WiredTiger supports a cache_max_wait_ms configuration option for the connection, session, and transaction interfaces. That option will cause cursor operations to rollback a transaction if it has spent more than the configured amount of time waiting for cache.

As part of WT-13867, a special meaning was ascribed to the 1 value - where it would allow the operation to proceed regardless of current cache usage.

We should revert to the prior behavior, and instead add a new interface that allows users to achieve this. We may already have a configuration option that achieves the goal in ignore_cache_size. Though it is only present on the session handle at the moment - and different granularity could be useful.

If we use the ignore_cache_size pathway, the documentation should be updated to also warn users that misuse of the interface can lead to excessive memory consumption and potential OOM kill of applications.