Joseph Shraibman <jks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > I want to do the following: > > BEGIN; > SELECT ... FROM table WHERE a = 1 FOR UPDATE; > UPDATE table SET ... WHERE a = 1; > if that resturns zero then > INSERT INTO table (...) VALUES (...); > END; > > The problem is that I need to avoid race conditions. Sometimes I get > primary key exceptions on the INSERT. > > I think I need to lock the table in share mode to keep inserts from > happening, but that blocks vacuums, and blocked vacuums block other > things behind them. So how do I get around this? Ummm... Don't lock the table for very long? :) If you commit your transaction promptly then the table will be unlocked again. -Doug ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq