MDEV-6735: Range checked for each record used with key (also MDEV-7786, MDEV-7923)

"Range Checked for Each Record" should be only employed when the other
option would be cross-product join (i.e. the other option is so bad that
we hardly risk anything).

Previous logic was: use RCfER if there are no possible quick selects, or
quick select would read > 100 rows. Also, it didn't always work as
expected due to range optimizer changing table->quick_keys and us
looking at sel->quick_keys.

Another angle is that recent versions have enabled use of Join Buffering
in e.g. outer joins. This further reduces the range of cases where RCfER
should be used.

We are still unable to estimate the cost of RCfER with any precision, so
now changing the condition of "no quick select or quick->records> 100"
to a hopefully better condition "no quick select or quick would cost more
than full table scan".

1 files changed, 16 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/sql/sql_select.cc b/sql/sql_select.cc
index 0373f0baba0..fb7cafc595f 100644
--- a/sql/sql_select.cc
+++ b/sql/sql_select.cc
@@ -9013,10 +9013,24 @@ make_join_select(JOIN *join,SQL_SELECT *select,COND *cond)
 	  if (!sel->quick_keys.is_subset(tab->checked_keys) ||
               !sel->needed_reg.is_subset(tab->checked_keys))
 	  {
+            /*
+              "Range checked for each record" is a "last resort" access method
+              that should only be used when the other option is a cross-product
+              join.
+
+              We use the following condition (it's approximate):
+              1. There are potential keys for (sel->needed_reg)
+              2. There were no possible ways to construct a quick select, or
+                 the quick select would be more expensive than the full table
+                 scan.
+            */
 	    tab->use_quick= (!sel->needed_reg.is_clear_all() &&
 			     (sel->quick_keys.is_clear_all() ||
-			      (sel->quick &&
-			       (sel->quick->records >= 100L)))) ?
+                              (sel->quick && 
+                               sel->quick->read_time > 
+                               tab->table->file->scan_time() + 
+                               tab->table->file->stats.records/TIME_FOR_COMPARE
+                               ))) ?
 	      2 : 1;
 	    sel->read_tables= used_tables & ~current_map;
             sel->quick_keys.clear_all();