[aryanjasala]

Random content requests force WP_Query not to split the request, so ORDER BY RAND() runs on full wp_posts rows. The database copies every eligible row, including post_content, into a temporary table to sort it.

This removes wp_random_content_split_the_query() and its hook, both new in 7.2. The random order then applies to post IDs only, and the selected post is loaded by ID, from the object cache when there is one. WP_Query never caches a query whose ORDER BY contains RAND(, so each request still selects a new post.

Ten logged-out requests to /random/ with 200,000 posts (about 640 MB of content), MariaDB 11.4, data in the buffer pool:

	Min	Median	Max
trunk	5.0 s	5.9 s	7.8 s
this PR	0.22 s	0.23 s	0.54 s

Tests: the "single query / full row" assertions are replaced with tests that:

• the random query selects IDs only, with LIMIT 0, 1 and no SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS;
• at most one more query loads the selected post by ID;
• two requests with a persistent object cache both run the random query.

The unit test for the removed function is removed. Tests_Query passes locally (860 tests). The full benchmark is on the ticket.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64498

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): Claude Code
Model(s): Claude Opus 5.5
Used for: Setting up the benchmark, writing the patch and tests, and drafting this description. I reviewed the code and ran the tests and the benchmark myself.

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This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

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The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props aryanjasala, peterwilsoncc, dhrupo, westonruter.

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[peterwilsoncc]

The code changes look good to me.

I've left a couple of notes about the test suite. I may end up pushing the changes myself so I can get this committed before my weekend starts (it's a long weekend in Melboure, Aus).

[peterwilsoncc]

I've pushed the following changes to the test suite:

• Added docblocks to each of the existing tests
• The cache test was flawed as go_to() flushes the global cache so I've modified them and move it tests specific to WP::handle_random()
• Added test for WP::handle_random() code paths.

Once I validated the tests are passing I will commit the changes.

[peterwilsoncc]

@propsbot add @dhrupo
@propsbot add @westonruter

[github-actions]

A commit was made that fixes the Trac ticket referenced in the description of this pull request.

SVN changeset: 65042
GitHub commit: eed6f20

This PR will be closed, but please confirm the accuracy of this and reopen if there is more work to be done.