3 Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (bruce@momjian.us)
4 Last updated: Thu Apr 24 16:57:25 EDT 2008
6 The most recent version of this document can be viewed at
7 http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs.TODO.html.
9 #A hyphen, "-", marks changes that will appear in the upcoming 8.3 release.#
10 #A percent sign, "%", marks items that are easier to implement.#
12 This list contains all known PostgreSQL bugs and feature requests. If
13 you would like to work on an item, please read the Developer's FAQ
14 first. There is also a developer's wiki at
15 http://developer.postgresql.org.
21 * -Allow administrators to safely terminate individual sessions either
22 via an SQL function or SIGTERM
23 * Check for unreferenced table files created by transactions that were
24 in-progress when the server terminated abruptly
26 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00096.php
28 * Set proper permissions on non-system schemas during db creation
30 Currently all schemas are owned by the super-user because they are copied
31 from the template1 database. However, since all objects are inherited
32 from the template database, it is not clear that setting schemas to the db
35 * Add function to report the time of the most recent server reload
36 * Allow statistics collector information to be pulled from the collector
37 process directly, rather than requiring the collector to write a
38 filesystem file twice a second?
39 * Reduce file system activity overhead of statistics file pgstat.stat
41 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-12/msg00106.php
43 * Allow statistics last vacuum/analyze execution times to be displayed
44 without requiring stats_row_level to be enabled
46 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2007-04/msg00028.php
48 * Allow log_min_messages to be specified on a per-module basis
50 This would allow administrators to see more detailed information from
51 specific sections of the backend, e.g. checkpoints, autovacuum, etc.
52 Another idea is to allow separate configuration files for each module,
53 or allow arbitrary SET commands to be passed to them.
55 * Simplify ability to create partitioned tables
57 This would allow creation of partitioned tables without requiring
58 creation of triggers or rules for INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE, and constraints
59 for rapid partition selection. Options could include range and hash
62 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00375.php
63 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00151.php
64 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00028.php
65 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00248.php
66 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00387.php
67 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00413.php
69 * Allow auto-selection of partitioned tables for min/max() operations
70 * Allow more complex user/database default GUC settings
72 Currently ALTER USER and ALTER DATABASE support per-user and
73 per-database defaults. Consider adding per-user-and-database
74 defaults so things like search_path can be defaulted for a
75 specific user connecting to a specific database.
77 * Allow custom variable classes that can restrict who can set the values
79 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00911.php
81 * Implement the SQL standard mechanism whereby REVOKE ROLE revokes only
82 the privilege granted by the invoking role, and not those granted
85 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-05/msg00010.php
87 * Allow SSL authentication/encryption over unix domain sockets
89 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00924.php
91 * Allow SSL key file permission checks to be optionally disabled when
92 sharing SSL keys with other applications
94 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-12/msg00069.php
96 * Allow client certificate names to be checked against the client
99 This is already implemented in
100 libpq/fe-secure.c::verify_peer_name_matches_certificate() but the code
103 * Configuration files
105 o Allow pg_hba.conf to specify host names along with IP addresses
107 Host name lookup could occur when the postmaster reads the
108 pg_hba.conf file, or when the backend starts. Another
109 solution would be to reverse lookup the connection IP and
110 check that hostname against the host names in pg_hba.conf.
111 We could also then check that the host name maps to the IP
114 o %Allow postgresql.conf file values to be changed via an SQL
115 API, perhaps using SET GLOBAL
116 o Allow the server to be stopped/restarted via an SQL API
117 o Issue a warning if a change-on-restart-only postgresql.conf value
118 is modified and the server config files are reloaded
119 o Consider normalizing fractions in postgresql.conf, perhaps
122 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00550.php
124 o Allow Kerberos to disable stripping of realms so we can
125 check the username@realm against multiple realms
127 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00009.php
132 o Allow a database in tablespace t1 with tables created in
133 tablespace t2 to be used as a template for a new database created
134 with default tablespace t2
136 Currently all objects in the default database tablespace must
137 have default tablespace specifications. This is because new
138 databases are created by copying directories. If you mix default
139 tablespace tables and tablespace-specified tables in the same
140 directory, creating a new database from such a mixed directory
141 would create a new database with tables that had incorrect
142 explicit tablespaces. To fix this would require modifying
143 pg_class in the newly copied database, which we don't currently
146 o Allow reporting of which objects are in which tablespaces
148 This item is difficult because a tablespace can contain objects
149 from multiple databases. There is a server-side function that
150 returns the databases which use a specific tablespace, so this
151 requires a tool that will call that function and connect to each
152 database to find the objects in each database for that tablespace.
154 o Allow WAL replay of CREATE TABLESPACE to work when the directory
155 structure on the recovery computer is different from the original
157 o Allow per-tablespace quotas
160 * Point-In-Time Recovery (PITR)
162 o Allow a warm standby system to also allow read-only statements
164 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00050.php
166 o %Create dump tool for write-ahead logs for use in determining
167 transaction id for point-in-time recovery
169 This is useful for checking PITR recovery.
171 o Allow recovery.conf to support the same syntax as
172 postgresql.conf, including quoting
174 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00497.php
176 o Fix server restart problem when the server was shutdown during
179 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00800.php
181 o Recreate pg_xlog/archive_status/ if it doesn't exist after
182 restoring from a PITR backup
184 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00487.php
190 * Change NUMERIC to enforce the maximum precision
191 * Reduce storage space for small NUMERICs
193 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg01331.php
194 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-02/msg00505.php
195 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00715.php
197 * Fix data types where equality comparison isn't intuitive, e.g. box
198 * Add support for public SYNONYMs
200 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-03/msg00519.php
202 * Fix CREATE CAST on DOMAINs
204 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-05/msg00072.php
205 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01681.php
207 * Allow domains to be cast
209 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2003-06/msg01206.php
210 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00289.php
212 * Add support for SQL-standard GENERATED/IDENTITY columns
214 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-07/msg00543.php
215 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00038.php
216 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00344.php
217 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00076.php
218 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00604.php
220 * Improve XML support
222 http://developer.postgresql.org/index.php/XML_Support
224 * Consider placing all sequences in a single table, or create a system
227 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00008.php
229 * Allow the UUID type to accept non-standard formats
231 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01214.php
233 * Allow text search dictionary to filter out only stop words
235 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-11/msg00081.php
237 * Consider a function-based API for '@@' full text searches
239 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00511.php
241 * Improve text search error messages
243 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00966.php
244 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg01146.php
246 * Consider a special data type for regular expressions
248 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg01067.php
250 * Reduce BIT data type overhead using short varlena headers
252 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-12/msg00273.php
254 * Allow xml arrays to be cast to other data types
256 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00981.php
257 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00231.php
258 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00471.php
260 * Simplify integer cross-data-type operators
262 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-01/msg00189.php
264 * Allow XML to accept more liberal DOCTYPE specifications
266 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-02/msg00347.php
268 * Allow adding/renaming/removing enumerated values to an existing
272 o Allow infinite dates and intervals just like infinite timestamps
273 o Merge hardwired timezone names with the TZ database; allow either
274 kind everywhere a TZ name is currently taken
275 o Allow TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE to store the original timezone
276 information, either zone name or offset from UTC
278 If the TIMESTAMP value is stored with a time zone name, interval
279 computations should adjust based on the time zone rules.
280 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-10/msg00705.php
282 o Fix SELECT '0.01 years'::interval, '0.01 months'::interval
283 o Add a GUC variable to allow output of interval values in ISO8601
285 o Have timestamp subtraction not call justify_hours()?
287 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-sql/2006-10/msg00059.php
289 o Improve timestamptz subtraction to be DST-aware
291 Currently subtracting one date from another that crosses a
292 daylight savings time adjustment can return '1 day 1 hour', but
293 adding that back to the first date returns a time one hour in
294 the future. This is caused by the adjustment of '25 hours' to
295 '1 day 1 hour', and '1 day' is the same time the next day, even
296 if daylight savings adjustments are involved.
298 o Fix interval display to support values exceeding 2^31 hours
299 o Add overflow checking to timestamp and interval arithmetic
300 o Extend timezone code to allow 64-bit values so we can
301 represent years beyond 2038
303 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01363.php
305 o Use LC_TIME for localized weekday/month names, rather than
308 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00390.php
310 o Add ISO INTERVAL handling
312 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-01/msg00250.php
313 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2006-04/msg00248.php
315 o Support ISO INTERVAL syntax if units cannot be determined from
316 the string, and are supplied after the string
318 The SQL standard states that the units after the string
319 specify the units of the string, e.g. INTERVAL '2' MINUTE
320 should return '00:02:00'. The current behavior has the units
321 restrict the interval value to the specified unit or unit
322 range, INTERVAL '70' SECOND returns '00:00:10'.
324 For syntax that isn't uniquely ISO or PG syntax, like '1' or
325 '1:30', treat as ISO if there is a range specification clause,
326 and as PG if there no clause is present, e.g. interpret '1:30'
327 MINUTE TO SECOND as '1 minute 30 seconds', and interpret
328 '1:30' as '1 hour, 30 minutes'.
330 This makes common cases like SELECT INTERVAL '1' MONTH
331 SQL-standard results. The SQL standard supports a limited
332 number of unit combinations and doesn't support unit names in
333 the string. The PostgreSQL syntax is more flexible in the
334 range of units supported, e.g. PostgreSQL supports '1 year 1
335 hour', while the SQL standard does not.
337 o Add support for year-month syntax, INTERVAL '50-6' YEAR
339 o Interpret INTERVAL '1 year' MONTH as CAST (INTERVAL '1
340 year' AS INTERVAL MONTH), and this should return '12 months'
341 o Round or truncate values to the requested precision, e.g.
342 INTERVAL '11 months' AS YEAR should return one or zero
343 o Support precision, CREATE TABLE foo (a INTERVAL MONTH(3))
348 o Delay resolution of array expression's data type so assignment
349 coercion can be performed on empty array expressions
350 o Add support for arrays of domains
352 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00114.php
354 o Allow single-byte header storage for array elements
359 o Improve vacuum of large objects, like contrib/vacuumlo?
360 o Add security checking for large objects
361 o Auto-delete large objects when referencing row is deleted
363 contrib/lo offers this functionality.
365 o Allow read/write into TOAST values like large objects
367 This requires the TOAST column to be stored EXTERNAL.
369 o Add API for 64-bit large object access
371 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00781.php
375 * Add locale-aware MONEY type, and support multiple currencies
377 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2005-08/msg01432.php
378 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01181.php
380 * MONEY dumps in a locale-specific format making it difficult to
381 restore to a system with a different locale
382 * Allow MONEY to be easily cast to/from other numeric data types
388 * Allow INET subnet tests using non-constants to be indexed
389 * Allow to_date() and to_timestamp() accept localized month names
390 * Fix to_date()-related functions to consistently issue errors
392 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00915.php
394 * Add missing parameter handling in to_char()
396 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg00948.php
398 * Allow substring/replace() to get/set bit values
399 * Allow to_char() on interval values to accumulate the highest unit
402 Some special format flag would be required to request such
403 accumulation. Such functionality could also be added to EXTRACT.
404 Prevent accumulation that crosses the month/day boundary because of
405 the uneven number of days in a month.
407 o to_char(INTERVAL '1 hour 5 minutes', 'MI') => 65
408 o to_char(INTERVAL '43 hours 20 minutes', 'MI' ) => 2600
409 o to_char(INTERVAL '43 hours 20 minutes', 'WK:DD:HR:MI') => 0:1:19:20
410 o to_char(INTERVAL '3 years 5 months','MM') => 41
412 * Implement inlining of set-returning functions defined in SQL
413 * Allow SQL-language functions to return results from RETURNING queries
415 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00665.php
417 * Allow SQL-language functions to reference parameters by parameter name
419 Currently SQL-language functions can only refer to dollar parameters,
422 * Add SPI_gettypmod() to return the typemod for a TupleDesc
423 * Enforce typmod for function inputs, function results and parameters for
424 spi_prepare'd statements called from PLs
426 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01403.php
428 * Allow holdable cursors in SPI
429 * Tighten function permission checks
431 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00568.php
433 * Fix IS OF so it matches the ISO specification, and add documentation
435 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2003-08/msg00060.php
436 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00060.php
438 * Add missing operators for geometric data types
440 Some geometric types do not have the full suite of geometric operators,
443 * Implement Boyer-Moore searching in strpos()
445 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-08/msg00012.php
447 * Prevent malicious functions from being executed with the permissions
448 of unsuspecting users
450 Index functions are safe, so VACUUM and ANALYZE are safe too.
451 Triggers, CHECK and DEFAULT expressions, and rules are still vulnerable.
452 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00268.php
454 * Reduce memory usage of aggregates in set returning functions
456 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2008-01/msg00031.php
458 * Add temporal versions of generate_series()
460 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg01180.php
462 * Add array_accum() and array_to_set() functions for arrays
464 The standards specify array_agg() and UNNEST.
465 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00464.php
467 * Fix /contrib/ltree operator
469 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-11/msg00044.php
471 * Fix inconsistent precedence of =, >, and < compared to <>, >=, and <=
473 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-12/msg00145.php
475 * Fix regular expression bug when using complex back-references
477 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-10/msg00000.php
479 * Have /contrib/dblink reuse unnamed connections
481 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00895.php
483 * Add SQL-standard array_agg() and unnest() array functions
485 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01017.php
487 * Allow calling of a procedure outside a SELECT that can control the
490 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg01375.php
494 Multi-Language Support
495 ======================
497 * Add NCHAR (as distinguished from ordinary varchar),
498 * Allow locale to be set at database creation
500 Currently locale can only be set during initdb. No global tables have
501 locale-aware columns. However, the database template used during
502 database creation might have locale-aware indexes. The indexes would
503 need to be reindexed to match the new locale.
505 * Allow encoding on a per-column basis optionally using the ICU library;
508 Right now only one encoding is allowed per database.
510 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-03/msg00932.php
511 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-08/msg00039.php
512 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-08/msg00309.php
513 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00110.php
514 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-09/msg00020.php
515 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg01121.php
516 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-01/msg00767.php
517 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-03/msg00233.php
518 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg00662.php
519 http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Todo:Collate
520 http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Todo:ICU
522 * Support multiple simultaneous character sets, per SQL92
523 * Improve UTF8 combined character handling?
524 * Add octet_length_server() and octet_length_client()
525 * Make octet_length_client() the same as octet_length()?
526 * Fix problems with wrong runtime encoding conversion for NLS message files
527 * Add URL to more complete multi-byte regression tests
529 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-07/msg00272.php
531 * Fix ILIKE and regular expressions to handle case insensitivity
532 properly in multibyte encodings
534 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2005-10/msg00001.php
535 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-11/msg00173.php
537 * Set client encoding based on the client operating system encoding
539 Currently client_encoding is set in postgresql.conf, which
540 defaults to the server encoding.
541 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg01696.php
543 * Change memory allocation for multi-byte functions so memory is
544 allocated inside conversion functions
546 Currently we preallocate memory based on worst-case usage.
553 * Automatically create rules on views so they are updateable, per SQL99
555 We can only auto-create rules for simple views. For more complex
556 cases users will still have to write rules manually.
558 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-03/msg00586.php
559 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-08/msg00255.php
561 * Add the functionality for WITH CHECK OPTION clause of CREATE VIEW
562 * Allow VIEW/RULE recompilation when the underlying tables change
564 Another issue is whether underlying table changes should be reflected
565 in the view, e.g. should SELECT * show additional columns if they
566 are added after the view is created.
568 * Make it possible to use RETURNING together with conditional DO INSTEAD
569 rules, such as for partitioning setups
571 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00577.php
573 * Add the ability to automatically create materialized views
575 Right now materialized views require the user to create triggers on the
576 main table to keep the summary table current. SQL syntax should be able
577 to manager the triggers and summary table automatically. A more
578 sophisticated implementation would automatically retrieve from the
579 summary table when the main table is referenced, if possible.
586 * Add CORRESPONDING BY to UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT
587 * Add ROLLUP, CUBE, GROUPING SETS options to GROUP BY
588 * %Allow SET CONSTRAINTS to be qualified by schema/table name
589 * %Add a separate TRUNCATE permission
591 Currently only the owner can TRUNCATE a table because triggers are not
592 called, and the table is locked in exclusive mode.
594 * Allow PREPARE of cursors
595 * Allow finer control over the caching of prepared query plans
597 Currently queries prepared via the libpq API are planned on first
598 execute using the supplied parameters --- allow SQL PREPARE to do the
599 same. Also, allow control over replanning prepared queries either
600 manually or automatically when statistics for execute parameters
601 differ dramatically from those used during planning.
603 * Improve logging of prepared transactions recovered during startup
605 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00092.php
607 * Improve failure message when DROP DATABASE is used on a database that
608 has prepared transactions
609 * Allow prepared transactions with temporary tables created and dropped
610 in the same transaction, and when an ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS temporary
613 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00047.php
615 * Add a GUC variable to warn about non-standard SQL usage in queries
616 * Add SQL-standard MERGE/REPLACE/UPSERT command
618 MERGE is typically used to merge two tables. REPLACE or UPSERT
619 command does UPDATE, or on failure, INSERT. This is similar to UPDATE,
620 then for unmatched rows, INSERT. Whether concurrent access allows
621 modifications which could cause row loss is implementation independent.
622 To implement this cleanly requires that the table have a unique index
623 so duplicate checking can be easily performed. It is possible to do it
624 without a unique index if we require the user to LOCK the table before
627 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-11/msg00501.php
628 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-11/msg00536.php
629 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01475.php
631 * Add NOVICE output level for helpful messages like automatic sequence/index
633 * Add GUC to issue notice about statements that use unjoined tables
634 * Allow EXPLAIN to identify tables that were skipped because of
636 * Allow EXPLAIN output to be more easily processed by scripts, perhaps XML
637 * Enable standard_conforming_strings
638 * Make standard_conforming_strings the default in 8.5?
640 When this is done, backslash-quote should be prohibited in non-E''
641 strings because of possible confusion over how such strings treat
642 backslashes. Basically, '' is always safe for a literal single
643 quote, while \' might or might not be based on the backslash
646 * Simplify dropping roles that have objects in several databases
647 * Allow COMMENT ON to accept an expression rather than just a string
648 * Allow the count returned by SELECT, etc to be represented as an int64
649 to allow a higher range of values
650 * Add SQL99 WITH clause to SELECT
651 * Add SQL:2003 WITH RECURSIVE (hierarchical) queries to SELECT
653 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01375.php
654 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00642.php
655 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00139.php
656 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg01334.php
657 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00105.php
658 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-03/msg00327.php
660 * Add DEFAULT .. AS OWNER so permission checks are done as the table
663 This would be useful for SERIAL nextval() calls and CHECK constraints.
665 * Allow DISTINCT to work in multiple-argument aggregate calls
666 * Add column to pg_stat_activity that shows the progress of long-running
667 commands like CREATE INDEX and VACUUM
668 * Implement SQL:2003 window functions
669 * Allow INSERT/UPDATE ... RETURNING inside a SELECT 'FROM' clause
671 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2006-09/msg00803.php
672 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00693.php
674 * Increase locking when DROPing objects so dependent objects cannot
675 get dropped while the DROP operation is happening
677 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00937.php
679 * -Allow AS in "SELECT col AS label" to be optional in certain cases
681 * Allow INSERT ... DELETE ... RETURNING, namely allow the DELETE ...
682 RETURNING to supply values to the INSERT
683 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/thrd2.php#00979
685 * Add comments on system tables/columns using the information in
688 Ideally the information would be pulled from the SGML file
691 * Improve reporting of UNION type mismatches
693 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00944.php
694 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00597.php
699 o Allow CREATE TABLE AS to determine column lengths for complex
700 expressions like SELECT col1 || col2
702 o Have WITH CONSTRAINTS also create constraint indexes
704 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00149.php
706 o Have CONSTRAINT cname NOT NULL record the contraint name
708 Right now pg_attribute.attnotnull records the NOT NULL status
709 of the column, but does not record the contraint name
711 o Prevent concurrent CREATE TABLE table1 from sometimes returning
712 a cryptic error message
714 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-10/msg00169.php
718 o Allow UPDATE tab SET ROW (col, ...) = (SELECT...)
720 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-07/msg01306.php
721 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00865.php
722 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00315.php
723 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-03/msg00237.php
725 o Research self-referential UPDATEs that see inconsistent row versions
726 in read-committed mode
728 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00507.php
729 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00016.php
731 o Allow GLOBAL temporary tables to exist as empty by default in
734 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00006.php
739 o Have ALTER TABLE RENAME rename SERIAL sequence names
741 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00008.php
743 o Have ALTER SEQUENCE RENAME rename the sequence name stored
744 in the sequence table
746 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-09/msg00092.php
747 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-10/msg00007.php
748 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00008.php
750 o Add ALTER DOMAIN to modify the underlying data type
751 o %Allow ALTER TABLE ... ALTER CONSTRAINT ... RENAME
753 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-02/msg00168.php
755 o %Allow ALTER TABLE to change constraint deferrability and actions
756 o Add missing object types for ALTER ... SET SCHEMA
757 o Allow ALTER TABLESPACE to move to different directories
758 o Allow databases to be moved to different tablespaces
759 o Allow moving system tables to other tablespaces, where possible
761 Currently non-global system tables must be in the default database
762 tablespace. Global system tables can never be moved.
764 o Prevent parent tables from altering or dropping constraints
765 like CHECK that are inherited by child tables unless CASCADE
767 o %Prevent child tables from altering or dropping constraints
768 like CHECK that were inherited from the parent table
769 o Have ALTER INDEX update the name of a constraint using that index
770 o Add ALTER TABLE RENAME CONSTRAINT, update index name also
771 o Allow column display reordering by recording a display,
772 storage, and permanent id for every column?
774 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00782.php
780 o Automatically maintain clustering on a table
782 This might require some background daemon to maintain clustering
783 during periods of low usage. It might also require tables to be only
784 partially filled for easier reorganization. Another idea would
785 be to create a merged heap/index data file so an index lookup would
786 automatically access the heap data too. A third idea would be to
787 store heap rows in hashed groups, perhaps using a user-supplied
789 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2004-08/msg00349.php
791 o %Add default clustering to system tables
793 To do this, determine the ideal cluster index for each system
794 table and set the cluster setting during initdb.
796 o %Add VERBOSE option to report tables as they are processed,
802 o Allow COPY to report error lines and continue
804 This requires the use of a savepoint before each COPY line is
805 processed, with ROLLBACK on COPY failure.
806 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00572.php
808 o Allow COPY on a newly-created table to skip WAL logging
810 On crash recovery, the table involved in the COPY would
811 be removed or have its heap and index files truncated. One
812 issue is that no other backend should be able to add to
813 the table at the same time, which is something that is
814 currently allowed. This currently is done if the table is
815 created inside the same transaction block as the COPY because
816 no other backends can see the table.
818 o Consider using a ring buffer for COPY FROM
820 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00140.php
821 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01080.php
823 o Allow COPY FROM to create index entries in bulk
825 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00811.php
827 o Allow COPY in CSV mode to control whether a quoted zero-length
828 string is treated as NULL
830 Currently this is always treated as a zero-length string,
831 which generates an error when loading into an integer column
832 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00905.php
834 o Impove COPY performance
836 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00954.php
842 o Allow column-level privileges
843 o %Allow GRANT/REVOKE permissions to be applied to all schema objects
846 The proposed syntax is:
847 GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN public TO phpuser;
848 GRANT SELECT ON NEW TABLES IN public TO phpuser;
850 o Allow GRANT/REVOKE permissions to be inherited by objects based on
853 o Allow SERIAL sequences to inherit permissions from the base table?
858 o Prevent DROP TABLE from dropping a row referenced by its own open
864 o Allow INSERT/UPDATE of the system-generated oid value for a row
865 o In rules, allow VALUES() to contain a mixture of 'old' and 'new'
871 o Add SET PERFORMANCE_TIPS option to suggest INDEX, VACUUM, VACUUM
877 o Allow LISTEN/NOTIFY to store info in memory rather than tables?
879 Currently LISTEN/NOTIFY information is stored in pg_listener.
880 Storing such information in memory would improve performance.
882 o Add optional textual message to NOTIFY
884 This would allow an informational message to be added to the notify
885 message, perhaps indicating the row modified or other custom
888 o Allow multiple identical NOTIFY events to always be communicated
889 to the client, rather than sent as a single notification to the
892 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-01/msg00057.php
894 o Allow NOTIFY in rules involving conditionals
895 o Improve LISTEN concurrency
897 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01106.php
901 Referential Integrity
902 =====================
904 * Add MATCH PARTIAL referential integrity
905 * Change foreign key constraint for array -> element to mean element
907 * Fix problem when cascading referential triggers make changes on
908 cascaded tables, seeing the tables in an intermediate state
910 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00174.php
911 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00174.php
913 * Allow DEFERRABLE and end-of-statement UNIQUE constraints?
915 This would allow UPDATE tab SET col = col + 1 to work if col has
916 a unique index. Currently, uniqueness checks are done while the
917 command is being executed, rather than at the end of the statement
919 http://people.planetpostgresql.org/greg/index.php?/archives/2006/06/10.html
920 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01458.php
922 * Optimize referential integrity checks
924 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2005-10/msg00458.php
925 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00744.php
928 Server-Side Languages
929 =====================
932 o Fix RENAME to work on variables other than OLD/NEW
934 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2002-03/msg00591.php
935 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01615.php
936 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01587.php
938 o Allow function parameters to be passed by name,
939 get_employee_salary(12345 AS emp_id, 2001 AS tax_year)
940 o Allow handling of %TYPE arrays, e.g. tab.col%TYPE[]
941 o Allow listing of record column names, and access to
942 record columns via variables, e.g. columns := r.(*),
945 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-07/msg00458.php
946 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-05/msg00302.php
947 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00031.php
949 o Add support for SCROLL cursors
950 o Add support for WITH HOLD cursors
951 o Allow row and record variables to be set to NULL constants,
952 and allow NULL tests on such variables
954 Because a row is not scalar, do not allow assignment
955 from NULL-valued scalars.
957 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00070.php
959 o Review handling of MOVE and FETCH
961 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00527.php
963 o Improve logic of determining if an identifier is a a
964 variable or column name
966 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00436.php
968 o Consider keeping seperate cached copies when search_path changes
970 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01009.php
972 o Add CASE capability to language (already in SQL)
974 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00696.php
980 o Add table function support to pltcl, plpythonu
981 o Add support for polymorphic arguments and return types to
982 languages other than PL/PgSQL
983 o Add capability to create and call PROCEDURES
984 o Add support for OUT and INOUT parameters to languages other
986 o Add PL/PythonU tracebacks
988 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-02/msg00288.php
990 o Allow data to be passed in native language formats, rather
993 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00289.php
995 o Add ability to obfuscate function bodies
997 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00125.php
1004 * Have pg_ctl look at PGHOST in case it is a socket directory?
1005 * Allow pg_ctl to work properly with configuration files located outside
1006 the PGDATA directory
1008 pg_ctl can not read the pid file because it isn't located in the
1009 config directory but in the PGDATA directory. The solution is to
1010 allow pg_ctl to read and understand postgresql.conf to find the
1011 data_directory value.
1013 * Add a function like pg_get_indexdef() that report more detailed index
1016 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-12/msg00166.php
1019 o Have psql show current values for a sequence
1020 o Move psql backslash database information into the backend, use
1023 This would allow non-psql clients to pull the same information out
1024 of the database as psql.
1025 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-01/msg00191.php
1027 o Make psql's \d commands more consistent
1029 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00014.php
1030 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00014.php
1032 o Consistently display privilege information for all objects in psql
1033 o Add auto-expanded mode so expanded output is used if the row
1034 length is wider than the screen width.
1036 Consider using auto-expanded mode for backslash commands like \df+.
1038 o Prevent tab completion of SET TRANSACTION from querying the
1039 database and therefore preventing the transaction isolation
1040 level from being set.
1042 Currently SET <tab> causes a database lookup to check all
1043 supported session variables. This query causes problems
1044 because setting the transaction isolation level must be the
1045 first statement of a transaction.
1047 o Add a \set variable to control whether \s displays line numbers
1049 Another option is to add \# which lists line numbers, and
1050 allows command execution.
1052 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00255.php
1054 o Prevent escape string warnings when object names have
1057 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00227.php
1059 o Have \d show foreign keys that reference a table's primary key
1061 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00424.php
1063 o Have \d show child tables that inherit from the specified parent
1064 o Have \l+ show database size, if permissions allow
1066 Ideally it will not generate an error for invalid permissions
1068 o Include the symbolic SQLSTATE name in verbose error reports
1070 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-09/msg00438.php
1072 o Improve display if enums
1074 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00826.php
1076 o Add prompt escape to display the client and server versions
1079 * pg_dump / pg_restore
1080 o %Add dumping of comments on index columns and composite type columns
1081 o %Add full object name to the tag field. eg. for operators we need
1082 '=(integer, integer)', instead of just '='.
1083 o Add pg_dumpall custom format dumps?
1084 o Allow selection of individual object(s) of all types, not just
1086 o In a selective dump, allow dumping of an object and all its
1088 o Add options like pg_restore -l and -L to pg_dump
1089 o Stop dumping CASCADE on DROP TYPE commands in clean mode
1090 o Allow pg_dump --clean to drop roles that own objects or have
1092 o Change pg_dump so that a comment on the dumped database is
1093 applied to the loaded database, even if the database has a
1094 different name. This will require new backend syntax, perhaps
1095 COMMENT ON CURRENT DATABASE.
1096 o Remove unnecessary function pointer abstractions in pg_dump source
1098 o Allow pg_dump to utilize multiple CPUs and I/O channels by dumping
1099 multiple objects simultaneously
1101 The difficulty with this is getting multiple dump processes to
1102 produce a single dump output file. It also would require
1103 several sessions to share the same snapshot.
1104 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00205.php
1106 o Allow pg_restore to utilize multiple CPUs and I/O channels by
1107 restoring multiple objects simultaneously
1109 This might require a pg_restore flag to indicate how many
1110 simultaneous operations should be performed. Only pg_dump's
1111 -Fc format has the necessary dependency information.
1112 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00963.php
1114 o To better utilize resources, allow pg_restore to check foreign
1115 keys simultaneously, where possible
1116 o Allow pg_restore to create all indexes of a table
1117 concurrently, via a single heap scan
1119 This requires a pg_dump -Fc file because that format contains
1120 the required dependency information.
1121 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-05/msg01274.php
1123 o Allow pg_restore to load different parts of the COPY data
1125 o Prevent pg_dump/pg_restore from being affected by
1128 Using psql to restore a pg_dump dump is also affected.
1130 o Remove pre-7.3 pg_dump code that assumes pg_depend does not exit
1131 o Allow pre/data/post files when schema and data are dumped
1132 separately, for performance reasons
1134 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00205.php
1141 Document differences between ecpg and the SQL standard and
1142 information about the Informix-compatibility module.
1144 o Solve cardinality > 1 for input descriptors / variables?
1145 o Add a semantic check level, e.g. check if a table really exists
1146 o fix handling of DB attributes that are arrays
1147 o Use backend PREPARE/EXECUTE facility for ecpg where possible
1149 o Fix nested C comments
1150 o %sqlwarn[6] should be 'W' if the PRECISION or SCALE value specified
1151 o Make SET CONNECTION thread-aware, non-standard?
1152 o Allow multidimensional arrays
1153 o Add internationalized message strings
1154 o Implement COPY FROM STDIN
1158 o Add PQescapeIdentifierConn()
1159 o Prevent PQfnumber() from lowercasing unquoted the column name
1161 PQfnumber() should never have been doing lowercasing, but
1162 historically it has so we need a way to prevent it
1164 o Allow statement results to be automatically batched to the client
1166 Currently all statement results are transferred to the libpq
1167 client before libpq makes the results available to the
1168 application. This feature would allow the application to make
1169 use of the first result rows while the rest are transferred, or
1170 held on the server waiting for them to be requested by libpq.
1171 One complexity is that a statement like SELECT 1/col could error
1172 out mid-way through the result set.
1174 o Consider disallowing multiple queries in PQexec() as an
1175 additional barrier to SQL injection attacks
1177 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00184.php
1179 o Add PQexecf() that allows complex parameter substitution
1181 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01803.php
1183 o Add SQLSTATE severity to PGconn return status
1185 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-interfaces/2007-11/msg00015.php
1191 * Add deferred trigger queue file
1193 Right now all deferred trigger information is stored in backend
1194 memory. This could exhaust memory for very large trigger queues.
1195 This item involves dumping large queues into files.
1197 * Allow triggers to be disabled in only the current session.
1199 This is currently possible by starting a multi-statement transaction,
1200 modifying the system tables, performing the desired SQL, restoring the
1201 system tables, and committing the transaction. ALTER TABLE ...
1202 TRIGGER requires a table lock so it is not ideal for this usage.
1204 * With disabled triggers, allow pg_dump to use ALTER TABLE ADD FOREIGN KEY
1206 If the dump is known to be valid, allow foreign keys to be added
1207 without revalidating the data.
1209 * Allow statement-level triggers to access modified rows
1210 * Support triggers on columns
1212 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-07/msg00107.php
1214 * Allow AFTER triggers on system tables
1216 System tables are modified in many places in the backend without going
1217 through the executor and therefore not causing triggers to fire. To
1218 complete this item, the functions that modify system tables will have
1221 * Tighten trigger permission checks
1223 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00564.php
1225 * Allow BEFORE INSERT triggers on views
1227 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-02/msg01466.php
1229 * -Add ability to trigger on TRUNCATE
1236 * Add UNIQUE capability to non-btree indexes
1237 * Prevent index uniqueness checks when UPDATE does not modify the column
1239 Uniqueness (index) checks are done when updating a column even if the
1240 column is not modified by the UPDATE.
1242 * Allow the creation of on-disk bitmap indexes which can be quickly
1243 combined with other bitmap indexes
1245 Such indexes could be more compact if there are only a few distinct values.
1246 Such indexes can also be compressed. Keeping such indexes updated can be
1249 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-07/msg00512.php
1250 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg01107.php
1251 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00265.php
1252 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01214.php
1253 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00013.php
1254 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00741.php
1256 * Allow accurate statistics to be collected on indexes with more than
1257 one column or expression indexes, perhaps using per-index statistics
1259 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2006-10/msg00222.php
1260 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01131.php
1262 * Consider increasing the number of default statistics target, and
1263 reduce statistics target overhead
1265 Also consider having a larger statistics target for indexed columns
1266 and expression indexes
1267 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-05/msg01228.php
1268 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-06/msg00542.php
1269 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01066.php
1271 * Consider smaller indexes that record a range of values per heap page,
1272 rather than having one index entry for every heap row
1274 This is useful if the heap is clustered by the indexed values.
1275 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00341.php
1276 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg01264.php
1277 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00465.php
1278 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00163.php
1279 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00014.php
1280 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00487.php
1281 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01589.php
1283 * Add REINDEX CONCURRENTLY, like CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY
1285 This is difficult because you must upgrade to an exclusive table lock
1286 to replace the existing index file. CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY does not
1287 have this complication. This would allow index compaction without
1289 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-08/msg00289.php
1291 * Allow multiple indexes to be created concurrently, ideally via a
1292 single heap scan, and have pg_restore use it
1294 * Consider sorting entries before inserting into btree index
1296 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-01/msg01010.php
1298 * Allow index scans to return matching index keys, not just the matching
1301 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01657.php
1307 o Allow inherited tables to inherit indexes, UNIQUE constraints,
1308 and primary/foreign keys
1309 o Honor UNIQUE INDEX on base column in INSERTs/UPDATEs
1310 on inherited table, e.g. INSERT INTO inherit_table
1311 (unique_index_col) VALUES (dup) should fail
1313 The main difficulty with this item is the problem of
1314 creating an index that can span multiple tables.
1316 o Allow SELECT ... FOR UPDATE on inherited tables
1317 o Require all CHECK constraints to be inherited
1319 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-04/msg00026.php
1321 o Add checks to prevent a CREATE RULE views on inherited tables
1323 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-02/msg01420.php
1324 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-03/msg00077.php
1329 o Add more GIST index support for geometric data types
1330 o Allow GIST indexes to create certain complex index types, like
1331 digital trees (see Aoki)
1336 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00051.php
1338 o Pack hash index buckets onto disk pages more efficiently
1340 Currently only one hash bucket can be stored on a page. Ideally
1341 several hash buckets could be stored on a single page and greater
1342 granularity used for the hash algorithm.
1344 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-06/msg00168.php
1346 o Consider sorting hash buckets so entries can be found using a
1347 binary search, rather than a linear scan
1348 o In hash indexes, consider storing the hash value with or instead
1350 o Add WAL logging for crash recovery
1351 o Allow multi-column hash indexes
1352 o -During index creation, pre-sort the tuples to improve build speed
1359 * Determine optimal fdatasync/fsync, O_SYNC/O_DSYNC options
1361 Ideally this requires a separate test program that can be run
1362 at initdb time or optionally later. Consider O_SYNC when
1365 * Add program to test if fsync has a delay compared to non-fsync
1366 * Consider sorting writes during checkpoint
1368 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00541.php
1377 We could use a fixed row count and a +/- count to follow MVCC
1378 visibility rules, or a single cached value could be used and
1379 invalidated if anyone modifies the table. Another idea is to
1380 get a count directly from a unique index, but for this to be
1381 faster than a sequential scan it must avoid access to the heap
1382 to obtain tuple visibility information.
1384 * Provide a way to calculate an "estimated COUNT(*)"
1386 Perhaps by using the optimizer's cardinality estimates or random
1389 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-11/msg00943.php
1391 * Allow data to be pulled directly from indexes
1393 Currently indexes do not have enough tuple visibility information
1394 to allow data to be pulled from the index without also accessing
1395 the heap. One way to allow this is to set a bit on index tuples
1396 to indicate if a tuple is currently visible to all transactions
1397 when the first valid heap lookup happens. This bit would have to
1398 be cleared when a heap tuple is expired.
1400 Another idea is to maintain a bitmap of heap pages where all rows
1401 are visible to all backends, and allow index lookups to reference
1402 that bitmap to avoid heap lookups, perhaps the same bitmap we might
1403 add someday to determine which heap pages need vacuuming. Frequently
1404 accessed bitmaps would have to be stored in shared memory. One 8k
1405 page of bitmaps could track 512MB of heap pages.
1407 A third idea would be for a heap scan to check if all rows are visible
1408 and if so set a per-table flag which can be checked by index scans.
1409 Any change to the table would have to clear the flag. To detect
1410 changes during the heap scan a counter could be set at the start and
1411 checked at the end --- if it is the same, the table has not been
1412 modified --- any table change would increment the counter.
1414 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-10/msg00166.php
1415 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00049.php
1417 * Consider automatic caching of statements at various levels:
1420 o Query execute plan
1422 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00823.php
1424 * Consider increasing internal areas when shared buffers is increased
1426 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-10/msg01419.php
1428 * Consider decreasing the amount of memory used by PrivateRefCount
1430 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00797.php
1431 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00752.php
1433 * Consider allowing higher priority queries to have referenced buffer
1434 cache pages stay in memory longer
1436 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00562.php
1443 * Improve speed with indexes
1445 For large table adjustments during VACUUM FULL, it is faster to cluster
1446 or reindex rather than update the index. Also, index updates can bloat
1449 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00024.php
1450 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-05/msg00296.php
1451 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00307.php
1453 * Auto-fill the free space map by scanning the buffer cache or by
1454 checking pages written by the background writer
1456 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-02/msg01125.php
1457 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-03/msg00011.php
1459 * Create a bitmap of pages that need vacuuming
1461 Instead of sequentially scanning the entire table, have the background
1462 writer or some other process record pages that have expired rows, then
1463 VACUUM can look at just those pages rather than the entire table. In
1464 the event of a system crash, the bitmap would probably be invalidated.
1465 One complexity is that index entries still have to be vacuumed, and
1466 doing this without an index scan (by using the heap values to find the
1467 index entry) might be slow and unreliable, especially for user-defined
1470 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg01188.php
1471 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00121.php
1472 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00508.php
1473 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00347.php
1474 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00156.php
1475 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00546.php
1476 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00416.php
1478 * Allow FSM to return free space toward the beginning of the heap file,
1479 in hopes that empty pages at the end can be truncated by VACUUM
1480 * Allow FSM page return free space based on table clustering, to assist
1481 in maintaining clustering?
1482 * Improve dead row detection during multi-statement transactions usage
1484 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00358.php
1486 * Consider a more compact data representation for dead tuples
1488 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00143.php
1493 o %Issue log message to suggest VACUUM FULL if a table is nearly
1495 o Improve control of auto-vacuum
1497 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00876.php
1499 o Prevent long-lived temporary tables from causing frozen-xid
1500 advancement starvation
1502 The problem is that autovacuum cannot vacuum them to set frozen xids;
1503 only the session that created them can do that.
1504 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-06/msg01645.php
1506 o Store per-table autovacuum settings in pg_class.reloptions.
1508 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg01440.php
1509 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00724.php
1511 o Prevent autovacuum from running if an old transaction is still
1512 running from the last vacuum
1514 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00899.php
1521 * Fix priority ordering of read and write light-weight locks (Neil)
1523 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00893.php
1524 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00905.php
1526 * Fix problem when multiple subtransactions of the same outer transaction
1527 hold different types of locks, and one subtransaction aborts
1529 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg01011.php
1530 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00001.php
1531 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00435.php
1532 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00773.php
1534 * Allow UPDATEs on only non-referential integrity columns not to conflict
1535 with referential integrity locks
1537 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00073.php
1539 * Add idle_in_transaction_timeout GUC so locks are not held for long
1542 * Improve deadlock detection when a page cleaning lock conflicts
1543 with a shared buffer that is pinned
1545 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-01/msg00138.php
1546 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00873.php
1547 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-committers/2008-01/msg00365.php
1549 * Detect deadlocks involving LockBufferForCleanup()
1551 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00873.php
1555 Startup Time Improvements
1556 =========================
1558 * Experiment with multi-threaded backend for backend creation
1560 This would prevent the overhead associated with process creation. Most
1561 operating systems have trivial process creation time compared to
1562 database startup overhead, but a few operating systems (Win32,
1563 Solaris) might benefit from threading. Also explore the idea of
1564 a single session using multiple threads to execute a statement faster.
1571 * Eliminate need to write full pages to WAL before page modification
1573 Currently, to protect against partial disk page writes, we write
1574 full page images to WAL before they are modified so we can correct any
1575 partial page writes during recovery. These pages can also be
1576 eliminated from point-in-time archive files.
1577 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2002-06/msg00655.php
1579 o When off, write CRC to WAL and check file system blocks
1582 If CRC check fails during recovery, remember the page in case
1583 a later CRC for that page properly matches.
1585 o Write full pages during file system write and not when
1586 the page is modified in the buffer cache
1588 This allows most full page writes to happen in the background
1589 writer. It might cause problems for applying WAL on recovery
1590 into a partially-written page, but later the full page will be
1593 * Allow WAL traffic to be streamed to another server for stand-by
1595 * Reduce WAL traffic so only modified values are written rather than
1598 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01589.php
1600 * Allow WAL information to recover corrupted pg_controldata
1602 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00025.php
1604 * Find a way to reduce rotational delay when repeatedly writing
1607 Currently fsync of WAL requires the disk platter to perform a full
1608 rotation to fsync again. One idea is to write the WAL to different
1609 offsets that might reduce the rotational delay.
1610 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2002-11/msg00483.php
1612 * Allow WAL logging to be turned off for a table, but the table
1613 might be dropped or truncated during crash recovery
1615 Allow tables to bypass WAL writes and just fsync() dirty pages on
1616 commit. This should be implemented using ALTER TABLE, e.g. ALTER
1617 TABLE PERSISTENCE [ DROP | TRUNCATE | DEFAULT ]. Tables using
1618 non-default logging should not use referential integrity with
1619 default-logging tables. A table without dirty buffers during a
1620 crash could perhaps avoid the drop/truncate.
1621 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg01016.php
1623 * Allow WAL logging to be turned off for a table, but the table would
1624 avoid being truncated/dropped
1626 To do this, only a single writer can modify the table, and writes
1627 must happen only on new pages so the new pages can be removed during
1628 crash recovery. Readers can continue accessing the table. Such
1629 tables probably cannot have indexes. One complexity is the handling
1630 of indexes on TOAST tables.
1631 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg01016.php
1633 * Speed WAL recovery by allowing more than one page to be prefetched
1635 This should be done utilizing the same infrastructure used for
1636 prefetching in general to avoid introducing complex error-prone code
1638 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-12/msg00683.php
1639 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00497.php
1640 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01279.php
1642 * Improve WAL concurrency by increasing lock granularity
1644 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00556.php
1646 * Be more aggressive about creating WAL files
1648 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg01325.php
1649 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-07/msg01075.php
1650 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-04/msg00556.php
1652 * Have resource managers report the duration of their status changes
1654 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg01468.php
1656 * Move pgfoundry's xlogdump to /contrib and have it rely more closely
1657 on the WAL backend code
1659 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00035.php
1664 Optimizer / Executor
1665 ====================
1667 * Improve selectivity functions for geometric operators
1668 * Precompile SQL functions to avoid overhead
1669 * Create utility to compute accurate random_page_cost value
1670 * Improve ability to display optimizer analysis using OPTIMIZER_DEBUG
1671 * Have EXPLAIN ANALYZE issue NOTICE messages when the estimated and
1672 actual row counts differ by a specified percentage
1673 * Improve how ANALYZE computes in-doubt tuples
1675 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00771.php
1677 * Consider using hash buckets to do DISTINCT, rather than sorting
1679 This would be beneficial when there are few distinct values. This is
1680 already used by GROUP BY.
1682 * Log statements where the optimizer row estimates were dramatically
1683 different from the number of rows actually found?
1684 * Consider compressed annealing to search for query plans
1686 This might replace GEQO, http://sixdemonbag.org/Djinni.
1688 * Improve merge join performance by allowing mark/restore of
1691 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00096.php
1693 * Consider using a hash for joining to a large IN (VALUES ...) list
1695 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00450.php
1702 * Consider having the background writer update the transaction status
1703 hint bits before writing out the page
1705 Implementing this requires the background writer to have access to system
1706 catalogs and the transaction status log.
1708 * Consider adding buffers the background writer finds reusable to the
1711 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00781.php
1713 * Automatically tune bgwriter_delay based on activity rather then using a
1716 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00781.php
1718 * Consider wither increasing BM_MAX_USAGE_COUNT improves performance
1720 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg01007.php
1722 * Test to see if calling PreallocXlogFiles() from the background writer
1723 will help with WAL segment creation latency
1725 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-06/msg00340.php
1729 Miscellaneous Performance
1730 =========================
1732 * Do async I/O for faster random read-ahead of data
1734 Async I/O allows multiple I/O requests to be sent to the disk with
1735 results coming back asynchronously.
1737 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00820.php
1738 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-09/msg00255.php
1739 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00027.php
1740 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00170.php
1742 * Use mmap() rather than SYSV shared memory or to write WAL files?
1744 This would remove the requirement for SYSV SHM but would introduce
1745 portability issues. Anonymous mmap (or mmap to /dev/zero) is required
1746 to prevent I/O overhead.
1748 * Consider mmap()'ing files into a backend?
1750 Doing I/O to large tables would consume a lot of address space or
1751 require frequent mapping/unmapping. Extending the file also causes
1752 mapping problems that might require mapping only individual pages,
1753 leading to thousands of mappings. Another problem is that there is no
1754 way to _prevent_ I/O to disk from the dirty shared buffers so changes
1755 could hit disk before WAL is written.
1757 * Add a script to ask system configuration questions and tune postgresql.conf
1758 * Consider ways of storing rows more compactly on disk
1760 o Reduce the row header size?
1761 o Consider reducing on-disk varlena length from four bytes to
1762 two because a heap row cannot be more than 64k in length
1764 * Consider increasing NUM_CLOG_BUFFERS
1766 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00030.php
1767 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-08/msg00024.php
1769 * Consider transaction start/end performance improvements
1771 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00948.php
1772 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00361.php
1774 * Allow user configuration of TOAST thresholds
1776 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00213.php
1777 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00082.php
1779 * Allow configuration of backend priorities via the operating system
1781 Though backend priorities make priority inversion during lock
1782 waits possible, research shows that this is not a huge problem.
1784 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-02/msg00493.php
1786 * Experiment with multi-threaded backend better I/O utilization
1788 This would allow a single query to make use of multiple I/O channels
1789 simultaneously. One idea is to create a background reader that can
1790 pre-fetch sequential and index scan pages needed by other backends.
1791 This could be expanded to allow concurrent reads from multiple devices
1792 in a partitioned table.
1794 * Experiment with multi-threaded backend better CPU utilization
1796 This would allow several CPUs to be used for a single query, such as
1797 for sorting or query execution.
1799 * Consider increasing the minimum allowed number of shared buffers
1801 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-02/msg00157.php
1803 * Expire published xmin for read-only and idle transactions
1805 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00343.php
1807 * Consider if CommandCounterIncrement() can avoid its
1808 AcceptInvalidationMessages() call
1810 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-committers/2007-11/msg00585.php
1812 * Improve performance of shared invalidation queue for multiple CPUs
1814 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2008-01/msg00023.php
1816 * Consider Cartesian joins when both relations are needed to form an
1817 indexscan qualification for a third relation
1819 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-12/msg00090.php
1821 * Consider not storing a NULL bitmap on disk if all the NULLs are
1824 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00624.php
1825 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-12/msg00109.php
1827 * Sort large UPDATE/DELETEs so it is done in heap order
1829 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01119.php
1831 * -Avoid tuple some tuple copying in sort routines
1832 * SMP scalability improvements
1834 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00439.php
1835 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00206.php
1836 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00361.php
1838 * Research reducing deTOASTing in more places
1840 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00895.php
1842 * Consider being smarter about memory and external files used during
1845 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg01101.php
1846 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00045.php
1848 * Allow one transaction to see tuples using the snapshot of another
1851 This would assist multiple backends in working together.
1852 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00400.php
1858 * Add use of 'const' for variables in source tree
1859 * Move some things from contrib into main tree
1860 * %Remove warnings created by -Wcast-align
1861 * Move platform-specific ps status display info from ps_status.c to ports
1862 * Add optional CRC checksum to heap and index pages
1863 * Improve documentation to build only interfaces (Marc)
1864 * Remove or relicense modules that are not under the BSD license, if possible
1865 * Acquire lock on a relation before building a relcache entry for it
1866 * Allow cross-compiling by generating the zic database on the target system
1867 * Improve NLS maintenance of libpgport messages linked onto applications
1868 * Clean up casting in contrib/isn
1870 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00245.php
1872 * Use UTF8 encoding for NLS messages so all server encodings can
1874 * Update Bonjour to work with newer cross-platform SDK
1876 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg02238.php
1877 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-10/msg00048.php
1879 * Consider detoasting keys before sorting
1880 * Consider GnuTLS if OpenSSL license becomes a problem
1882 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-05/msg00040.php
1883 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg01213.php
1885 * Consider changing documentation format from SGML to XML
1887 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2006-12/msg00152.php
1889 * Consider making NAMEDATALEN more configurable in future releases
1890 * Update our code to handle 64-bit timezone files to match the zic
1891 source code, which now uses them
1892 * Have configure choose integer datetimes by default
1894 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00046.php
1896 * Support scoped IPv6 addresses
1898 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-05/msg00111.php
1900 * Consider allowing 64-bit integers and floats to be passed by value on
1903 Also change 32-bit floats (float4) to be passed by value at the same
1906 * Research use of signals and sleep wake ups
1908 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00003.php
1910 * Add automated check for invalid C++ source code constructs
1912 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-07/msg00056.php
1914 * Consider simplifying how memory context resets handle child contexts
1916 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-08/msg00067.php
1918 * Remove use of MAKE_PTR and MAKE_OFFSET macros
1920 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-08/msg01510.php
1922 * Convert single quotes to apostrophes in the PDF documentation
1924 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2007-12/msg00059.php
1926 * Create three versions of libpgport to simplify client code
1928 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00154.php
1930 * Remove old-style routines for manipulating tuples
1932 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00851.php
1934 * Improve detection of shared memory segments being used by other
1937 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00656.php
1939 * Implement the non-threaded Avahi service discovery protocol
1941 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00939.php
1942 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00097.php
1943 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg01211.php
1944 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-04/msg00001.php
1948 o Remove configure.in check for link failure when cause is found
1949 o Remove readdir() errno patch when runtime/mingwex/dirent.c rev
1951 o Remove psql newline patch when we find out why mingw outputs an
1953 o Allow psql to use readline once non-US code pages work with
1955 o Fix problem with shared memory on the Win32 Terminal Server
1956 o Diagnose problem where shared memory can sometimes not be
1957 attached by postmaster children
1959 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-08/msg01377.php
1961 o Improve signal handling
1963 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-06/msg00027.php
1965 o Convert MSVC build system to remove most batch files
1967 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00961.php
1969 o Prevent SSL from sending network packets to avoid interference
1970 with Win32 signal emulation
1972 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00455.php
1974 o Support pgxs when using MSVC
1976 o Fix MSVC NLS support, like for to_char()
1978 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00485.php
1979 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00038.php
1981 o Find a correct rint() substitute on Windows
1983 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00808.php
1987 * Wire Protocol Changes
1989 o Allow dynamic character set handling
1990 o Add decoded type, length, precision
1992 o Update clients to use data types, typmod, schema.table.column names
1993 of result sets using new statement protocol
1999 * Add pre-parsing phase that converts non-ISO syntax to supported
2002 This could allow SQL written for other databases to run without
2005 * Allow plug-in modules to emulate features from other databases
2006 * Add features of Oracle-style packages (Pavel)
2008 A package would be a schema with session-local variables,
2009 public/private functions, and initialization functions. It
2010 is also possible to implement these capabilities
2011 in any schema and not use a separate "packages"
2014 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00384.php
2016 * Consider allowing control of upper/lower case folding of unquoted
2019 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-04/msg00818.php
2020 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg01527.php
2021 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00849.php
2023 * Add autonomous transactions
2025 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00893.php
2029 Features We Do _Not_ Want
2030 =========================
2032 * All backends running as threads in a single process (not wanted)
2034 This eliminates the process protection we get from the current setup.
2035 Thread creation is usually the same overhead as process creation on
2036 modern systems, so it seems unwise to use a pure threaded model.
2038 * Optimizer hints (not wanted)
2040 Optimizer hints are used to work around problems in the optimizer. We
2041 would rather have the problems reported and fixed.
2043 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00506.php
2044 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00517.php
2045 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00663.php
2048 Because we support postfix operators, it isn't possible to make AS
2049 optional and continue to use bison.
2050 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2003-04/msg00436.php
2052 http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-sql/2006-08/msg00164.php
2054 * Embedded server (not wanted)
2056 While PostgreSQL clients runs fine in limited-resource environments, the
2057 server requires multiple processes and a stable pool of resources to
2058 run reliabily and efficiently. Stripping down the PostgreSQL server
2059 to run in the same process address space as the client application
2060 would add too much complexity and failure cases.