Description

COUNT(*) returns incorrect values when queried via the PostgreSQL extended query protocol (binary format). The result appears to be sent as text bytes instead of binary integer encoding.

Reproduction

Using sqlx (Rust PostgreSQL driver) with prepared statements (extended query protocol):

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM some_table WHERE some_column = $1

When the table has 0 rows matching, the binary result is interpreted as 48 (which is the ASCII value of '0').
When the table has 1 row matching, the result is 49 (ASCII value of '1').

The same query via psql (simple query protocol) returns the correct value (0 and 1 respectively).

Environment

• DoltgreSQL v0.55.2
• Client: sqlx 0.8 (Rust) with statement_cache_capacity(0)
• Connection: standard PostgreSQL wire protocol

Workaround

Explicit cast forces correct binary encoding:

SELECT COUNT(*)::bigint FROM some_table WHERE some_column = $1

Related Issues

This is the same class of binary framing bug as:

• Extended protocol sends empty binary payload for NUMERIC/DECIMAL columns, causing client panic #2347 (NUMERIC/DECIMAL broken binary framing)
• Extended protocol sends incorrect binary format for ENUM columns, causing client-side decode panic #2348 (ENUM broken binary framing)
• Extended protocol sends JSONB as raw JSON text instead of binary JSONB format (missing 0x01 version prefix) #2360 (JSONB missing version prefix)