QuestDB: {p}sample.tag is now SYMBOL INDEX. The processed-read data-range
lookups (EarliestSample / LatestSample) were partition scans of the unindexed
symbol; on 53.6M rows / 120 tags / 61 daily partitions the indexed seeks are
1-1.5 ms warm / 2-4 ms cold whatever the tag's history (unindexed: up to 11 ms
warm, 14 ms cold; cost grew with the table). The bootstrapper adds the index to a
pre-#683 table (ALTER ... ADD INDEX, a WAL txn, idempotent, ~3 s for 68M rows);
AutoCreateSchema=false only logs the statement. Disk +~12%; write apply time
within noise; main per-sample/raw/time-weighted queries unchanged or faster.
Rejected by measurement/analysis: bounded existence probes (still full scans
when a side is absent), LATEST ON (slowest unindexed), per-tag first/last side
table (cannot track TTL drops or deletes INSERT-only).
Both backends now read the data range before the bucket statement: an append
racing the read reaches the buckets but not the range, so it can no longer
produce a Good Count of 0 for an interval that has samples.
Tests: TagIndexTests (new-table index, bound-param seek uses the index,
tombstones excluded / outage marker counted, pre-#683 migration with identical
processed results across 10 aggregates x 4 windows x both directions).
Joseph Doherty
549d2d68b3