Can an INSERT operation result in a deadlock?

Question

Assuming:

• I am using REPEATABLE_READ or SERIALIZABLE transaction isolation (locks get retained every time I access a row)
• We are talking about multiple th

Answer 1

In addition to LoztInSpace's answer, inserts may cause deadlocks even without deletes or updates presence. All you need is a unique index and a reversed operations order.

Example in Oracle :

create table t1 (id number);
create unique index t1_pk on t1 (id);

--thread 1 :
insert into t1 values(1);
--thread 2
insert into t1 values(2);
--thread 1 :
insert into t1 values(2);
--thread 2
insert into t1 values(1);  -- deadlock !