From 6d5f0011c4c11c8687ff204d6e3d154fc786f364 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Adams <github@joeadams.io>
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2025 21:04:35 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Fix NULL on long_running_transactions collector

When there are no long running transactions, the oldest timestamp will be NULL. This sets the metrics value to 0 (age). Also adds a test for this behavior.

Fixes #1223

Signed-off-by: Joe Adams <github@joeadams.io>
---
 collector/pg_long_running_transactions.go     | 15 +++++--
 .../pg_long_running_transactions_test.go      | 41 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/collector/pg_long_running_transactions.go b/collector/pg_long_running_transactions.go
index 072862f4e..ac1eaa70e 100644
--- a/collector/pg_long_running_transactions.go
+++ b/collector/pg_long_running_transactions.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ package collector
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"database/sql"
 	"log/slog"
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ var (
 	)
 
 	longRunningTransactionsQuery = `
-	SELECT                                                              
+	SELECT
     COUNT(*) as transactions,
     MAX(EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM clock_timestamp() - pg_stat_activity.xact_start)) AS oldest_timestamp_seconds
 FROM pg_catalog.pg_stat_activity
@@ -72,12 +73,20 @@ func (PGLongRunningTransactionsCollector) Update(ctx context.Context, instance *
 	defer rows.Close()
 
 	for rows.Next() {
-		var transactions, ageInSeconds float64
+		var transactions float64
+		var ageInSeconds sql.NullFloat64
 
 		if err := rows.Scan(&transactions, &ageInSeconds); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
+		// If there are no long running transactions, ageInSeconds will be NULL
+		// so we set it to 0
+		age := 0.0
+		if ageInSeconds.Valid {
+			age = ageInSeconds.Float64
+		}
+
 		ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
 			longRunningTransactionsCount,
 			prometheus.GaugeValue,
@@ -86,7 +95,7 @@ func (PGLongRunningTransactionsCollector) Update(ctx context.Context, instance *
 		ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
 			longRunningTransactionsAgeInSeconds,
 			prometheus.GaugeValue,
-			ageInSeconds,
+			age,
 		)
 	}
 	if err := rows.Err(); err != nil {
diff --git a/collector/pg_long_running_transactions_test.go b/collector/pg_long_running_transactions_test.go
index eedda7c65..ba7bc6a52 100644
--- a/collector/pg_long_running_transactions_test.go
+++ b/collector/pg_long_running_transactions_test.go
@@ -61,3 +61,44 @@ func TestPGLongRunningTransactionsCollector(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("there were unfulfilled exceptions: %s", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestPGLongRunningTransactionsCollectorNull(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test when no long running transactions are present
+	db, mock, err := sqlmock.New()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Error opening a stub db connection: %s", err)
+	}
+	defer db.Close()
+	inst := &instance{db: db}
+	columns := []string{
+		"transactions",
+		"age_in_seconds",
+	}
+	rows := sqlmock.NewRows(columns).
+		AddRow(0, nil)
+
+	mock.ExpectQuery(sanitizeQuery(longRunningTransactionsQuery)).WillReturnRows(rows)
+
+	ch := make(chan prometheus.Metric)
+	go func() {
+		defer close(ch)
+		c := PGLongRunningTransactionsCollector{}
+
+		if err := c.Update(context.Background(), inst, ch); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Error calling PGLongRunningTransactionsCollector.Update: %s", err)
+		}
+	}()
+	expected := []MetricResult{
+		{labels: labelMap{}, value: 0, metricType: dto.MetricType_GAUGE},
+		{labels: labelMap{}, value: 0, metricType: dto.MetricType_GAUGE},
+	}
+	convey.Convey("Metrics comparison", t, func() {
+		for _, expect := range expected {
+			m := readMetric(<-ch)
+			convey.So(expect, convey.ShouldResemble, m)
+		}
+	})
+	if err := mock.ExpectationsWereMet(); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("there were unfulfilled exceptions: %s", err)
+	}
+}