Fixed #20988 -- Added model meta option select_on_save

The option can be used to force pre 1.6 style SELECT on save behaviour.
This is needed in case the database returns zero updated rows even if
there is a matching row in the DB. One such case is PostgreSQL update
trigger that returns NULL.

Reviewed by Tim Graham.

Refs #16649

3 files changed, 50 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/docs/ref/models/instances.txt b/docs/ref/models/instances.txt
index da657a9a01..d195936964 100644
--- a/docs/ref/models/instances.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/models/instances.txt
@@ -305,16 +305,23 @@ follows this algorithm:
 * If the object's primary key attribute is *not* set or if the ``UPDATE``
   didn't update anything, Django executes an ``INSERT``.
 
-.. versionchanged:: 1.6
-
-    Previously Django used ``SELECT`` - if not found ``INSERT`` else ``UPDATE``
-    algorithm. The old algorithm resulted in one more query in ``UPDATE`` case.
-
 The one gotcha here is that you should be careful not to specify a primary-key
 value explicitly when saving new objects, if you cannot guarantee the
 primary-key value is unused. For more on this nuance, see `Explicitly specifying
 auto-primary-key values`_ above and `Forcing an INSERT or UPDATE`_ below.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 1.6
+
+    Previously Django did a ``SELECT`` when the primary key attribute was set.
+    If the ``SELECT`` found a row, then Django did an ``UPDATE``, otherwise it
+    did an ``INSERT``. The old algorithm results in one more query in the
+    ``UPDATE`` case. There are some rare cases where the database doesn't
+    report that a row was updated even if the database contains a row for the
+    object's primary key value. An example is the PostgreSQL ``ON UPDATE``
+    trigger which returns ``NULL``. In such cases it is possible to revert to the
+    old algorithm by setting the :attr:`~django.db.models.Options.select_on_save`
+    option to ``True``.
+
 .. _ref-models-force-insert:
 
 Forcing an INSERT or UPDATE
diff --git a/docs/ref/models/options.txt b/docs/ref/models/options.txt
index baa24f63cb..7f5d193a89 100644
--- a/docs/ref/models/options.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/models/options.txt
@@ -256,6 +256,28 @@ Django quotes column and table names behind the scenes.
     If ``proxy = True``, a model which subclasses another model will be treated as
     a :ref:`proxy model <proxy-models>`.
 
+``select_on_save``
+------------------
+
+.. attribute:: Options.select_on_save
+
+    .. versionadded:: 1.6
+
+    Determines if Django will use the pre-1.6
+    :meth:`django.db.models.Model.save()` algorithm. The old algorithm
+    uses ``SELECT`` to determine if there is an existing row to be updated.
+    The new algorith tries an ``UPDATE`` directly. In some rare cases the
+    ``UPDATE`` of an existing row isn't visible to Django. An example is the
+    PostgreSQL ``ON UPDATE`` trigger which returns ``NULL``. In such cases the
+    new algorithm will end up doing an ``INSERT`` even when a row exists in
+    the database.
+
+    Usually there is no need to set this attribute. The default is
+    ``False``.
+
+    See :meth:`django.db.models.Model.save()` for more about the old and
+    new saving algorithm.
+
 ``unique_together``
 -------------------
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.6.txt b/docs/releases/1.6.txt
index 556edddda1..1e71e1db2e 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.6.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.6.txt
@@ -138,6 +138,22 @@ A :djadmin:`check` management command was added, enabling you to verify if your
 current configuration (currently oriented at settings) is compatible with the
 current version of Django.
 
+:meth:`Model.save() <django.db.models.Model.save()>` algorithm changed
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The :meth:`Model.save() <django.db.models.Model.save()>` method now
+tries to directly ``UPDATE`` the database if the instance has a primary
+key value. Previously ``SELECT`` was performed to determine if ``UPDATE``
+or ``INSERT`` were needed. The new algorithm needs only one query for
+updating an existing row while the old algorithm needed two. See
+:meth:`Model.save() <django.db.models.Model.save()>` for more details.
+
+In some rare cases the database doesn't report that a matching row was
+found when doing an ``UPDATE``. An example is the PostgreSQL ``ON UPDATE``
+trigger which returns ``NULL``. In such cases it is possible to set
+:attr:`django.db.models.Options.select_on_save` flag to force saving to
+use the old algorithm.
+
 Minor features
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -222,10 +238,6 @@ Minor features
 * Generic :class:`~django.contrib.gis.db.models.GeometryField` is now editable
   with the OpenLayers widget in the admin.
 
-* The :meth:`Model.save() <django.db.models.Model.save()>` will do
-  ``UPDATE`` - if not updated - ``INSERT`` instead of ``SELECT`` - if not
-  found ``INSERT`` else ``UPDATE`` in case the model's primary key is set.
-
 * The documentation contains a :doc:`deployment checklist
   </howto/deployment/checklist>`.