Fix two backfill bugs which prevented backfill from working correctly

- When receiving backfill requests, do not send the event that was in the original request.
- When storing backfill results, correctly update the backwards extremity for the room.

roomserver/query/query.go

@@ -607,6 +607,15 @@ func (r *RoomserverQueryAPI) scanEventTree(
 	var next []string
 	var pre string
 
+	// TODO: add tests for this function to ensure it meets the contract that callers expect (and doc what that is supposed to be)
+	// Currently, callers like QueryBackfill will call scanEventTree with a pre-populated `visited` map, assuming that by doing
+	// so means that the events in that map will NOT be returned from this function. That is not currently true, resulting in
+	// duplicate events being sent in response to /backfill requests.
+	initialIgnoreList := make(map[string]bool, len(visited))
+	for k, v := range visited {
+		initialIgnoreList[k] = v
+	}
+
 	resultNIDs = make([]types.EventNID, 0, limit)
 
 	var checkedServerInRoom bool
@@ -643,8 +652,11 @@ BFSLoop:
 			if len(resultNIDs) == limit {
 				break BFSLoop
 			}
+
+			if !initialIgnoreList[ev.EventID()] {
 				// Update the list of events to retrieve.
 				resultNIDs = append(resultNIDs, ev.EventNID)
+			}
 			// Loop through the event's parents.
 			for _, pre = range ev.PrevEventIDs() {
 				// Only add an event to the list of next events to process if it

syncapi/storage/postgres/backward_extremities_table.go

@@ -21,39 +21,53 @@ import (
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/common"
 )
 
+// The purpose of this table is to keep track of backwards extremities for a room.
+// Backwards extremities are the earliest (DAG-wise) known events which we have
+// the entire event JSON. These event IDs are used in federation requests to fetch
+// even earlier events.
+//
+// We persist the previous event IDs as well, one per row, so when we do fetch even
+// earlier events we can simply delete rows which referenced it. Consider the graph:
+//        A
+//        |   Event C has 1 prev_event ID: A.
+//    B   C
+//    |___|   Event D has 2 prev_event IDs: B and C.
+//      |
+//      D
+// The earliest known event we have is D, so this table has 2 rows.
+// A backfill request gives us C but not B. We delete rows where prev_event=C. This
+// still means that D is a backwards extremity as we do not have event B. However, event
+// C is *also* a backwards extremity at this point as we do not have event A. Later,
+// when we fetch event B, we delete rows where prev_event=B. This then removes D as
+// a backwards extremity because there are no more rows with event_id=B.
 const backwardExtremitiesSchema = `
 -- Stores output room events received from the roomserver.
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS syncapi_backward_extremities (
 	-- The 'room_id' key for the event.
 	room_id TEXT NOT NULL,
-	-- The event ID for the event.
+	-- The event ID for the last known event. This is the backwards extremity.
 	event_id TEXT NOT NULL,
+	-- The prev_events for the last known event. This is used to update extremities.
+	prev_event_id TEXT NOT NULL,
 
-	PRIMARY KEY(room_id, event_id)
+	PRIMARY KEY(room_id, event_id, prev_event_id)
 );
 `
 
 const insertBackwardExtremitySQL = "" +
-	"INSERT INTO syncapi_backward_extremities (room_id, event_id)" +
+	"INSERT INTO syncapi_backward_extremities (room_id, event_id, prev_event_id)" +
-	" VALUES ($1, $2)" +
+	" VALUES ($1, $2, $3)" +
 	" ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING"
 
 const selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoomSQL = "" +
 	"SELECT event_id FROM syncapi_backward_extremities WHERE room_id = $1"
 
-const isBackwardExtremitySQL = "" +
-	"SELECT EXISTS (" +
-	" SELECT TRUE FROM syncapi_backward_extremities" +
-	" WHERE room_id = $1 AND event_id = $2" +
-	")"
-
 const deleteBackwardExtremitySQL = "" +
-	"DELETE FROM syncapi_backward_extremities WHERE room_id = $1 AND event_id = $2"
+	"DELETE FROM syncapi_backward_extremities WHERE room_id = $1 AND prev_event_id = $2"
 
 type backwardExtremitiesStatements struct {
 	insertBackwardExtremityStmt          *sql.Stmt
 	selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoomStmt *sql.Stmt
-	isBackwardExtremityStmt              *sql.Stmt
 	deleteBackwardExtremityStmt          *sql.Stmt
 }
 
@@ -68,9 +82,6 @@ func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) prepare(db *sql.DB) (err error) {
 	if s.selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoomStmt, err = db.Prepare(selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoomSQL); err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	if s.isBackwardExtremityStmt, err = db.Prepare(isBackwardExtremitySQL); err != nil {
-		return
-	}
 	if s.deleteBackwardExtremityStmt, err = db.Prepare(deleteBackwardExtremitySQL); err != nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -78,17 +89,15 @@ func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) prepare(db *sql.DB) (err error) {
 }
 
 func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) insertsBackwardExtremity(
-	ctx context.Context, roomID, eventID string,
+	ctx context.Context, txn *sql.Tx, roomID, eventID string, prevEventID string,
 ) (err error) {
-	_, err = s.insertBackwardExtremityStmt.ExecContext(ctx, roomID, eventID)
+	_, err = txn.Stmt(s.insertBackwardExtremityStmt).ExecContext(ctx, roomID, eventID, prevEventID)
 	return
 }
 
 func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoom(
 	ctx context.Context, roomID string,
 ) (eventIDs []string, err error) {
-	eventIDs = make([]string, 0)
-
 	rows, err := s.selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoomStmt.QueryContext(ctx, roomID)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
@@ -107,16 +116,9 @@ func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) selectBackwardExtremitiesForRoom(
 	return eventIDs, rows.Err()
 }
 
-func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) isBackwardExtremity(
-	ctx context.Context, roomID, eventID string,
-) (isBE bool, err error) {
-	err = s.isBackwardExtremityStmt.QueryRowContext(ctx, roomID, eventID).Scan(&isBE)
-	return
-}
-
 func (s *backwardExtremitiesStatements) deleteBackwardExtremity(
-	ctx context.Context, roomID, eventID string,
+	ctx context.Context, txn *sql.Tx, roomID, knownEventID string,
 ) (err error) {
-	_, err = s.insertBackwardExtremityStmt.ExecContext(ctx, roomID, eventID)
+	_, err = txn.Stmt(s.deleteBackwardExtremityStmt).ExecContext(ctx, roomID, knownEventID)
 	return
 }

syncapi/storage/postgres/syncserver.go

@@ -112,22 +112,19 @@ func (d *SyncServerDatasource) Events(ctx context.Context, eventIDs []string) ([
 	return d.StreamEventsToEvents(nil, streamEvents), nil
 }
 
+// handleBackwardExtremities adds this event as a backwards extremity if and only if we do not have all of
+// the events listed in the event's 'prev_events'. This function also updates the backwards extremities table
+// to account for the fact that the given event is no longer a backwards extremity, but may be marked as such.
 func (d *SyncServerDatasource) handleBackwardExtremities(ctx context.Context, ev *gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent) error {
-	// If the event is already known as a backward extremity, don't consider
+	return common.WithTransaction(d.db, func(txn *sql.Tx) error {
-	// it as such anymore now that we have it.
+		if err := d.backwardExtremities.deleteBackwardExtremity(ctx, txn, ev.RoomID(), ev.EventID()); err != nil {
-	isBackwardExtremity, err := d.backwardExtremities.isBackwardExtremity(ctx, ev.RoomID(), ev.EventID())
+			util.GetLogger(ctx).Error("DELETE FAILED: ", err)
-	if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-	if isBackwardExtremity {
-		if err = d.backwardExtremities.deleteBackwardExtremity(ctx, ev.RoomID(), ev.EventID()); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
 
 		// Check if we have all of the event's previous events. If an event is
 		// missing, add it to the room's backward extremities.
-	prevEvents, err := d.events.selectEvents(ctx, nil, ev.PrevEventIDs())
+		prevEvents, err := d.events.selectEvents(ctx, txn, ev.PrevEventIDs())
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -142,13 +139,17 @@ func (d *SyncServerDatasource) handleBackwardExtremities(ctx context.Context, ev
 
 			// If the event is missing, consider it a backward extremity.
 			if !found {
-			if err = d.backwardExtremities.insertsBackwardExtremity(ctx, ev.RoomID(), ev.EventID()); err != nil {
+				util.GetLogger(ctx).Info(eID, " is a backwards extremity for event ", ev.EventID())
+				if err = d.backwardExtremities.insertsBackwardExtremity(ctx, txn, ev.RoomID(), ev.EventID(), eID); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
+			} else {
+				util.GetLogger(ctx).Info(eID, " is NOT a backwards extremity ", ev.EventID())
 			}
 		}
 
 		return nil
+	})
 }
 
 // WriteEvent into the database. It is not safe to call this function from multiple goroutines, as it would create races
@@ -272,6 +273,7 @@ func (d *SyncServerDatasource) GetEventsInRange(
 			forwardLimit = to.PDUPosition
 		}
 
+		util.GetLogger(ctx).Info("TOPOLOGY SELECT from >", backwardLimit, "  to <=", forwardLimit)
 		// Select the event IDs from the defined range.
 		var eIDs []string
 		eIDs, err = d.topology.selectEventIDsInRange(
@@ -280,6 +282,7 @@ func (d *SyncServerDatasource) GetEventsInRange(
 		if err != nil {
 			return
 		}
+		util.GetLogger(ctx).Info("TOPOLOGY SELECTED ", eIDs)
 
 		// Retrieve the events' contents using their IDs.
 		events, err = d.events.selectEvents(ctx, nil, eIDs)