ADDED   doc/wal2.md
Index: doc/wal2.md
==================================================================
--- doc/wal2.md
+++ doc/wal2.md
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+
+Wal2 Mode Notes
+===============
+
+## Activating/Deactivating Wal2 Mode
+
+"Wal2" mode is very similar to "wal" mode. To change a database to wal2 mode,
+use the command:
+
+>
+     PRAGMA journal_mode = wal2;
+
+It is not possible to change a database directly from "wal" mode to "wal2"
+mode. Instead, it must first be changed to rollback mode. So, to change a wal
+mode database to wal2 mode, the following two commands may be used:
+
+>
+     PRAGMA journal_mode = delete;
+     PRAGMA journal_mode = wal2;
+
+A database in wal2 mode may only be accessed by versions of SQLite compiled
+from this branch. Attempting to use any other version of SQLite results in an
+SQLITE_NOTADB error. A wal2 mode database may be changed back to rollback mode
+(making it accessible by all versions of SQLite) using:
+
+>
+     PRAGMA journal_mode = delete;
+
+## The Advantage of Wal2 Mode
+
+In legacy wal mode, when a writer writes data to the database, it doesn't
+modify the database file directly. Instead, it appends new data to the
+"<database>-wal" file. Readers read data from both the original database
+file and the "<database>-wal" file. At some point, data is copied from the
+"<database>-wal" file into the database file, after which the wal file can
+be deleted or overwritten. Copying data from the wal file into the database
+file is called a "checkpoint", and may be done explictly (either by "PRAGMA
+wal_checkpoint" or sqlite3_wal_checkpoint_v2()), or
+automatically (by configuring "PRAGMA wal_autocheckpoint" - this is the
+default).
+
+Checkpointers do not block writers, and writers do not block checkpointers.
+However, if a writer writes to the database while a checkpoint is ongoing,
+then the new data is appended to the end of the wal file. This means that,
+even following the checkpoint, the wal file cannot be overwritten or deleted,
+and so all subsequent transactions must also be appended to the wal file. The
+work of the checkpointer is not wasted - SQLite remembers which parts of the
+wal file have already been copied into the db file so that the next checkpoint
+does not have to do so again - but it does mean that the wal file may grow
+indefinitely if the checkpointer never gets a chance to finish without a
+writer appending to the wal file. There are also circumstances in which
+long-running readers may prevent a checkpointer from checkpointing the entire
+wal file - also causing the wal file to grow indefinitely in a busy system.
+
+Wal2 mode does not have this problem. In wal2 mode, wal files do not grow
+indefinitely even if the checkpointer never has a chance to finish
+uninterrupted.
+
+In wal2 mode, the system uses two wal files instead of one. The files are named
+"<database>-wal" and "<database>-wal2", where "<database>" is of
+course the name of the database file. When data is written to the database, the
+writer begins by appending the new data to the first wal file. Once the first
+wal file has grown large enough, writers switch to appending data to the second
+wal file. At this point the first wal file can be checkpointed (after which it
+can be overwritten). Then, once the second wal file has grown large enough and
+the first wal file has been checkpointed, writers switch back to the first wal
+file. And so on.
+
+## Application Programming
+
+From the point of view of the user, the main differences between wal and 
+wal2 mode are to do with checkpointing:
+
+  * In wal mode, a checkpoint may be attempted at any time. In wal2 
+    mode, the checkpointer has to wait until writers have switched 
+    to the "other" wal file before a checkpoint can take place.
+
+  * In wal mode, the wal-hook (callback registered using
+    sqlite3_wal_hook()) is invoked after a transaction is committed
+    with the total number of pages in the wal file as an argument. In wal2
+    mode, the argument is either the total number of uncheckpointed pages in
+    both wal files, or - if the "other" wal file is empty or already
+    checkpointed - 0.
+
+Clients are recommended to use the same strategies for checkpointing wal2 mode
+databases as for wal databases - by registering a wal-hook using
+sqlite3_wal_hook() and attempting a checkpoint when the parameter
+exceeds a certain threshold.
+
+However, it should be noted that although the wal-hook is invoked after each
+transaction is committed to disk and database locks released, it is still
+invoked from within the sqlite3_step() call used to execute the "COMMIT"
+command. In BEGIN CONCURRENT systems, where the "COMMIT" is often protected by
+an application mutex, this may reduce concurrency. In such systems, instead of
+executing a checkpoint from within the wal-hook, a thread might defer this
+action until after the application mutex has been released.
+
+