Use a specialized class for querying events

This changes various controllers to use the new EventCollection class
for retrieving events. This class uses a JOIN LATERAL query on
PostgreSQL to retrieve queries in a more efficient way, while falling
back to a simpler / less efficient query for MySQL.

The EventCollection class also includes a limit on the number of events
to display to prevent malicious users from cycling through all events,
as doing so could put a lot of pressure on the database.

JOIN LATERAL is only supported on PostgreSQL starting with version 9.3.0
and as such this optimisation is only used when using PostgreSQL 9.3 or
newer.

app/controllers/dashboard/projects_controller.rb

@@ -52,8 +52,10 @@ class Dashboard::ProjectsController < Dashboard::ApplicationController
   end
 
   def load_events
-    @events = Event.in_projects(load_projects(params.merge(non_public: true)))
-    @events = event_filter.apply_filter(@events).with_associations
-    @events = @events.limit(20).offset(params[:offset] || 0)
+    projects = load_projects(params.merge(non_public: true))
+
+    @events = EventCollection
+      .new(projects, offset: params[:offset].to_i, filter: event_filter)
+      .to_a
   end
 end

app/controllers/dashboard_controller.rb

@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ class DashboardController < Dashboard::ApplicationController
         current_user.authorized_projects
       end
 
-    @events = Event.in_projects(projects)
-    @events = @event_filter.apply_filter(@events).with_associations
-    @events = @events.limit(20).offset(params[:offset] || 0)
+    @events = EventCollection
+      .new(projects, offset: params[:offset].to_i, filter: @event_filter)
+      .to_a
   end
 
   def set_show_full_reference

app/controllers/groups_controller.rb

@@ -160,9 +160,9 @@ class GroupsController < Groups::ApplicationController
   end
 
   def load_events
-    @events = Event.in_projects(@projects)
-    @events = event_filter.apply_filter(@events).with_associations
-    @events = @events.limit(20).offset(params[:offset] || 0)
+    @events = EventCollection
+      .new(@projects, offset: params[:offset].to_i, filter: event_filter)
+      .to_a
   end
 
   def user_actions

app/controllers/projects_controller.rb

@@ -301,10 +301,11 @@ class ProjectsController < Projects::ApplicationController
   end
 
   def load_events
-    @events = @project.events.recent
-    @events = event_filter.apply_filter(@events).with_associations
-    limit = (params[:limit] || 20).to_i
-    @events = @events.limit(limit).offset(params[:offset] || 0)
+    projects = Project.where(id: @project.id)
+
+    @events = EventCollection
+      .new(projects, offset: params[:offset].to_i, filter: event_filter)
+      .to_a
   end
 
   def project_params

app/models/event.rb

@@ -62,8 +62,13 @@ class Event < ActiveRecord::Base
   scope :recent, -> { reorder(id: :desc) }
   scope :code_push, -> { where(action: PUSHED) }
 
-  scope :in_projects, ->(projects) do
-    where(project_id: projects.pluck(:id)).recent
+  scope :in_projects, -> (projects) do
+    sub_query = projects
+      .except(:order)
+      .select(1)
+      .where('projects.id = events.project_id')
+
+    where('EXISTS (?)', sub_query).recent
   end
 
   scope :with_associations, -> do

app/models/event_collection.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+# A collection of events to display in an event list.
+#
+# An EventCollection is meant to be used for displaying events to a user (e.g.
+# in a controller), it's not suitable for building queries that are used for
+# building other queries.
+class EventCollection
+  # To prevent users from putting too much pressure on the database by cycling
+  # through thousands of events we put a limit on the number of pages.
+  MAX_PAGE = 10
+
+  # projects - An ActiveRecord::Relation object that returns the projects for
+  #            which to retrieve events.
+  # filter - An EventFilter instance to use for filtering events.
+  def initialize(projects, limit: 20, offset: 0, filter: nil)
+    @projects = projects
+    @limit = limit
+    @offset = offset
+    @filter = filter
+  end
+
+  # Returns an Array containing the events.
+  def to_a
+    return [] if current_page > MAX_PAGE
+
+    relation = if Gitlab::Database.join_lateral_supported?
+                 relation_with_join_lateral
+               else
+                 relation_without_join_lateral
+               end
+
+    relation.with_associations.to_a
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  # Returns the events relation to use when JOIN LATERAL is not supported.
+  #
+  # This relation simply gets all the events for all authorized projects, then
+  # limits that set.
+  def relation_without_join_lateral
+    events = filtered_events.in_projects(projects)
+
+    paginate_events(events)
+  end
+
+  # Returns the events relation to use when JOIN LATERAL is supported.
+  #
+  # This relation is built using JOIN LATERAL, producing faster queries than a
+  # regular LIMIT + OFFSET approach.
+  def relation_with_join_lateral
+    projects_for_lateral = projects.select(:id).to_sql
+
+    lateral = filtered_events
+      .limit(limit_for_join_lateral)
+      .where('events.project_id = projects_for_lateral.id')
+      .to_sql
+
+    # The outer query does not need to re-apply the filters since the JOIN
+    # LATERAL body already takes care of this.
+    outer = base_relation
+      .from("(#{projects_for_lateral}) projects_for_lateral")
+      .joins("JOIN LATERAL (#{lateral}) AS #{Event.table_name} ON true")
+
+    paginate_events(outer)
+  end
+
+  def filtered_events
+    @filter ? @filter.apply_filter(base_relation) : base_relation
+  end
+
+  def paginate_events(events)
+    events.limit(@limit).offset(@offset)
+  end
+
+  def base_relation
+    # We want to have absolute control over the event queries being built, thus
+    # we're explicitly opting out of any default scopes that may be set.
+    Event.unscoped.recent
+  end
+
+  def limit_for_join_lateral
+    # Applying the OFFSET on the inside of a JOIN LATERAL leads to incorrect
+    # results. To work around this we need to increase the inner limit for every
+    # page.
+    #
+    # This means that on page 1 we use LIMIT 20, and an outer OFFSET of 0. On
+    # page 2 we use LIMIT 40 and an outer OFFSET of 20.
+    @limit + @offset
+  end
+
+  def current_page
+    (@offset / @limit) + 1
+  end
+
+  def projects
+    @projects.except(:order)
+  end
+end

changelogs/unreleased/use-a-specialized-class-for-querying-events.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: Use a specialized class for querying events to improve performance
+merge_request:
+author:

db/migrate/20170727123534_add_index_on_events_project_id_id.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# See http://doc.gitlab.com/ce/development/migration_style_guide.html
+# for more information on how to write migrations for GitLab.
+
+class AddIndexOnEventsProjectIdId < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  include Gitlab::Database::MigrationHelpers
+
+  DOWNTIME = false
+
+  COLUMNS = %i[project_id id].freeze
+  TABLES = %i[events events_for_migration].freeze
+
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  def up
+    TABLES.each do |table|
+      add_concurrent_index(table, COLUMNS) unless index_exists?(table, COLUMNS)
+
+      # We remove the index _after_ adding the new one since MySQL doesn't let
+      # you remove an index when a foreign key exists for the same column.
+      if index_exists?(table, :project_id)
+        remove_concurrent_index(table, :project_id)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  def down
+    TABLES.each do |table|
+      unless index_exists?(table, :project_id)
+        add_concurrent_index(table, :project_id)
+      end
+
+      unless index_exists?(table, COLUMNS)
+        remove_concurrent_index(table, COLUMNS)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end

db/schema.rb

@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20170807160457) do
   add_index "events", ["action"], name: "index_events_on_action", using: :btree
   add_index "events", ["author_id"], name: "index_events_on_author_id", using: :btree
   add_index "events", ["created_at"], name: "index_events_on_created_at", using: :btree
-  add_index "events", ["project_id"], name: "index_events_on_project_id", using: :btree
+  add_index "events", ["project_id", "id"], name: "index_events_on_project_id_and_id", using: :btree
   add_index "events", ["target_id"], name: "index_events_on_target_id", using: :btree
   add_index "events", ["target_type"], name: "index_events_on_target_type", using: :btree
 
@@ -546,7 +546,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20170807160457) do
 
   add_index "events_for_migration", ["action"], name: "index_events_for_migration_on_action", using: :btree
   add_index "events_for_migration", ["author_id"], name: "index_events_for_migration_on_author_id", using: :btree
-  add_index "events_for_migration", ["project_id"], name: "index_events_for_migration_on_project_id", using: :btree
+  add_index "events_for_migration", ["project_id", "id"], name: "index_events_for_migration_on_project_id_and_id", using: :btree
   add_index "events_for_migration", ["target_type", "target_id"], name: "index_events_for_migration_on_target_type_and_target_id", using: :btree
 
   create_table "feature_gates", force: :cascade do |t|

lib/gitlab/database.rb

@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ module Gitlab
       database_version.match(/\A(?:PostgreSQL |)([^\s]+).*\z/)[1]
     end
 
+    def self.join_lateral_supported?
+      postgresql? && version.to_f >= 9.3
+    end
+
     def self.nulls_last_order(field, direction = 'ASC')
       order = "#{field} #{direction}"
 

spec/lib/gitlab/database_spec.rb

@@ -51,6 +51,28 @@ describe Gitlab::Database do
     end
   end
 
+  describe '.join_lateral_supported?' do
+    it 'returns false when using MySQL' do
+      allow(described_class).to receive(:postgresql?).and_return(false)
+
+      expect(described_class.join_lateral_supported?).to eq(false)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns false when using PostgreSQL 9.2' do
+      allow(described_class).to receive(:postgresql?).and_return(true)
+      allow(described_class).to receive(:version).and_return('9.2.1')
+
+      expect(described_class.join_lateral_supported?).to eq(false)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns true when using PostgreSQL 9.3.0 or newer' do
+      allow(described_class).to receive(:postgresql?).and_return(true)
+      allow(described_class).to receive(:version).and_return('9.3.0')
+
+      expect(described_class.join_lateral_supported?).to eq(true)
+    end
+  end
+
   describe '.nulls_last_order' do
     context 'when using PostgreSQL' do
       before do

spec/models/event_collection_spec.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe EventCollection do
+  describe '#to_a' do
+    let(:project) { create(:project_empty_repo) }
+    let(:projects) { Project.where(id: project.id) }
+    let(:user) { create(:user) }
+
+    before do
+      20.times do
+        event = create(:push_event, project: project, author: user)
+
+        create(:push_event_payload, event: event)
+      end
+
+      create(:closed_issue_event, project: project, author: user)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns an Array of events' do
+      events = described_class.new(projects).to_a
+
+      expect(events).to be_an_instance_of(Array)
+    end
+
+    it 'applies a limit to the number of events' do
+      events = described_class.new(projects).to_a
+
+      expect(events.length).to eq(20)
+    end
+
+    it 'can paginate through events' do
+      events = described_class.new(projects, offset: 20).to_a
+
+      expect(events.length).to eq(1)
+    end
+
+    it 'returns an empty Array when crossing the maximum page number' do
+      events = described_class.new(projects, limit: 1, offset: 15).to_a
+
+      expect(events).to be_empty
+    end
+
+    it 'allows filtering of events using an EventFilter' do
+      filter = EventFilter.new(EventFilter.issue)
+      events = described_class.new(projects, filter: filter).to_a
+
+      expect(events.length).to eq(1)
+      expect(events[0].action).to eq(Event::CLOSED)
+    end
+  end
+end