Is there a difference between commit and rollback in a transaction only having selects?
The in-house application framework we use at my company makes it necessary to put every SQL query into transactions, even though if I know that none of the commands will make changes in the database. At the end of the session, before closing the connection, I commit the transaction to close it properly. I wonder if there were any particular difference if I rolled it back, especially in terms of speed.
Please note that I am using Oracle, but I guess other databases have similar behaviour. Also, I can't do anything about the requirement to begin the transaction, that part of the codebase is out of my hands.
Answer
Databases often preserve either a before-image journal (what it was before the transaction) or an after-image journal (what it will be when the transaction completes.) If it keeps a before-image, that has to be restored on a rollback. If it keeps an after-image, that has to replace data in the event of a commit.
Oracle has both a journal and rollback space. The transaction journal accumulates blocks which are later written by DB writers. Since these are asychronous, almost nothing DB writer related has any impact on your transaction (if the queue fills up, then you might have to wait.)
Even for a query-only transaction, I'd be willing to bet that there's some little bit of transactional record-keeping in Oracle's rollback areas. I suspect that a rollback requires some work on Oracle's part before it determines there's nothing to actually roll back. And I think this is synchronous with your transaction. You can't really release any locks until the rollback is completed. [Yes, I know you aren't using any in your transaction, but the locking issue is why I think a rollback has to be fully released then all the locks can be released, then your rollback is finished.]
On the other hand, the commit is more-or-less the expected outcome, and I suspect that discarding the rollback area might be slightly faster. You created no transaction entries, so the db writer will never even wake up to check and discover that there was nothing to do.
I also expect that while commit may be faster, the differences will be minor. So minor, that you might not be able to even measure them in a side-by-side comparison.