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Offtopic: why does something that everyone here recommends all the time need something like vacuum which is heavy and can fail? What is the reason people do not cry about that as much as the Python GIL? It felt like a hack 15+ years ago and it feels just weird now. I am curious why that was never changed; it is obviously hard but is it not regarded as a great pain and priority to resolve?

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This is a hell of a comparison to try to make. How many people do you think regularly run into this kind of issue in Postgres? How many people do you think regularly run into the Python GIL?

Even if we assume your premise that vacuum is at least as bad as the GIL is correct, this would easily explain it.

Add in the sheer difference in expectations between a programming language and a database... and well, I don't think there's any mystery here at all. There's easily multiple great explanations, even if your premise is correct.

> why does something that everyone here recommends all the time need something like vacuum which is heavy and can fail?

Because it's better than the alternatives? What would you suggest?

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