok(());
                }
                Err(now) => used = now,
            }
        }
    }

    /// Gives bytes back.
    fn give(&self, bytes: u64) {
        self.inner.used.fetch_sub(bytes, Ordering::Relaxed);
    }
}

/// Memory one operator is holding, given back when this is dropped.
///
/// It starts at whatever [`Memory::reserve`] was asked for and grows from there, which is the shape
/// a buffering operator wants: it does not know how much it will hold until it has read its input,
/// and it wants to be told as soon as the answer is too much rather than after the last row.
#[derive(Debug)]
pub struct Reservation {
    memory: Memory,
    bytes: u64,
}

impl Reservation {
    /// How much this reservation is holding.
    #[must_use]
    pub fn bytes(&self) -> u64 {
        self.bytes
    }

    /// Takes another `bytes` out of the same budget.
    ///
    /// # Errors
    ///
    /// [`crate::ErrorCode::OutOfMemory`] when the limit is set and this would pass it. The
    /// reservation is unchanged in that case and still releases what it already held.
    pub fn grow(&mut self, bytes: u64) -> Result<()> {
        self.memory.take(bytes)?;
        self.bytes += bytes;
        Ok(())
    }

    /// Gives everything back now rather than at the end of the scope.
    ///
    /// For an operator that has finished with its buffer and is about to hand out what it built
    /// from it, where waiting for the drop would hold two copies against the limit at once.
    pub fn release(&mut self) {
        self.memory.give(self.bytes);
        self.bytes = 0;
    }
}

impl Drop for Reservation {
    fn drop(&mut self) {
        self.memory.give(self.bytes);
    }
}

/// A size the way an error message says one.
///
/// The shape DuckDB prints, which is one decimal place and the binary units, so that
/// `9.3 MiB/9.5 MiB used` in a message from here reads as the same sentence as the one from there.
/// It rounds, which is why it is not the formatter `--print-config` uses: a configuration dump has
/// to print a number somebody can compare against what they set, and a message about running out of
/// memory has to print one somebody can read.
pub fn human(bytes: u64) -> String {
    #[expect(clippy::cast_precision_loss, reason = "a rounded size is the point of this function")]
    let mut size = bytes as f64;
    for unit in ["bytes", "KiB", "MiB", "GiB", "TiB", "PiB"] {
        if size < 1024.0 || unit == "PiB" {
            return if unit == "bytes" {
                format!("{bytes} bytes")
            } else {
                format!("{size:.1} {unit}")
            };
        }
        size /= 1024.0;
    }
    unreachable!("the loop returns on its last unit")
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::{Memory, human};

    #[test]
    fn the_peak_remembers_what_used_forgets() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(1 << 20);
        {
            let _held = memory.reserve(1000).expect("room for the first");
            let _more = memory.reserve(2000).expect("room for the second");
            assert_eq!(memory.used(), 3000);
            assert_eq!(memory.peak(), 3000);
        }
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 0);
        assert_eq!(memory.peak(), 3000, "what was held is the number worth knowing");
        let held = memory.reserve(500).expect("room again");
        assert_eq!(memory.peak(), 3000, "a smaller total does not move the mark down");
        memory.forget_peak();
        assert_eq!(memory.peak(), 500, "forgetting goes back to what is held, not to zero");
        drop(held);
    }

    #[test]
    fn a_budget_with_no_limit_still_has_a_peak() {
        // The unlimited path is a plain add rather than the compare and exchange loop, so it is a
        // second place the mark has to be moved and a second place to forget to.
        let memory = Memory::unlimited();
        let held = memory.reserve(4096).expect("nothing is refused");
        drop(held);
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 0);
        assert_eq!(memory.peak(), 4096);
    }

    #[test]
    fn a_refused_reservation_does_not_move_the_mark() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(1000);
        let held = memory.reserve(900).expect("room for this");
        memory.reserve(200).expect_err("no room for that");
        assert_eq!(memory.peak(), 900, "what was refused was never held");
        drop(held);
    }

    #[test]
    fn an_unlimited_budget_refuses_nothing_and_still_counts() {
        let memory = Memory::unlimited();
        assert_eq!(memory.limit(), None);
        let held = memory.reserve(1 << 30).expect("nothing is refused");
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 1 << 30);
        assert_eq!(held.bytes(), 1 << 30);
    }

    #[test]
    fn a_reservation_gives_its_bytes_back_when_it_is_dropped() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(1024);
        {
            let _held = memory.reserve(1000).expect("a thousand of a thousand and twenty four");
            assert_eq!(memory.used(), 1000);
        }
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 0);
        memory.reserve(1000).expect("the room is back");
    }

    #[test]
    fn passing_the_limit_is_an_out_of_memory_error_that_says_the_numbers() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(10 * 1024 * 1024);
        let _held = memory.reserve(9 * 1024 * 1024).expect("nine of ten");
        let error = memory.reserve(2 * 1024 * 1024).expect_err("eleven of ten");
        assert_eq!(error.code().duckdb_name(), "Out of Memory Error");
        assert_eq!(error.message(), "could not allocate 2.0 MiB (9.0 MiB/10.0 MiB used)");
    }

    #[test]
    fn a_refused_reservation_takes_nothing() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(100);
        memory.reserve(200).expect_err("twice the limit");
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 0);
        memory.reserve(100).expect("the limit is still all there");
    }

    #[test]
    fn a_reservation_grows_until_it_cannot() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(100);
        let mut held = memory.reserve(0).expect("nothing is always available");
        held.grow(60).expect("sixty of a hundred");
        held.grow(40).expect("and the other forty");
        held.grow(1).expect_err("there is no more");
        assert_eq!(held.bytes(), 100, "the refused growth changed nothing");
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 100);
    }

    #[test]
    fn releasing_early_frees_the_room_before_the_scope_ends() {
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(100);
        let mut held = memory.reserve(100).expect("all of it");
        held.release();
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 0);
        assert_eq!(held.bytes(), 0);
        // And the drop that follows does not take the total below zero.
        drop(held);
        assert_eq!(memory.used(), 0);
    }

    #[test]
    fn two_handles_on_one_budget_are_held_to_it_between_them() {
        // A limit each query gets a fresh copy of is not a limit on the process.
        let memory = Memory::with_limit(100);
        let other = memory.clone();
        let _held = memory.reserve(60).expect("sixty");
        other.reserve(60).expect_err("the other sixty does not fit beside it");
    }

    #[test]
    fn a_size_reads_the_way_duckdb_writes_one() {
        assert_eq!(human(0), "0 bytes");
        assert_eq!(human(512), "512 bytes");
        assert_eq!(human(256 * 1024), "256.0 KiB");
        assert_eq!(human(10 * 1024 * 1024), "10.0 MiB");
        assert_eq!(human(9_751_000), "9.3 MiB");
        assert_eq!(human(3 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024), "3.0 GiB");
        assert_eq!(human(5 * 1024u64.pow(5)), "5.0 PiB");
        // The last unit runs off the end rather than there being a unit past it, because a size
        // that big is a bug in whatever asked for it and not a number anybody reads.
        assert_eq!(human(u64::MAX), "16384.0 PiB");
    }
}