-<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.442 2006/09/19 17:22:42 tgl Exp $ -->
+<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.443 2006/09/19 19:54:05 neilc Exp $ -->
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<para>
This release adds many improvements to commands and database
- facilities that were requested by users. Rather add a few
- new features, this release makes many features from previous
- releases easier to use. For example, it is now much easier
- to create standby point-in-time-recovery (PITR) servers. Many
+ facilities that were requested by users. Rather than adding a
+ few new features, this release makes many features from previous
+ releases easier to use. For example, it is now much easier to
+ create standby point-in-time-recovery (PITR) servers. Many
performance bottlenecks have been eliminated, allowing more
- functionality to be enabled by default. Various additions
- will make porting from other databases easier. The changes
- in this release continue the <productname>PostgreSQL</>
- tradition of being not only the most advanced open source
- database, but also the easiest to use.
+ functionality to be enabled by default. Various additions will
+ make porting from other databases easier. The changes in this
+ release continue the <productname>PostgreSQL</> tradition of
+ being not only the most advanced open source database, but also
+ the easiest to use.
</para>
</sect2>
<listitem>
<para>
- Set <envar>escape_string_warning</> to <literal>on</> by
+ Set <varname>escape_string_warning</> to <literal>on</> by
default (Bruce)
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Change <envar>log_duration</> to output even if the query
+ Change <varname>log_duration</> to output even if the query
is not output (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- In prior releases, <envar>log_duration</> only printed if
+ In prior releases, <varname>log_duration</> only printed if
the query appeared earlier in the logs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove <envar>australian_timezones</> configuration variable
+ Remove <varname>australian_timezones</> configuration variable
(Joachim Wieland)
</para>
<para>
This may eliminate the need to set unrealistically small
- values of <envar>random_page_cost</>. If you have been
- using a very small <envar>random_page_cost</>, please
+ values of <varname>random_page_cost</>. If you have been
+ using a very small <varname>random_page_cost</>, please
recheck your test cases.
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- <function>xml_valid()</> will remain for backward compability,
+ <function>xml_valid()</> will remain for backward compatibility,
but its behavior will change to do schema checks in future
releases.
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove contrib abandoned modules: mSQL-interface, ips
+ Remove abandoned contrib modules: mSQL-interface, ips
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Increase default values for <envar>shared_buffers</> and
- <envar>max_fsm_pages</>(Andrew)
+ Increase default values for <varname>shared_buffers</> and
+ <varname>max_fsm_pages</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow the planner to re-order <literal>OUTER JOIN</>s when
- possible (Tom)
+ Allow the planner to reorder outer joins in some circumstances
+ (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- This makes a considerable difference for queries involving
+ In previous releases, outer joins would always be evaluated in
+ the order specified by the query. This change means that the
+ query optimizer will consider reordering outer joins in some
+ cases, provided that the join order can be changed without
+ altering the meaning of the query. This can make a
+ considerable performance difference for queries involving
multiple outer joins.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow constraint exclusion to be applied to inherited
- <command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</> queries (Tom)
+ <command>UPDATE</> and <command>DELETE</> queries (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- <function>MIN()</>/<function>MAX()</> can now use indexes
+ <function>MIN()</> and <function>MAX()</> can now use indexes
in more cases (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add <envar>archive_timeout</> to force xlog file switches
+ Add <varname>archive_timeout</> to force xlog file switches
at a given interval (Simon Riggs)
</para>
</para>
<para>
- This release sets <envar>stats_command_string</> to
+ This release sets <varname>stats_command_string</> to
<literal>on</> by default, now that its overhead is minimal.
This means <literal>pg_stat_activity</> now will show all
active queries by default.
<listitem>
<para>
- Add <acronym>GUC</> <envar>update_process_title</> to
+ Add <acronym>GUC</> variable <varname>update_process_title</> to
control whether the <application>ps</> display is updated
for every command, default to <literal>on</> (Bruce)
</para>
</para>
<para>
- You can now set <envar>shared_buffer</> to <literal>32000kB</>,
+ You can now set <varname>shared_buffer</> to <literal>32000kB</>,
for example.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This allows these commands to return values, such as the
computed serial key for a new row. In the <command>UPDATE</>
- case, values from the new state of the row are returned.
+ case, values from the updated version of the row are returned.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for multi-row <literal>VALUES</> clauses as
- part of <command>INSERT</> and <command>SELECT</> statements
- (Joe, Tom)
+ part of <command>INSERT</> and <command>SELECT</> statements,
+ per SQL standard (Joe, Tom)
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- This allows <command>TRUNCATE</> also to automatically
- truncate all foreign-key referencing tables.
+ This allows <command>TRUNCATE</> to automatically truncate all
+ foreign-key referencing tables.
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- It is similar to equals (<literal>=</>), but is true when
- both left and right arguments are <literal>NULL</>, and
- false when just one is, rather than yielding <literal>NULL</>
- in these cases.
+ This operator is similar to equality (<literal>=</>), but
+ evaluates to true when both left and right operands are
+ <literal>NULL</>, and to false when just one is, rather than
+ yielding <literal>NULL</> in these cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Enable <envar>standard_conforming_strings</> to be turned
+ Enable <varname>standard_conforming_strings</> to be turned
<literal>on</> (Kevin Grittner)
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
Add system view <literal>pg_prepared_statements</> to show
- prepared statements (Joachim Wieland)
+ prepared statements (Joachim Wieland, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add system view <literal>pg_cursors</> to show open cursors
- (Joachim Wieland)
+ (Joachim Wieland, Neil)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
If <acronym>SQL</>-level <command>PREPARE</> parameters
- are unknown, infer their types from the context of the
+ are unspecified, infer their types from the context of the
query (Neil)
</para>
<para>
- Protocol-level <command>PREPARE</> already did this. ?
+ Protocol-level <command>PREPARE</> already did this.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Change <literal>LIMIT</>/<literal>OFFSET</> to exceed
+ Allow <literal>LIMIT</> and <literal>OFFSET</> to exceed
two billion (Dhanaraj M)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add <literal>TABLESPACE</> and <literal>ON COMMIT</> clauses
- to <command>CREATE TABLE AS</> (Neil)
+ Add <literal>TABLESPACE</> clause to <command>CREATE TABLE
+ AS</> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add <literal>ON COMMIT</> clauses to <command>CREATE TABLE
+ Add <literal>ON COMMIT</> clause to <command>CREATE TABLE
AS</> (Neil)
</para>
Shell types create a type reference, without specifying
any of the aspects of the type. It is useful for creating
types with input/output functions that reference the data
- type. The syntax is <command>CREATE TYPE typname</>.
+ type. The syntax is <command>CREATE TYPE <replaceable class="parameter">typename</replaceable></>.
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- The new syntax is <command>CREATE AGGREGATE</> aggname
- (input_type) (parameter_list). This more naturally supports
- the new multi-parameter aggregate functionality. The
- previous syntax is still supported.
+ The new syntax is <command>CREATE AGGREGATE
+ <replaceable>aggname</> (<replaceable>input_type</>)
+ (<replaceable>parameter_list</>)</command>. This more
+ naturally supports the new multi-parameter aggregate
+ functionality. The previous syntax is still supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This was added for setting sequence-specific permissions.
- <literal>GRANT ON [TABLE]</> for sequences is still supported
+ <literal>GRANT ON TABLE</> for sequences is still supported
for backward compatibility.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add <literal>ALTER TABLE ... [NO] INHERIT</> (Greg Stark)
+ Add <literal>ALTER TABLE ... [ NO ] INHERIT</> (Greg Stark)
</para>
<para>
<para>
Previously, global object comments were stored in individual
databases, making them ineffective. This adds a new
- <literal>pg_shdescription</> table.
+ <literal>pg_shdescription</> system catalog.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add option to allow indexes to be created without blocking
- concurrent writes to the table (Greg Stark)
+ concurrent writes to the table (Greg Stark, Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Have initdb detect the operating system locale and set the
- default <envar>DateStyle</> accordingly (Peter)
+ Have <application>initdb</> detect the operating system
+ locale and set the default <varname>DateStyle</> accordingly
+ (Peter)
</para>
<para>
- This make it more likely that the installed
- <filename>postgresql.conf</> <envar>DateStyle</> value will
+ This makes it more likely that the installed
+ <filename>postgresql.conf</> <varname>DateStyle</> value will
be correct.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Reduce progress messages displayed by initdb (Tom)
+ Reduce progress messages displayed by <application>initdb</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
The file name is controlled by GUC variable
- <envar>timezone_abbreviations</>.
+ <varname>timezone_abbreviations</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add <envar>pg_timezone_abbrevs</> and <envar>pg_timezone_names</>
+ Add <varname>pg_timezone_abbrevs</> and <varname>pg_timezone_names</>
views to show supported timezones (Magnus Hagander)
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- <function>clock_timestamp()</> is the true current time,
- and <function>statement_timestamp()</> is the time the
- current command arrived at the server.
- <function>transaction_timestamp()</> is the same as
+ <function>clock_timestamp()</> is the current wall-clock time,
+ <function>statement_timestamp()</> is the time the current
+ statement arrived at the server, and
+ <function>transaction_timestamp()</> is an alias for
<function>now()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
For example, the result of a user-defined function that is
- declared to return a domain type is now checked against
- the constraints.
+ declared to return a domain type is now checked against the
+ constraints. This closes a significant hole in the domain
+ implementation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Honor <envar>check_function_bodies</> (Tom)
+ Honor <varname>check_function_bodies</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename existing <acronym>GUC</> variable
- <envar>preload_libraries</> to <envar>shared_preload_libraries</>
+ <varname>preload_libraries</> to <varname>shared_preload_libraries</>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add new GUC variable <envar>server_version_num</> (Greg Sabino
+ Add new GUC variable <varname>server_version_num</> (Greg Sabino
Mullane)
</para>
<para>
- This is like server_version, but is an integer, e.g.
- <literal>80200</>. It allows easy applications version
- checks.
+ This is like <varname>server_version</varname>, but is an
+ integer, e.g. <literal>80200</>. This allows applications to
+ make version checks more easily.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a <acronym>GUC</> parameter <envar>seq_page_cost</>
+ Add a <acronym>GUC</> variable <varname>seq_page_cost</>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
New functions <function>_PG_init()</> and <function>_PG_fini()</>
are called if the library defines such symbols. Hence we
no longer need to specify an initialization function in
- <envar>shared_preload_libraries</>; we can assume that the
+ <varname>shared_preload_libraries</>; we can assume that the
library used the <function>_PG_init()</> convention instead.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Update cube (Joshua Reich)
+ Improvements to cube (Joshua Reich)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- New uninstall scripts (David)
+ New uninstall scripts for many contrib packages (David)
</para>
</listitem>
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