mtree_gist

This repository contains the data and source code of a new M-tree based index structure for PostgreSQL RDBMS. There are two academic research papers which discusses the usage and efficiency of this implementation.

📖 An implementation of the M-tree index structure for PostgreSQL using GiST

📖 Towards on experimental comparison of the M-tree index structure with BK-tree and VP-tree

Repository structure

The data directory contains the data which is used for the testing of the index implementation.
The documentation directory contains some of the documentation of the implementation written in Markdown.
The script directory contains Bash scripts to automate the installation and testing processes.
The source directory contains the source code of the index implementation written in C and SQL.

How to use

The indexed must be installed before it can be used. The index was developed on Linux and because of that the installtion process is designed for Linux as well.

Install the extension

First of all, get the source code:

$ git clone https://github.com/sajtizsolt/mtree_gist
$ cd mtree_gist

Since this extension is not yet part of the official PostgreSQL source code, it should be installed manually. The installation can be automated with the help of the script/install.sh Bash script.

All of the Bash scripts in this repository are working with files, mostly created by PostgreSQL, therefore the scripts need the correct absolute file paths to the files and directories. The scripts will try to find these paths with the help of the script/mtree_gist.properties file, WHICH IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS REPOSITORY. It should be created and filled with the correct paths.

The script/mtree_gist.properties file should contain the following properties:

# mtree_gist
mtree.source=/path/of/mtree_gist/root/directory

# PostgreSQL
postgresql.data=/path/of/data/directory/initialized/by/postgresql
postgresql.extension=/path/of/postgresql/extension/directory
postgresql.include=/path/of/postgresql/include/directory
postgresql.lib=/path/of/postgresql/library/directory
postgresql.server.log=/path/of/postgresql/server.log
postgresql.test=/path/of/test/data/directory/owned/by/postgres/user

After the file is created, run the following command:

$ sudo bash script/install.sh

Try the extension

After the extension is installed successfully it is possible to use it. This is the right time to change to postgres user and start the server. If the server was running before the installation, it should be restarted now. Run the following commands:

$ sudo -iu postgres
$ sudo script/stop.sh
$ sudo script/start.sh
$ psql

After the interactive PostgreSQL terminal is running, type the following SQL commands:

$ DROP EXTENSION IF EXISTS mtree_gist CASCADE;
$ CREATE EXTENSION mtree_gist;

Now the extension is created and can be recognized by PostgreSQL, so it can be used.

Development

Read this document for some development notes.

Read this document for the to-do list.