alink="#0000ff">
<H1>Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for PostgreSQL</H1>
- <P>Last updated: Fri Mar 12 08:51:11 EST 2004</P>
+ <P>Last updated: Mon Mar 29 00:07:11 EST 2004</P>
<P>Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (<A href=
"mailto:pgman@candle.pha.pa.us">pgman@candle.pha.pa.us</A>)<BR>
<H4><A name="1.1">1.1</A>) What is PostgreSQL? How is it pronounced?</H4>
- <P>PostgreSQL is pronounced <I>Post-Gres-Q-L</I>. The name "Postgres" is
- also used in conversation.</P>
+ <P>PostgreSQL is pronounced <I>Post-Gres-Q-L</I>. An audio file is
+ available at http://www.postgresql.org/postgresql.mp3 for those
+ would like to hear the pronunciation.
+ </P>
<P>PostgreSQL is an enhancement of the POSTGRES database management
- system, a next-generation <SMALL>DBMS</SMALL> research prototype.
+ system (and is still sometimes reffered to as simply "Postgres"),
+ a next-generation <SMALL>DBMS</SMALL> research prototype.
While PostgreSQL retains the powerful data model and rich data
types of POSTGRES, it replaces the PostQuel query language with an
extended subset of <SMALL>SQL</SMALL>. PostgreSQL is free and the
section <a href="#1.6">1.6</a> on how to join). This team is now
responsible for all development of PostgreSQL. It is a community
project and is not controlled by any company. To get involved, see
- the developer's FAQ,<A href=
+ the developer's FAQ at <A href=
"http://www.PostgreSQL.org/docs/faqs/FAQ_DEV.html">http://www.PostgreSQL.org/docs/faqs/FAQ_DEV.html</A>
</P>
<P>PostgreSQL Data Base Management System</P>
- <P>Portions copyright (c) 1996-2002, PostgreSQL Global Development
+ <P>Portions copyright (c) 1996-2004, PostgreSQL Global Development
Group Portions Copyright (c) 1994-6 Regents of the University of
California</P>
<H4><A name="1.3">1.3</A>) What Unix platforms does PostgreSQL run
on?</H4>
- <P>In general, a modern Unix-compatible platform should be able to
+ <P>In general, any modern Unix-compatible platform should be able to
run PostgreSQL. The platforms that had received explicit testing at
the time of release are listed in the installation
instructions.</P>
href="http://sources.redhat.com/rhdb/">http://sources.redhat.com/rhdb/
</a>) and Rekall (<a href="http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/">
http://www.thekompany.com/products/rekall/</a>, proprietary). There is
- also PHPPgAdmin (<a href="http://phppgadmin.sourceforge.net/">
+ also PhpPgAdmin (<a href="http://phppgadmin.sourceforge.net/">
http://phppgadmin.sourceforge.net/ </a>), a web-based interface to
PostgreSQL.</P>
<P>By default, PostgreSQL only allows connections from the local
machine using Unix domain sockets. Other machines will not be able
- to connect unless you add the <I>-i</I> flag to <I>postmaster</I>,
+ to connect unless you turn on tcpip_sockets in the postgresql.conf
<B>and</B> enable host-based authentication by modifying the file
<I>$PGDATA/pg_hba.conf</I> accordingly. This will allow TCP/IP
connections.</P>
better performance?</H4>
<P>Certainly, indexes can speed up queries. The
- <SMALL>EXPLAIN</SMALL> command allows you to see how PostgreSQL is
+ <SMALL>EXPLAIN ANALYZE</SMALL> command allows you to see how PostgreSQL is
interpreting your query, and which indexes are being used.</P>
<P>If you are doing many <SMALL>INSERTs</SMALL>, consider doing
<H4><A name="4.3">4.3</A>) How do I get a list of tables or other
things I can see in <I>psql</I>?</H4>
- <P>You can read the source code for <I>psql</I> in file
- <I>pgsql/src/bin/psql/describe.c</I>. It contains
- <SMALL>SQL</SMALL> commands that generate the output for psql's
- backslash commands. You can also start <I>psql</I> with the
- <I>-E</I> option so it will print out the queries it uses to
- execute the commands you give.</P>
+ <P>Use the \dt command to see tables in <I>psql</I>. For a complete list of
+ commands inside psql you can use \?. Alternatively you can read the source
+ code for <I>psql</I> in file <I>pgsql/src/bin/psql/describe.c</I>, it
+ contains <SMALL>SQL</SMALL> commands that generate the output for
+ <I>psql</I>'s backslash commands. You can also start <I>psql</I> with the
+ <I>-E</I> option so it will print out the queries it uses to execute the
+ commands you give. PostgreSQL also provides an <SMALL>SQLi</SMALL> compliant
+ INFORMATION SCHEMA interface you can query to get information about the
+ database.</P>
<H4><A name="4.4">4.4</A>) How do you remove a column from a
table, or change its data type?</H4>