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4 <sect1 id="release-8-4">
5 <title>Release 8.4</title>
8 <title>Release date</title>
9 <simpara>2009-??-??, ITEMS CURRENT AS OF 2009-05-14</simpara>
13 <title>Overview</title>
16 After many years of development, <productname>PostgreSQL</> has
17 become feature-complete in many areas. This release shows a
18 targeted approach to adding features (e.g., authentication,
19 monitoring, space reuse), and adds capabilities defined in the
20 later SQL standards. The major areas of enhancement are:
25 <!-- This list duplicates items below, but without authors or details-->
35 Common Table Expressions and Recursive Joins
41 Default and variadic parameters for functions
59 Per-database locale settings
71 Improved join performance for <literal>EXISTS</> and <literal>NOT EXISTS</> queries
77 Easier-to-use Warm Standby
83 Automatic sizing of the Free Space Map
89 Visibility Map (greatly reduces vacuum overhead for slowly-changing tables)
95 Version-aware psql (backslash commands work against older servers)
101 Support SSL certificates for user authentication
107 Per-function runtime statistics
113 Easy editing of functions in psql
119 New contrib modules: pg_stat_statements, auto_explain, citext, btree_gin
126 The above items are explained in more detail in the sections below.
132 <title>Migration to Version 8.4</title>
135 A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is
136 required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous
141 Observe the following incompatibilities:
145 <title>General</title>
150 Use 64-bit integer datetimes by default (Neil Conway)
154 Previously this was selected by <application>configure</>'s
155 <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</> option. To retain
156 the old behavior, build with <option>--disable-integer-datetimes</>.
162 Remove <application>ipcclean</> utility command (Bruce)
166 The utility only worked on a few platforms. Users should use
167 their operating system tools instead.
176 <title>Server Settings</title>
181 Change default setting for
182 <literal>log_min_messages</> to <literal>warning</> (previously
183 it was <literal>notice</>) to reduce log file volume (Tom)
189 Change default setting for <literal>max_prepared_transactions</> to
190 zero (previously it was 5) (Tom)
196 Make <literal>debug_print_parse</>, <literal>debug_print_rewritten</>,
197 and <literal>debug_print_plan</>
198 output appear at <literal>LOG</> message level, not
199 <literal>DEBUG1</> as formerly (Tom)
205 Make <literal>debug_pretty_print</> default to <literal>on</> (Tom)
211 Remove <varname>explain_pretty_print</> parameter (no longer needed) (Tom)
217 Make <varname>log_temp_files</> settable by superusers only, like other
218 logging options (Simon Riggs)
224 Remove automatic appending of the epoch timestamp when no <literal>%</>
225 escapes are present in <literal>log_filename</> (Robert Haas)
229 This change was made because some users wanted a fixed log filename,
230 for use with an external log rotation tool.
236 Remove <varname>log_restartpoints</> from <filename>recovery.conf</>;
237 instead use <varname>log_checkpoints</> (Simon)
243 Remove <varname>krb_realm</> and <varname>krb_server_hostname</>;
244 these are now set in <filename>pg_hba.conf</> instead (Magnus)
250 There are also significant changes in <link
251 linkend="release-8-4-pg-hba-conf"><filename>pg_hba.conf</></link>,
261 <title>Queries</title>
267 Change <command>TRUNCATE</> and <command>LOCK</> to
268 apply to child tables of the specified table(s) (Peter)
272 These commands now accept an <literal>ONLY</> option that prevents
273 processing child tables; this option must be used if the old
280 <command>SELECT DISTINCT</> and
281 <literal>UNION</>/<literal>INTERSECT</>/<literal>EXCEPT</>
282 no longer always produce sorted output (Tom)
286 Previously, these types of queries always removed duplicate rows
287 by means of Sort/Unique processing (i.e., sort then remove adjacent
288 duplicates). Now they can be implemented by hashing, which will not
289 produce sorted output. If an application relied on the output being
290 in sorted order, the recommended fix is to add an <literal>ORDER BY</>
291 clause. As a short-term workaround, the previous behavior can be
292 restored by disabling <literal>enable_hashagg</>, but that is a very
293 performance-expensive fix. <literal>SELECT DISTINCT ON</> never uses
294 hashing, however, so its behavior is unchanged.
300 Force child tables to inherit <literal>CHECK</> constraints from parents
301 (Alex Hunsaker, Nikhil Sontakke, Tom)
305 Formerly it was possible to drop such a constraint from a child
306 table, allowing rows that violate the constraint to be visible
307 when scanning the parent table. This was deemed inconsistent,
308 as well as contrary to SQL standard.
314 Disallow negative <literal>LIMIT</> or <literal>OFFSET</>
315 values, rather than treating them as zero (Simon)
321 Disallow <command>LOCK TABLE</> outside a transaction block
326 Such an operation is useless because the lock would be released
333 Sequences now contain an additional <structfield>start_value</> column
338 This supports <command>ALTER SEQUENCE ... RESTART</>.
348 <title>Functions and Operators</title>
354 Make <type>numeric</> zero raised to a fractional power return
355 <literal>0</>, rather than throwing an error, and make
356 <type>numeric</> zero raised to the zero power return <literal>1</>,
357 rather than error (Bruce)
361 This matches the longstanding <type>float8</> behavior.
367 Allow unary minus of floating-point values to produce minus zero (Tom)
371 The changed behavior is more <acronym>IEEE</>-standard
378 Throw an error if an escape character is the last character in
379 a <literal>LIKE</> pattern (i.e., it has nothing to escape) (Tom)
383 Previously, such an escape character was silently ignored,
384 thus possibly masking application logic errors.
390 Remove <literal>~=~</> and <literal>~<>~</> operators
391 formerly used for <literal>LIKE</> index comparisons (Tom)
395 Pattern indexes now use the regular equality operator.
401 <function>xpath()</> now passes its arguments to <application>libxml</>
402 without any changes (Andrew)
406 This means that the XML argument must be a well-formed XML document.
407 The previous coding attempted to allow XML fragments, but it did not
414 Make <function>xmlelement()</> format attribute values just like
415 content values (Peter)
419 Previously, attribute values were formatted according to the
420 normal SQL output behavior, which is sometimes at odds with
427 Rewrite memory management for <application>libxml</>-using functions
432 This change should avoid some compatibility problems with use of
433 <application>libxml</> in PL/Perl and other add-on code.
439 Adopt a faster algorithm for hash functions (Kenneth Marshall,
440 based on work of Bob Jenkins)
444 Many of the built-in hash functions now deliver different results on
445 little-endian and big-endian platforms.
452 <title>Temporal Functions and Operators</title>
458 <varname>DateStyle</> no longer controls <type>interval</> output
459 formatting; instead there is a new variable <varname>IntervalStyle</>
466 Improve consistency of handling of fractional seconds in
467 <type>timestamp</> and <type>interval</> output (Ron Mayer)
471 This may result in displaying a different number of fractional
472 digits than before, or rounding instead of truncating.
478 Make <function>to_char()</>'s localized month/day names depend
479 on <varname>LC_TIME</>, not <varname>LC_MESSAGES</> (Euler
486 Cause <function>to_date()</> and <function>to_timestamp()</>
487 to more consistently report errors for invalid input (Brendan
492 Previous versions would often ignore or silently misread input
493 that did not match the format string. Such cases will now
500 Fix <function>to_timestamp()</> to not require upper/lower case
501 matching for meridian (<literal>AM</>/<literal>PM</>) and era
502 (<literal>BC</>/<literal>AD</>) format designations (Brendan
507 For example, input value <literal>ad</> now matches the format
508 string <literal>AD</>.
521 <title>Changes</title>
524 Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between
525 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 and the previous major
530 <title>Performance</title>
535 Improve optimizer statistics calculations (Jan Urbanski, Tom)
539 In particular, estimates for full-text-search operators are
546 Allow <command>SELECT DISTINCT</> and
547 <literal>UNION</>/<literal>INTERSECT</>/<literal>EXCEPT</> to
552 This means that these types of queries no longer automatically
553 produce sorted output.
559 Create explicit concepts of semi-joins and anti-joins (Tom)
563 This work formalizes our previous ad-hoc treatment of <literal>IN
564 (SELECT ...)</> clauses, and extends it to <literal>EXISTS</> and
565 <literal>NOT EXISTS</> clauses. It should result in significantly
566 better planning of <literal>EXISTS</> and <literal>NOT EXISTS</>
567 queries. In general, logically equivalent <literal>IN</> and
568 <literal>EXISTS</> clauses should now have similar performance,
569 whereas previously <literal>IN</> often won.
575 Improve optimization of sub-selects beneath outer joins (Tom)
579 Formerly, a sub-select or view could not be optimized very well if it
580 appeared within the nullable side of an outer join and contained
581 non-strict expressions (for instance, constants) in its result list.
587 Improve the performance of <function>text_position()</> and
588 related functions by using Boyer-Moore-Horspool searching (David
593 This is particularly helpful for long search patterns.
599 Reduce I/O load of writing the statistics collection file
600 by writing the file only when requested (Martin Pihlak)
606 Improve performance for bulk inserts (Robert Haas, Simon)
612 Increase the default value of <varname>default_statistics_target</>
613 from <literal>10</> to <literal>100</> (Greg Sabino Mullane,
618 The maximum value was also increased from <literal>1000</> to
625 Perform <varname>constraint_exclusion</> checking by default
626 in queries involving inheritance or <literal>UNION ALL</> (Tom)
630 A new <varname>constraint_exclusion</> setting,
631 <literal>partition</>, was added to specify this behavior.
637 Allow I/O read-ahead for bitmap index scans (Greg Stark)
641 The amount of read-ahead is controlled by
642 <varname>effective_io_concurrency</>. This feature is available only
643 if the kernel has <function>posix_fadvise()</> support.
649 Inline simple set-returning <acronym>SQL</> functions in
650 <literal>FROM</> clauses (Richard Rowell)
656 Improve performance of multi-batch hash joins by providing a special
657 case for join key values that are especially common in the outer
658 relation (Bryce Cutt, Ramon Lawrence)
664 Reduce volume of temporary data in multi-batch hash joins
665 by suppressing <quote>physical tlist</> optimization (Michael
666 Henderson, Ramon Lawrence)
672 Avoid waiting for idle-in-transaction sessions during
673 <command>CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY</> (Simon)
679 Improve performance of shared cache invalidation (Tom)
688 <title>Server</title>
691 <title>Settings</title>
697 Convert many <filename>postgresql.conf</> settings to enumerated
698 values so that <literal>pg_settings</> can display the valid
705 Add <varname>cursor_tuple_fraction</> parameter to control the
706 fraction of a cursor's rows that the planner assumes will be
707 fetched (Robert Hell)
713 Allow underscores in the names of custom variable
714 classes in <filename>postgresql.conf</> (Tom)
723 <title>Authentication and security</title>
728 Remove support for the (insecure) <literal>crypt</> authentication method
733 This effectively obsoletes pre-<productname>PostgreSQL</> 7.2 client
734 libraries, as there is no longer any non-plaintext password method that
741 Support regular expressions in <filename>pg_ident.conf</>
748 Allow <productname>Kerberos</>/<acronym>GSSAPI</> parameters
749 to be changed without restarting the postmaster (Magnus)
755 Support <acronym>SSL</> certificate chains in server certificate
760 Including the full certificate chain makes the client able
761 to verify the certificate without having all intermediate CA
762 certificates present in the local store, which is often the case for
769 Report appropriate error message for combination of <literal>MD5</>
770 authentication and <varname>db_user_namespace</> enabled (Bruce)
777 <sect4 id="release-8-4-pg-hba-conf">
778 <title><filename>pg_hba.conf</></title>
783 Change all authentication options to use <literal>name=value</>
788 This makes incompatible changes to the <literal>ldap</>,
789 <literal>pam</> and <literal>ident</> authentication methods. All
790 <filename>pg_hba.conf</> entries with these methods need to be
791 rewritten using the new format.
797 Remove the <literal>ident sameuser</> option, instead making that
798 behavior the default if no usermap is specified (Magnus)
804 Allow a usermap parameter for all external authentication methods
809 Previously a usermap was only supported for <literal>ident</>
816 Add <literal>clientcert</> option to control requesting of a
817 client certificate (Magnus)
821 Previously this was controlled by the presence of a root
822 certificate file in the server's data directory.
828 Add <literal>cert</> authentication method to allow
829 <emphasis>user</> authentication via <acronym>SSL</> certificates
834 Previously <acronym>SSL</> certificates could only verify that
835 the client had access to a certificate, not authenticate a
842 Allow <literal>krb5</>, <literal>gssapi</> and <literal>sspi</>
843 realm and <literal>krb5</> host settings to be specified in
844 <filename>pg_hba.conf</> (Magnus)
848 These override the settings in <filename>postgresql.conf</>.
854 Add <varname>include_realm</> parameter for <literal>krb5</>,
855 <literal>gssapi</>, and <literal>sspi</> methods (Magnus)
859 This allows identical usernames from different realms to be
860 authenticated as different database users using usermaps.
866 Parse <filename>pg_hba.conf</> fully when it is loaded,
867 so that errors are reported immediately (Magnus)
871 Previously, most errors in the file wouldn't be detected until clients
872 tried to connect, so an erroneous file could render the system
873 unusable. With the new behavior, if an error is detected during
874 reload then the bad file is rejected and the postmaster continues
881 Show all parsing errors in <filename>pg_hba.conf</> instead of
882 aborting after the first one (Selena Deckelmann)
888 Support <literal>ident</> authentication over Unix-domain sockets
889 on <productname>Solaris</> (Garick Hamlin)
898 <title>Continuous Archiving</title>
903 Provide an option to <function>pg_start_backup()</> to force its
904 implied checkpoint to finish as quickly as possible (Tom)
908 The default behavior avoids excess I/O consumption, but that is
909 pointless if no concurrent query activity is going on.
915 Make <function>pg_stop_backup()</> wait for modified <acronym>WAL</>
916 files to be archived (Simon)
920 This guarantees that the backup is valid at the time
921 <function>pg_stop_backup()</> completes.
927 Delay <quote>smart</> shutdown while a continuous archiving base backup
928 is in progress (Laurenz Albe)
934 Cancel a continuous archiving base backup if <quote>fast</> shutdown
935 is requested (Laurenz Albe)
941 Allow <filename>recovery.conf</> boolean variables to take the
942 same range of string values as <filename>postgresql.conf</>
953 <title>Monitoring</title>
958 Add <function>pg_conf_load_time()</> to report when
959 the <productname>PostgreSQL</> configuration files were last loaded
966 Add <function>pg_terminate_backend()</> to safely terminate a
967 backend (the <literal>SIGTERM</> signal works also) (Tom, Bruce)
971 While it's always been possible to <literal>SIGTERM</> a single
972 backend, this was previously considered unsupported; and testing
973 of the case found some bugs that are now fixed.
979 Add ability to track user-defined functions' call counts and
980 runtimes (Martin Pihlak)
984 Function statistics appear in a new system view,
985 <literal>pg_stat_user_functions</>. Tracking is controlled
986 by the new parameter <varname>track_functions</>.
992 Allow specification of the maximum query string size in
993 <literal>pg_stat_activity</> via new
994 <varname>track_activity_query_size</> parameter (Thomas Lee)
1000 Increase the maximum line length sent to <application>syslog</>, in
1001 hopes of improving performance (Tom)
1007 Add read-only configuration variables <varname>segment_size</>,
1008 <varname>wal_block_size</>, and <varname>wal_segment_size</>
1015 When reporting a deadlock, report the text of all queries involved
1016 in the deadlock to the server log (Itagaki Takahiro)
1022 Add <function>pg_stat_get_activity(pid)</> function to return
1023 information about a specific process id (Magnus)
1029 Allow the location of the server's statistics file to be specified
1030 via <varname>stats_temp_directory</> (Magnus)
1034 This allows the statistics file to be placed in a
1035 <acronym>RAM</>-resident directory to reduce I/O requirements.
1036 On startup/shutdown, the file is copied to its traditional location
1037 (<literal>$PGDATA/global/</>) so it is preserved across restarts.
1048 <title>Queries</title>
1053 Add support for <literal>WINDOW</> functions (Hitoshi Harada)
1059 Add support for <literal>WITH</> clauses (CTEs), including <literal>WITH
1060 RECURSIVE</> (Yoshiyuki Asaba, Tatsuo Ishii, Tom)
1066 Add <command>TABLE</> command (Peter)
1070 <literal>TABLE tablename</> is a SQL standard short-hand for
1071 <literal>SELECT * FROM tablename</>.
1077 Allow <literal>AS</> to be optional when specifying a
1078 <command>SELECT</> (or <literal>RETURNING</>) column output
1079 label (Hiroshi Saito)
1083 This works so long as the column label is not any
1084 <productname>PostgreSQL</> keyword; otherwise <literal>AS</> is still
1091 Support set-returning functions in <command>SELECT</> result lists
1092 even for functions that return their result via a tuplestore (Tom)
1096 In particular, this means that functions written in PL/PgSQL
1097 and other PL languages can now be called this way.
1103 Support set-returning functions in the output of aggregation
1104 and grouping queries (Tom)
1110 Allow <command>SELECT FOR UPDATE</>/<literal>SHARE</> to work
1111 on inheritance trees (Tom)
1117 Add infrastructure for <acronym>SQL/MED</> (Martin Pihlak,
1122 There are no remote or external <acronym>SQL/MED</> capabilities
1123 yet, but this change provides a standardized and future-proof
1124 system for managing connection information for modules like
1125 <filename>dblink</> and <filename>plproxy</>.
1131 Invalidate cached plans when referenced schemas, functions, operators,
1132 or operator classes are modified (Martin Pihlak, Tom)
1136 This improves the system's ability to respond to on-the-fly
1142 Allow comparison of composite types and allow arrays of
1143 anonymous composite types (Tom)
1147 This allows constructs such as
1148 <literal>row(1, 1.1) = any (array[row(7, 7.7), row(1, 1.0)])</>.
1149 This is particularly useful in recursive queries.
1155 Add support for Unicode string literal and identifier specifications
1156 using code points, e.g. <literal>U&'d\0061t\+000061'</>
1163 Reject <literal>\000</> in string literals and <command>COPY</> data
1168 Previously, this was accepted but had the effect of terminating
1169 the string contents.
1175 Improve the parser's ability to report error locations (Tom)
1179 An error location is now reported for many semantic errors,
1180 such as mismatched datatypes, that previously could not be localized.
1187 <title><command>TRUNCATE</></title>
1192 Support statement-level <literal>ON TRUNCATE</> triggers (Simon)
1198 Add <literal>RESTART</>/<literal>CONTINUE IDENTITY</> options
1199 for <command>TRUNCATE TABLE</>
1200 (Zoltan Boszormenyi)
1204 The start value of a sequence can be changed by <command>ALTER
1205 SEQUENCE START WITH</>.
1211 Allow <command>TRUNCATE tab1, tab1</> to succeed (Bruce)
1217 Add a separate <command>TRUNCATE</> permission (Robert Haas)
1226 <title><command>EXPLAIN</></title>
1231 Make <command>EXPLAIN VERBOSE</> show the output columns of each
1236 Previously <command>EXPLAIN VERBOSE</> output an internal
1237 representation of the query plan. (That behavior is now
1238 available via <varname>debug_print_plan</>.)
1244 Make <command>EXPLAIN</> identify subplans and initplans with
1245 individual labels (Tom)
1251 Make <command>EXPLAIN</> honor <varname>debug_print_plan</> (Tom)
1257 Allow <command>EXPLAIN</> on <command>CREATE TABLE AS</> (Peter)
1266 <title><literal>LIMIT</>/<literal>OFFSET</></title>
1271 Allow sub-selects in <literal>LIMIT</> and <literal>OFFSET</> (Tom)
1277 Add <acronym>SQL</>-standard syntax for
1278 <literal>LIMIT</>/<literal>OFFSET</> capabilities (Peter)
1283 <literal>OFFSET num {ROW|ROWS} FETCH {FIRST|NEXT} [num] {ROW|ROWS}
1295 <title>Object Manipulation</title>
1300 Add support for column-level privileges (Stephen Frost, KaiGai
1307 Refactor multi-object <command>DROP</> operations to reduce the
1308 need for <literal>CASCADE</> (Alex Hunsaker)
1312 For example, if table <literal>B</> has a dependency on table
1313 <literal>A</>, the command <literal>DROP TABLE A, B</> no longer
1314 requires the <literal>CASCADE</> option.
1320 Fix various problems with concurrent <command>DROP</> commands
1321 by ensuring that locks are taken before we begin to drop dependencies
1328 Improve reporting of dependencies during <command>DROP</>
1335 Add <literal>WITH [NO] DATA</> clause to <command>CREATE TABLE
1336 AS</>, per the <acronym>SQL</> standard (Peter, Tom)
1342 Add support for user-defined I/O conversion casts (Heikki)
1348 Allow <command>CREATE AGGREGATE</> to use an <type>internal</>
1349 transition datatype (Tom)
1355 Add <literal>LIKE</> clause to <command>CREATE TYPE</> (Tom)
1359 This simplifies creation of data types that use the same internal
1360 representation as an existing type.
1366 Allow specification of the type category and <quote>preferred</>
1367 status for user-defined base types (Tom)
1371 This allows more control over the coercion behavior of user-defined
1378 Allow <command>CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW</> to add columns to the
1379 end of a view (Robert Haas)
1386 <title><command>ALTER</></title>
1391 Add <command>ALTER TYPE RENAME</> (Petr Jelinek)
1397 Add <command>ALTER SEQUENCE ... RESTART</> (with no parameter) to
1398 reset a sequence to its initial value (Zoltan Boszormenyi)
1404 Modify the <command>ALTER TABLE</> syntax to allow all reasonable
1405 combinations for tables, indexes, sequences, and views (Tom)
1409 This change allows the following new syntaxes:
1414 <command>ALTER SEQUENCE OWNER TO</>
1419 <command>ALTER VIEW ALTER COLUMN SET/DROP DEFAULT</>
1424 <command>ALTER VIEW OWNER TO</>
1429 <command>ALTER VIEW SET SCHEMA</>
1434 There is no actual new functionality here, but formerly
1435 you had to say <command>ALTER TABLE</> to do these things,
1436 which was confusing.
1442 Add support for the syntax <command>ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN
1443 ... SET DATA TYPE</> (Peter)
1447 This is <acronym>SQL</>-standard syntax for functionality that
1448 was already supported.
1454 Make <command>ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS</> rewrite the table
1455 to physically remove <type>OID</> values (Tom)
1459 Also, add <command>ALTER TABLE SET WITH OIDS</> to rewrite the
1460 table to add <type>OID</>s.
1469 <title>Database Manipulation</title>
1474 Improve reporting of
1475 <command>CREATE</>/<command>DROP</>/<command>RENAME DATABASE</>
1476 failure when uncommitted prepared transactions are the cause
1483 Make <varname>LC_COLLATE</> and <varname>LC_CTYPE</> into
1484 per-database settings (Radek Strnad, Heikki)
1488 This makes collation similar to encoding, which was always
1489 configurable per database.
1495 Improve checks that the database encoding, collation
1496 (<varname>LC_COLLATE</>), and character classes
1497 (<varname>LC_CTYPE</>) match (Heikki, Tom)
1501 Note in particular that a new database's encoding and locale
1502 settings can be changed only when copying from <literal>template0</>.
1503 This prevents possibly copying data that doesn't match the settings.
1509 Add <command>ALTER DATABASE SET TABLESPACE</> to move a database
1510 to a new tablespace (Guillaume Lelarge, Bernd Helmle)
1521 <title>Utility Operations</title>
1527 Add a <literal>VERBOSE</> option to the <command>CLUSTER</> command and
1528 <application>clusterdb</> (Jim Cox)
1534 Decrease memory requirements for recording pending trigger
1542 <title>Indexes</title>
1547 Dramatically improve the speed of building and accessing hash
1548 indexes (Tom Raney, Shreya Bhargava)
1552 This allows hash indexes to be sometimes faster than btree
1553 indexes. However, hash indexes are still not crash-safe.
1559 Make hash indexes store only the hash code, not the full value of
1560 the indexed column (Xiao Meng)
1564 This greatly reduces the size of hash indexes for long indexed
1565 values, improving performance.
1571 Implement fast update option for GIN indexes (Teodor, Oleg)
1575 This option greatly improves update speed at a small penalty in search
1582 <literal>xxx_pattern_ops</> indexes can now be used for simple
1583 equality comparisons, not only for <literal>LIKE</> (Tom)
1592 <title>Full Text Indexes</title>
1597 Remove the requirement to use <literal>@@@</> when doing
1598 <acronym>GIN</> weighted lookups on full text indexes (Tom, Teodor)
1602 The normal <literal>@@</> text search operator can be used
1609 Add an optimizer selectivity function for <literal>@@</> text
1610 search operations (Jan Urbanski)
1616 Allow prefix matching in full text searches (Teodor Sigaev,
1623 Support multi-column <acronym>GIN</> indexes (Teodor Sigaev)
1629 Improve support for Nepali language and Devanagari alphabet (Teodor)
1638 <title><command>VACUUM</></title>
1643 Track free space in separate per-relation <quote>fork</> files (Heikki)
1647 Free space discovered by <command>VACUUM</> is now recorded in
1648 <filename>*_fsm</> files, rather than in a fixed-sized shared memory
1649 area. The <varname>max_fsm_pages</> and <varname>max_fsm_relations</>
1650 settings have been removed, greatly simplifying administration of
1651 free space management.
1657 Add a visibility map to track pages that do not require
1662 This allows <command>VACUUM</> to avoid scanning all of
1663 a table when only a portion of the table needs vacuuming.
1664 The visibility map is stored in per-relation <quote>fork</> files.
1670 Add <varname>vacuum_freeze_table_age</> parameter to control
1671 when <command>VACUUM</> should ignore the visibility map and
1672 do a full table scan to freeze tuples (Heikki)
1678 Track transaction snapshots more carefully (Alvaro)
1682 This improves <command>VACUUM</>'s ability to reclaim space
1683 in the presence of long-running transactions.
1689 Add ability to specify per-relation autovacuum and <acronym>TOAST</>
1690 parameters in <command>CREATE TABLE</> (Alvaro, Euler Taveira de
1695 Autovacuum options used to be stored in a system table.
1701 Add <literal>--freeze</> option to <application>vacuumdb</>
1713 <title>Data Types</title>
1718 Add a <literal>CaseSensitive</> option for text search synonym
1719 dictionaries (Simon)
1725 Improve the precision of <type>NUMERIC</> division (Tom)
1731 Add basic arithmetic operators for <type>int2</> with <type>int8</>
1736 This eliminates the need for explicit casting in some situations.
1742 Allow <type>UUID</> input to accept an optional hyphen after
1743 every fourth digit (Robert Haas)
1749 Allow <literal>on</>/<literal>off</> as input for the boolean data type
1756 Allow spaces around <literal>NaN</> in the input string for
1757 type <type>numeric</> (Sam Mason)
1764 <title>Temporal Data Types</title>
1769 Reject year <literal>0 BC</> and years <literal>000</> and
1770 <literal>0000</> (Tom)
1774 Previously these were interpreted as <literal>1 BC</>.
1775 (Note: years <literal>0</> and <literal>00</> are still assumed to be
1782 Include <literal>SGT</> (Singapore time) in the default list of
1783 known time zone abbreviations (Tom)
1789 Support <literal>infinity</> and <literal>-infinity</> as
1790 values of type <type>date</> (Tom)
1796 Make parsing of <type>interval</> literals more standard-compliant (Tom)
1800 For example, <literal>INTERVAL '1' YEAR</> now does what it's
1807 Allow <type>interval</> fractional-seconds precision to be specified
1808 after the <literal>second</> keyword, for <acronym>SQL</> standard
1813 Formerly the precision had to be specified after the keyword
1814 <type>interval</>. (For backwards compatibility, this syntax is still
1815 supported, though deprecated.) Data type definitions will now be
1816 output using the standard format.
1822 Support the <acronym>IS0 8601</> <type>interval</> syntax (Ron
1823 Mayer, Kevin Grittner)
1827 For example, <literal>INTERVAL 'P1Y2M3DT4H5M6.7S'</> is now
1834 Add <varname>IntervalStyle</> parameter
1835 which controls how <type>interval</> values are output (Ron Mayer)
1839 Valid values are: <literal>postgres</>, <literal>postgres_verbose</>,
1840 <literal>sql_standard</>, <literal>iso_8601</>. This setting also
1841 controls the handling of negative <type>interval</> input when only
1842 some fields have positive/negative designations.
1848 Improve consistency of handling of fractional seconds in
1849 <type>timestamp</> and <type>interval</> output (Ron Mayer)
1858 <title>Arrays</title>
1863 Improve the handling of casts applied to <literal>ARRAY[]</>
1864 constructs, such as <literal>ARRAY[...]::integer[]</>
1869 Formerly <productname>PostgreSQL</> attempted to determine a data type
1870 for the <literal>ARRAY[]</> construct without reference to the ensuing
1871 cast. This could fail unnecessarily in many cases, in particular when
1872 the <literal>ARRAY[]</> construct was empty or contained only
1873 ambiguous entries such as <literal>NULL</>. Now the cast is consulted
1874 to determine the type that the array elements must be.
1880 Make <acronym>SQL</>-syntax <type>ARRAY</> dimensions optional
1881 to match the <acronym>SQL</> standard (Peter)
1887 Add <function>array_ndims()</> to return the number
1888 of dimensions of an array (Robert Haas)
1894 Add <function>array_length()</> to return the length
1895 of an array for a specified dimension (Jim Nasby, Robert
1896 Haas, Peter Eisentraut)
1902 Add aggregate function <function>array_agg()</>, which
1903 returns all aggregated values as a single array (Robert Haas,
1910 Add <function>unnest()</>, which converts an array to
1911 individual row values (Tom)
1915 This is the opposite of <function>array_agg()</>.
1921 Add <function>array_fill()</> to create arrays initialized with
1922 a value (Pavel Stehule)
1928 Add <function>generate_subscripts()</> to simplify generating
1929 the range of an array's subscripts (Pavel Stehule)
1938 <title>Wide-Value Storage (<acronym>TOAST</>)</title>
1943 Consider <acronym>TOAST</> compression on values as short as
1944 32 bytes (previously 256 bytes) (Greg Stark)
1950 Require 25% minimum space savings before using <acronym>TOAST</>
1951 compression (previously 20% for small values and any-savings-at-all
1952 for large values) (Greg)
1958 Improve <acronym>TOAST</> heuristics for rows that have a mix of large
1959 and small toastable fields, so that we prefer to push large values out
1960 of line and don't compress small values unnecessarily (Greg, Tom)
1971 <title>Functions</title>
1976 Document that <function>setseed()</> allows values from
1977 <literal>-1</> to <literal>1</> (not just <literal>0</> to
1978 <literal>1</>), and enforce the valid range (Kris Jurka)
1984 Add server-side function <function>lo_import(filename, oid)</>
1991 Add <function>quote_nullable()</>, which behaves like
1992 <function>quote_literal()</> but returns the string <literal>NULL</> for
1993 a null argument (Brendan Jurd)
1999 Improve full text search <function>headline()</> function to
2000 allow extracting several fragments of text (Sushant Sinha)
2006 Add <function>suppress_redundant_updates_trigger()</> trigger
2007 function to avoid overhead for non-data-changing updates (Andrew)
2013 Add <function>div(numeric, numeric)</> to perform <type>numeric</>
2014 division without rounding (Tom)
2020 Add <type>timestamp</> and <type>timestamptz</> versions of
2021 <function>generate_series()</> (Hitoshi Harada)
2028 <title>Object Information Functions</title>
2033 Implement <function>current_query()</> for use by functions
2034 that need to know the currently running query (Tomas Doran)
2040 Add <function>pg_get_keywords()</> to return a list of the
2041 parser keywords (Dave Page)
2047 Add <function>pg_get_functiondef()</> to see a function's
2048 definition (Abhijit Menon-Sen)
2054 Modify <function>pg_relation_size()</> to use <literal>regclass</>
2059 <function>pg_relation_size(data_type_name)</> no longer works.
2065 Add <literal>boot_val</> and <literal>reset_val</> columns to
2066 <literal>pg_settings</> output (Greg Smith)
2072 Add source file name and line number columns to
2073 <literal>pg_settings</> output for variables set in a configuration
2074 file (Magnus, Alvaro)
2078 For security reasons, these columns are only visible to superusers.
2084 Add support for <varname>CURRENT_CATALOG</>,
2085 <varname>CURRENT_SCHEMA</>, <varname>SET CATALOG</>, <varname>SET
2090 These provide <acronym>SQL</>-standard syntax for existing features.
2096 Add <function>pg_typeof()</> which returns the data type
2097 of any value (Brendan Jurd)
2103 Make <function>version()</> return information about whether
2104 the server is a 32- or 64-bit binary (Bruce)
2110 Fix the behavior of information schema columns
2111 <literal>is_insertable_into</> and <literal>is_updatable</> to
2112 be consistent (Peter)
2118 Convert remaining builtin set-returning functions to use
2119 <literal>OUT</> parameters (Jaime Casanova)
2123 This makes it possible to call these functions without specifying
2124 a column list: <function>pg_show_all_settings()</>,
2125 <function>pg_lock_status()</>, <function>pg_prepared_xact()</>,
2126 <function>pg_prepared_statement()</>, <function>pg_cursor()</>
2132 Make <function>pg_*_is_visible()</> and
2133 <function>has_*_privilege()</> functions return <literal>NULL</>
2134 for invalid OIDs, rather than reporting an error (Tom)
2140 Extend <function>has_*_privilege()</> functions to allow inquiring
2141 about the OR of multiple privileges in one call (Stephen
2148 Add <function>has_column_privilege()</> and
2149 <function>has_any_column_privilege()</> functions (Stephen
2159 <title>Function Creation</title>
2164 Support variadic functions (functions with a variable number
2165 of arguments) (Pavel Stehule)
2169 Only trailing arguments can be optional, and they all must be
2170 of the same data type.
2176 Support default values for function arguments (Pavel Stehule)
2182 Add <command>CREATE FUNCTION ... RETURNS TABLE</> clause (Pavel
2189 Allow <acronym>SQL</>-language functions to return the output
2190 of an <command>INSERT</>/<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</>
2191 <literal>RETURNING</> clause (Tom)
2200 <title>PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language</title>
2205 Support <literal>EXECUTE USING</> for easier insertion of data
2206 values into a dynamic query string (Pavel Stehule)
2212 Allow looping over the results of a cursor using a <literal>FOR</>
2213 loop (Pavel Stehule)
2219 Support <literal>RETURN QUERY EXECUTE</> (Pavel
2226 Improve the <literal>RAISE</> command (Pavel Stehule)
2231 Support <literal>DETAIL</> and <literal>HINT</> fields
2236 Support specification of the <literal>SQLSTATE</> error code
2241 Support an exception name parameter
2246 Allow <literal>RAISE</> without parameters in an exception
2247 block to re-throw the current error
2256 Allow specification of <varname>SQLSTATE</> codes
2257 in <literal>EXCEPTION</> lists (Pavel Stehule)
2261 This is useful for handling custom <varname>SQLSTATE</> codes.
2267 Support the <literal>CASE</> statement (Pavel Stehule)
2273 Make <command>RETURN QUERY</> set the special <literal>FOUND</> and
2274 <command>GET DIAGNOSTICS</> <literal>ROW_COUNT</> variables
2281 Make <command>FETCH</> and <command>MOVE</> set the
2282 <command>GET DIAGNOSTICS</> <literal>ROW_COUNT</> variable
2289 Make <command>EXIT</> without a label always exit the innermost
2294 Formerly, if there were a <literal>BEGIN</> block more closely nested
2295 than any loop, it would exit that block instead. The new behavior
2296 matches Oracle(TM) and is also what was previously stated by our own
2303 Make processing of string literals and nested block comments
2304 match the main SQL parser's processing (Tom)
2310 Avoid memory leakage when the same function is called at varying
2311 exception-block nesting depths (Tom)
2322 <title>Client Applications</title>
2328 Fix <literal>pg_ctl restart</> to preserve command-line arguments
2335 Add <literal>-w</>/<literal>--no-password</> option that
2336 prevents password prompting in all utilities that have a
2337 <literal>-W</>/<literal>--password</> option (Peter)
2343 Remove <option>-q</> (quiet) option of <application>createdb</>,
2344 <application>createuser</>, <application>dropdb</>,
2345 <application>dropuser</> (Peter)
2349 These options have had no effect since <productname>PostgreSQL</>
2357 <title><application>psql</></title>
2362 Remove verbose startup banner; now just suggest <literal>help</>
2369 Make <literal>help</> show common backslash commands (Greg
2376 Add <literal>\pset format wrapped</> mode to wrap output to the
2377 screen width, or file/pipe output too if <literal>\pset columns</>
2378 is set (Bryce Nesbitt)
2384 Allow all supported spellings of boolean values in <command>\pset</>,
2385 rather than just <literal>on</> and <literal>off</> (Bruce)
2389 Formerly, any string other than <quote>off</> was silently taken
2390 to mean <literal>true</>. <application>psql</> will now complain
2391 about unrecognized spellings (but still take them as <literal>true</>).
2397 Use the pager for wide output (Bruce)
2403 Require a space between a one-letter backslash command and its first
2404 argument (Bernd Helmle)
2408 This removes a historical source of ambiguity.
2414 Improve tab completion support for schema-qualified and
2415 quoted identifiers (Greg Sabino Mullane)
2421 Add optional <literal>on</>/<literal>off</> argument for
2422 <command>\timing</> (David Fetter)
2428 Display access control rights on multiple lines (Brendan
2429 Jurd, Andreas Scherbaum)
2435 Make <command>\l</> show database access privileges (Andrew Gilligan)
2441 Make <command>\l+</> show database sizes, if permissions
2442 allow (Andrew Gilligan)
2448 Add the <command>\ef</> command to edit function definitions
2458 <title><application>psql</> \d* commands</title>
2464 Make <command>\d*</> commands that do not have a pattern argument
2465 show system objects only if the <literal>S</> modifier is specified
2466 (Greg Sabino Mullane, Bruce)
2470 The former behavior was inconsistent across different variants
2471 of <command>\d</>, and in most cases it provided no easy way to see
2478 Improve <command>\d*</> commands to work with older
2479 <productname>PostgreSQL</> server versions (back to 7.4),
2480 not only the current server version
2487 Make <command>\d</> show foreign-key constraints that reference
2488 the selected table (Kenneth D'Souza)
2494 Make <command>\d</> on a sequence show its column values
2495 (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
2501 Add column storage type and other relation options to the
2502 <command>\d+</> display (Gregory Stark, Euler Taveira de
2509 Show relation size in <command>\dt+</> output (Dickson S.
2516 Show the possible values of <literal>enum</> types in <command>\dT+</>
2523 Allow <command>\dC</> to accept a wildcard pattern, which matches
2524 either datatype involved in the cast (Tom)
2530 Add a function type column to <command>\df</>'s output, and add
2531 options to list only selected types of functions (David Fetter)
2537 Make <command>\df</> not hide functions that take or return
2538 type <type>cstring</> (Tom)
2542 Previously, such functions were hidden because most of them are
2543 datatype I/O functions, which were deemed uninteresting. The new
2544 policy about hiding system functions by default makes this wart
2554 <title><application>pg_dump</></title>
2559 Add a <literal>--no-tablespaces</> option to
2560 <application>pg_dump</>/<application>pg_dumpall</>/<application>pg_restore</>
2561 so that dumps can be restored to clusters that have non-matching
2562 tablespace layouts (Gavin Roy)
2568 Remove <option>-d</> and <option>-D</> options from
2569 <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_dumpall</> (Tom)
2573 These options were too frequently confused with the option to
2574 select a database name in other <productname>PostgreSQL</>
2575 client applications. The functionality is still available,
2576 but you must now spell out the long option name
2577 <option>--inserts</> or <option>--column-inserts</>.
2583 Remove <option>-i</>/<option>--ignore-version</> option from
2584 <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_dumpall</> (Tom)
2588 Use of this option does not throw an error, but it has no
2589 effect. This option was removed because the version checks
2590 are necessary for safety.
2596 Disable <varname>statement_timeout</> during dump and restore
2603 Add <application>pg_dump</>/<application>pg_dumpall</> option
2604 <option>--lock-wait-timeout</> (David Gould)
2608 This allows dumps to fail if unable to acquire a shared lock
2609 within the specified amount of time.
2615 Reorder <application>pg_dump</> <literal>--data-only</> output
2616 to dump tables referenced by foreign keys before
2617 the referencing tables (Tom)
2621 This allows data loads when foreign keys are already present.
2622 If circular references make a safe ordering impossible, a
2623 <literal>NOTICE</> is issued.
2629 Allow <application>pg_dump</>, <application>pg_dumpall</>, and
2630 <application>pg_restore</> to use a specified role (Benedek
2637 Allow <application>pg_restore</> to use multiple concurrent
2638 connections to do the restore (Andrew)
2642 The number of concurrent connections is controlled by the option
2643 <literal>--jobs</>. This is supported only for custom-format archives.
2654 <title>Programming Tools</title>
2657 <title><application>libpq</></title>
2662 Allow the <type>OID</> to be specified when importing a large
2663 object, via new function <function>lo_import_with_oid()</> (Tatsuo)
2669 Add <quote>events</> support (Andrew Chernow, Merlin Moncure)
2673 This adds the ability to register callbacks to manage private
2674 data associated with <structname>PGconn</> and <structname>PGresult</>
2681 Improve error handling to allow the return of multiple
2682 error messages as multi-line error reports (Magnus)
2688 Make <function>PQexecParams()</> and related functions return
2689 <varname>PGRES_EMPTY_QUERY</> for an empty query (Tom)
2693 They previously returned <varname>PGRES_COMMAND_OK</>.
2699 Document how to avoid the overhead of <function>WSACleanup()</>
2700 on Windows (Andrew Chernow)
2706 Do not rely on Kerberos tickets to determine the default database
2711 Previously, a Kerberos-capable build of libpq would use the
2712 principal name from any available Kerberos ticket as default
2713 database username, even if the connection wasn't using Kerberos
2714 authentication. This was deemed inconsistent and confusing.
2715 The default username is now determined the same way with or
2716 without Kerberos. Note however that the database username must still
2717 match the ticket when Kerberos authentication is used.
2725 <title><application>libpq</> <acronym>SSL</> (Secure Sockets Layer)
2731 Fix certificate validation for <acronym>SSL</> connections
2736 <application>libpq</> now supports verifying both the certificate
2737 and the name of the server when making <acronym>SSL</>
2738 connections. If a root certificate is not available to use for
2739 verification, <acronym>SSL</> connections will fail. The
2740 <literal>sslmode</> parameter is used to enable certificate
2741 verification and set the level of checking.
2742 The default is still not to do any verification, allowing connections
2743 to SSL-enabled servers without requiring a root certificate on the
2750 Support wildcard server certificates (Magnus)
2754 If a certificate <acronym>CN</> starts with <literal>*</>, it will
2755 be treated as a wildcard when matching the hostname, allowing the
2756 use of the same certificate for multiple servers.
2762 Allow the file locations for client certificates to be specified
2763 (Mark Woodward, Alvaro, Magnus)
2769 Add a <function>PQinitOpenSSL</> function to allow greater control
2770 over OpenSSL/libcrypto initialization (Andrew Chernow)
2776 Make <application>libpq</> unregister its <application>OpenSSL</>
2777 callbacks when no database connections remain open
2778 (Bruce, Magnus, Russell Smith)
2782 This is required for applications that unload the libpq library,
2783 otherwise invalid <application>OpenSSL</> callbacks will remain.
2792 <title><application>ecpg</></title>
2797 Add localization support for messages (Euler Taveira de
2804 ecpg parser is now automatically generated from the server
2809 Previously the ecpg parser was hand-maintained.
2818 <title>Server Programming Interface (<acronym>SPI</>)</title>
2823 Add support for single-use plans with out-of-line
2830 Add new <varname>SPI_OK_REWRITTEN</> return code for
2831 <function>SPI_execute()</> (Heikki)
2835 This is used when a command is rewritten to another type of
2842 Remove unnecessary inclusions from <filename>executor/spi.h</> (Tom)
2846 SPI-using modules might need to add some <literal>#include</>
2847 lines if they were depending on <filename>spi.h</> to include
2859 <title>Build Options</title>
2864 Update build system to use <productname>Autoconf</> 2.61 (Peter)
2870 Require <productname>GNU bison</> for source code builds (Peter)
2874 This has effectively been required for several years, but now there
2875 is no infrastructure claiming to support other parser tools.
2881 Add <application>pg_config</> <literal>--htmldir</> option
2888 Pass <type>float4</> by value inside the server (Zoltan
2893 Add <application>configure</> option
2894 <literal>--disable-float4-byval</> to use the old behavior.
2895 External C functions that use old-style (version 0) call convention
2896 and pass or return <type>float4</> values will be broken by this
2897 change, so you may need the <application>configure</> option if you
2898 have such functions and don't want to update them.
2904 Pass <type>float8</>, <type>int8</>, and related datatypes
2905 by value inside the server on 64-bit platforms (Zoltan Boszormenyi)
2909 Add <application>configure</> option
2910 <literal>--disable-float8-byval</> to use the old behavior.
2911 As above, this change might break old-style external C functions.
2917 Add configure options <literal>--with-segsize</>,
2918 <literal>--with-blocksize</>, <literal>--with-wal-blocksize</>,
2919 <literal>--with-wal-segsize</> (Zdenek Kotala, Tom)
2923 This simplifies build-time control over several constants that
2924 previously could only be changed by editing
2925 <filename>pg_config_manual.h</>.
2931 Allow threaded builds on <productname>Solaris</> 2.5 (Bruce)
2937 Use the system's <function>getopt_long()</> on <productname>Solaris</>
2938 (Zdenek Kotala, Tom)
2942 This makes option processing more consistent with what Solaris users
2949 Add support for the <productname>Sun Studio</> compiler on
2950 <productname>Linux</> (Julius Stroffek)
2956 Append the major version number to the backend <application>gettext</>
2957 domain, and the <literal>soname</> major version number to
2958 libraries' <application>gettext</> domain (Peter)
2962 This simplifies parallel installations of multiple versions.
2968 Add support for code coverage testing with <application>gcov</>
2975 Allow out-of-tree builds on <productname>Mingw</> and
2976 <productname>Cygwin</> (Richard Evans)
2982 Fix the use of <productname>Mingw</> as a cross-compiling source
2992 <title>Source Code</title>
2997 Support 64-bit time zone data files (Heikki)
3001 This adds support for daylight saving time (<acronym>DST</>)
3002 calculations beyond the year 2038.
3008 Deprecate use of platform's <type>time_t</> data type (Tom)
3012 Some platforms have migrated to 64-bit <type>time_t</>, some have
3013 not, and Windows can't make up its mind what it's doing. Define
3014 <type>pg_time_t</> to have the same meaning as <type>time_t</>,
3015 but always be 64 bits (unless the platform has no 64-bit integer type),
3016 and use that type in all module APIs and on-disk data formats.
3022 Fix bug in handling of the time zone database when cross-compiling
3029 Link backend object files in one step, rather than in stages
3036 Improve <application>gettext</> support to allow better translation
3043 Add message translation support to the PL languages (Alvaro, Peter)
3049 Add more <application>DTrace</> probes (Robert Lor)
3055 Enable <application>DTrace</> support on <application>Mac OS X
3056 Leopard</> and other non-Solaris platforms (Robert Lor)
3062 Simplify and standardize conversions between C strings and
3063 <type>text</> datums, by providing common functions for the purpose
3070 Clean up the <filename>include/catalog/</> header files so that
3071 frontend programs can include them without including
3072 <filename>postgres.h</>
3079 Make <type>name</> char-aligned, and suppress zero-padding of
3080 <type>name</> entries in indexes (Tom)
3086 Recover better if dynamically-loaded code executes <function>exit()</>
3093 Add a hook to let plug-ins monitor the executor (Itagaki
3100 Add a hook to allow the planner's statistics lookup behavior to
3101 be overridden (Simon Riggs)
3107 Add <function>shmem_startup_hook()</> for custom shared memory
3114 Replace the index access method <function>amgetmulti</> entry point
3115 with <function>amgetbitmap</>, and extend the API for
3116 <function>amgettuple</> to support run-time determination of
3117 operator lossiness (Heikki, Tom, Teodor)
3121 The API for GIN and GiST opclass <function>consistent</> functions
3122 has been extended as well.
3128 Add support for partial-match searches in <acronym>GIN</> indexes
3129 (Teodor Sigaev, Oleg Bartunov)
3135 Replace <structname>pg_class</> column <structfield>reltriggers</>
3136 with boolean <structfield>relhastriggers</> (Simon)
3140 Also remove unused <structname>pg_class</> columns
3141 <structfield>relukeys</>, <structfield>relfkeys</>, and
3142 <structfield>relrefs</>.
3148 Add a <structfield>relistemp</> column to <structname>pg_class</>
3149 to ease identification of temporary tables (Tom)
3155 Move platform <acronym>FAQ</>s into the main documentation
3162 Prevent parser input files from being built with any conflicts
3169 Add support for the <literal>KOI8U</> (Ukrainian) encoding
3176 Add Japanese message translations (Japan PostgreSQL Users Group)
3180 This used to be maintained as a separate project.
3186 Fix problem when setting <varname>LC_MESSAGES</> on
3187 <application>MSVC</>-built systems (Hiroshi Inoue, Hiroshi
3197 <title>Contrib</title>
3203 Add <filename>contrib/auto_explain</> to automatically run
3204 <command>EXPLAIN</> on queries exceeding a specified duration
3205 (Itagaki Takahiro, Tom)
3211 Add <filename>contrib/btree_gin</> to allow GIN indexes to
3212 handle more datatypes (Oleg, Teodor)
3218 Add <filename>contrib/citext</> to provide a case-insensitive,
3219 multibyte-aware text data type (David Wheeler)
3225 Add <filename>contrib/pg_stat_statements</> for server-wide
3226 tracking of statement execution statistics (Itagaki Takahiro)
3232 Add duration and query mode options to <filename>contrib/pgbench</>
3239 Make <filename>contrib/pgbench</> use table names
3240 <structname>pgbench_accounts</>, <structname>pgbench_branches</>,
3241 <structname>pgbench_history</>, and <structname>pgbench_tellers</>,
3242 rather than just <structname>accounts</>, <structname>branches</>,
3243 <structname>history</>, and <structname>tellers</> (Tom)
3247 This is to reduce the risk of accidentally destroying real data
3248 by running <application>pgbench</>.
3254 Fix <filename>contrib/pgstattuple</> to handle tables and
3255 indexes with over 2 billion pages (Tatsuhito Kasahara)
3261 In <filename>contrib/fuzzystrmatch</>, add a version of the
3262 Levenshtein string-distance function that allows the user to
3263 specify the costs of insertion, deletion, and substitution
3270 Make <filename>contrib/ltree</> support multibyte encodings
3277 Improve <filename>contrib/dblink</>'s reporting of errors from
3278 the remote server (Joe Conway)
3284 Make sure <filename>contrib/dblink</> uses a password supplied
3285 by the user, and not accidentally taken from the server's
3286 <filename>.pgpass</> file (Joe Conway)
3290 This is a minor security enhancement.
3296 Add <function>fsm_page_contents()</>
3297 to <filename>contrib/pageinspect</> (Heikki)
3303 Modify <function>get_raw_page()</> to support free space map
3304 (<filename>*_fsm</>) files. Also update
3305 <filename>contrib/pg_freespacemap</>.
3311 Add support for multibyte encodings to <filename>contrib/pg_trgm</>
3318 Rewrite <filename>contrib/intagg</> to use new
3319 functions <function>array_agg()</> and <function>unnest()</>
3326 Remove <filename>contrib/intarray</>'s definitions of the
3327 <literal><@</> and <literal>@></> operators (Tom)
3331 This avoids confusion with the equivalent built-in operators.
3332 If needed, the <filename>contrib/intarray</> implementations
3333 are still available under their historical names <literal>@</>
3340 Make <filename>contrib/pg_standby</> recover all available WAL before
3341 failover (Fujii Masao, Simon, Heikki)
3345 To make this work safely, you now need to set the new
3346 <literal>recovery_end_command</> option in <filename>recovery.conf</>
3347 to clean up the trigger file after failover. <application>pg_standby</>
3348 will no longer remove the trigger file itself.
projects / postgresql / blob