Why is it choosing a different plan?

[Anthony Presley <anthony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all, I'm having some confusion with the 7.4 query planner.

I have two identical queries, whereby the passed (varchar) parameter
appears to be the deciding factor between a sequential or an index scan.


IE, This query:

explain SELECT DISTINCT (a1.ENTRY_ID) AS retrieved FROM OS_CURRENTSTEP
AS a1 , OS_CURRENTSTEP AS a2  WHERE a1.ENTRY_ID = a1.ENTRY_ID AND
a1.ENTRY_ID = a2.ENTRY_ID AND ( a1.OWNER =  'p1'  AND a2.STEP_ID =
1  );
NOTICE:  QUERY PLAN:

Unique  (cost=1175.88..1175.88 rows=1 width=16)
  ->  Sort  (cost=1175.88..1175.88 rows=1 width=16)
        ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..1175.87 rows=1 width=16)
              ->  Index Scan using idx_9 on os_currentstep a1
(cost=0.00..1172.45 rows=1 width=8)
              ->  Index Scan using idx_8 on os_currentstep a2
(cost=0.00..3.41 rows=1 width=8)

However, this query:

explain SELECT DISTINCT (a1.ENTRY_ID) AS retrieved FROM OS_CURRENTSTEP
AS a1 , OS_CURRENTSTEP AS a2  WHERE a1.ENTRY_ID = a1.ENTRY_ID AND
a1.ENTRY_ID = a2.ENTRY_ID AND ( a1.OWNER =  'GIL'  AND a2.STEP_ID =
1  );
NOTICE:  QUERY PLAN:

Unique  (cost=3110.22..3110.22 rows=1 width=16)
  ->  Sort  (cost=3110.22..3110.22 rows=1 width=16)
        ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..3110.21 rows=1 width=16)
              ->  Seq Scan on os_currentstep a1  (cost=0.00..3106.78
rows=1 width=8)
              ->  Index Scan using idx_8 on os_currentstep a2
(cost=0.00..3.41 rows=1 width=8)


Thoughts about why changing OWNER from 'p1' to 'GIL' would go from an
Index Scan to a Sequential?

[There is an index on os_currentstep, and it was vacuum analyze'd
recently.]

Running version 7.4 (working on upgrading to 8.0 soon).  Thanks!

--
Anthony