Run cleanup asynchronously

datastore/datastore/storagebackend/postgresql/postgresql.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"datastore/common"
 	"datastore/datastore"
 	"fmt"
+	"log"
 	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -545,7 +546,7 @@ func cleanup(db *sql.DB) error {
 }
 
 // considerCleanup considers if cleanup() should be called.
-func considerCleanup(db *sql.DB) error {
+func considerCleanup(db *sql.DB) {
 
 	// call cleanup() if at least cleanupInterval has passed since the last time it was called
 
@@ -555,9 +556,7 @@ func considerCleanup(db *sql.DB) error {
 
 	if time.Since(lastCleanupTime) > cleanupInterval {
 		if err := cleanup(db); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("cleanup() failed: %v", err)
+			log.Printf("cleanup() failed: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
-
-	return nil
 }

datastore/datastore/storagebackend/postgresql/putobservations.go

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"datastore/common"
 	"datastore/datastore"
 	"fmt"
-	"log"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -457,9 +456,8 @@ func (sbe *PostgreSQL) PutObservations(request *datastore.PutObsRequest) (codes.
 		}
 	}
 
-	if err := considerCleanup(sbe.Db); err != nil {
-		log.Printf("WARNING: considerCleanup() failed: %v", err)
-	}
+	// run cleanup asynchronously to allow this function to return immediately
+	go considerCleanup(sbe.Db)
 
 	return codes.OK, ""
 }