-<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.511 2007/10/03 23:02:16 tgl Exp $ -->
+<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.512 2007/10/04 03:53:58 neilc Exp $ -->
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Typical markup:
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
- This release adds many improvements that
- were requested by users, including:
+ This release adds many improvements that were requested by users,
+ including:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- XML data type
+ Support for the SQL/XML standard, including a new <type>xml</type> builtin
+ data type
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- UUID data type
+ UUID data type, similar to that defined by RFC 4122
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- UPDATE/DELETE WHERE CURRENT OF cursor_name
+ Updatable cursors
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- Declarations such as varchar(42) are no longer restricted to use
- by built-in data types.
+ Declarations such as <type>varchar(42)</type> are no longer
+ restricted to use by built-in data types.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The entire PostgreSQL system can now be built with Microsoft Visual C++
+ The entire <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> system can
+ now be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++
</para>
<para>
<para>
This would not, of course, be acceptable if the client takes some
critical external action on the assumption that the transaction
- will be remembered; but for many applications, it is an acceptable
+ will be remembered; but for certain applications, it is an acceptable
risk for some or all transactions to use this mode. Unlike existing
- options such as fsync, asynchronous commit does not risk database
- corruption; the worst case is that after a crash, the last few
- reportedly-committed transactions will not have taken effect.
+ options such as <varname>fsync</varname>, asynchronous commit does
+ not risk database corruption; the worst case is that after a crash,
+ the last few reportedly-committed transactions will not have
+ taken effect.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Efficiency improvements for large sequential scans, including
- prevention of cache flushing and "piggybacking" to let concurrent
- scans read the table only once
+ prevention of cache flushing and <quote>piggybacking</quote> to let
+ concurrent scans read the table only once
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Casts to text that formerly occurred implicitly may now need to be
- written explicitly
+ Casts to <type>text</type> that formerly occurred implicitly may now
+ need to be written explicitly
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- ARRAY(SELECT ...) now returns an empty array, rather than a NULL,
- when the sub-select returns zero rows
+ <literal>ARRAY(SELECT ...)</literal> now returns an empty array,
+ rather than a NULL, when the sub-select returns zero rows
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- This prevents less-than-sane behavior that formerly ensued
- if an operator that doesn't
- actually define a proper sort ordering was specified.
+ This prevents less-than-sane behavior that formerly ensued if an
+ operator that doesn't actually define a proper sort ordering was
+ specified.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The array type associated with a type named "foo" is not necessarily
- named "_foo" anymore
+ The array type associated with a type named <quote>foo</quote>
+ is not necessarily named <quote>_foo</quote> anymore
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- SET LOCAL's effects now persist until the end of the
- current top transaction, unless rolled back
+ The effects of <command>SET LOCAL</command> now persist until
+ the end of the current top transaction, unless rolled back
</para>
<para>
<para>
For example, "BEGIN; DROP DATABASE; COMMIT" will now be rejected
even if submitted as a single Query message. This was always quite
- unsafe, but the PreventTransactionChain test failed to detect it.
+ unsafe, but the <function>PreventTransactionChain</function>
+ test failed to detect it.
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- Some cases that might formerly have allowed invalid data to enter
- the database will now be rejected. In particular, the chr()
- function changed behavior.
+ Some cases that might formerly have allowed invalid data to
+ enter the database will now be rejected. In particular, the
+ <function>chr()</function> function changed behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- convert() family of functions changed behavior
+ <function>convert()</function> family of functions changed behavior
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- The new SET_VARSIZE() macro *must* be used to set the length word
- of a generated datum. Also, it
- may be necessary to "detoast" input varlena datums in cases where
- no toasting could have happened before.
+ The new <function>SET_VARSIZE()</> macro <emphasis>must</> be used
+ to set the length word of a generated datum. Also, it may be
+ necessary to <quote>detoast</quote> input varlena datums in cases
+ where no toasting could have happened before.
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- When synchronous_commit is off, we don't flush WAL before reporting
- a transaction committed. Data consistency is still guaranteed
- (unlike turning fsync off), but a crash may lose the effects of the
- last few transactions. In many applications this is an acceptable
- tradeoff for improved performance.
+ When <varname>synchronous_commit</varname> is off, we don't flush
+ WAL before reporting a transaction committed. Data consistency is
+ still guaranteed (unlike turning <varname>fsync</varname> off), but
+ a crash may lose the effects of the last few transactions. In many
+ applications this is an acceptable tradeoff for improved
+ performance.
</para>
</listitem>
index searches follow the HOT-chain links to ensure they find the
correct tuple version. In addition, this patch introduces the
ability to "prune" dead tuples on a per-page basis, without having
- to do a complete VACUUM pass to recover space. VACUUM is still
- needed to clean up dead index entries, however.
+ to do a complete <command>VACUUM</command> pass to recover space.
+ <command>VACUUM</command> is still needed to clean up dead index
+ entries, however.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Skip writing WAL in CLUSTER and COPY in cases where it's not needed
- (Simon)
+ Skip writing WAL in <command>CLUSTER</command> and
+ <command>COPY</command> in cases where it's not needed (Simon)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Avoid rewriting pg_control at every WAL segment switch (Simon)
+ Avoid rewriting <filename>pg_control</filename> at every WAL segment
+ switch (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make large sequential scans and VACUUMs work in a limited-size
- "ring" of buffers (Simon, Heikki, Tom)
+ Make large sequential scans and <command>VACUUM</command>s work in a
+ limited-size <quote>ring</quote> of buffers (Simon, Heikki, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Aside from avoiding cache spoliation, this fixes the problem that
- VACUUM formerly tended to cause a WAL flush for every page it
- modified, because we had it hacked to use only a single buffer.
- Those flushes will now occur only once per ring-ful.
+ <command>VACUUM</command> formerly tended to cause a WAL flush for
+ every page it modified, because we had it hacked to use only a
+ single buffer. Those flushes will now occur only once per ring-ful.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Implement "top N" sorting in ORDER BY ... LIMIT queries (Greg Stark)
+ Implement <quote>top N</quote> sorting in <literal>ORDER BY
+ ... LIMIT</literal> queries (Greg Stark)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Improve hash join for cases with many input NULLs (Tom)
+ Improve hash join performance for cases with many input NULLs (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Avoid computing X^2 at each row in avg(bigint) and avg(numeric)
- (Mark Kirkwood)
+ Avoid computing X^2 at each row in <function>avg(bigint)</function>
+ and <function>avg(numeric)</function> (Mark Kirkwood)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Set the default autovacuum vacuum_cost_delay value to 20ms, and
- reduce the default autovacuum vacuum and analyze threshold values to
- 50 tuples (Alvaro)
+ Set the default autovacuum <varname>vacuum_cost_delay</varname>
+ value to 20ms, and reduce the default autovacuum vacuum and analyze
+ threshold values to 50 tuples (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make autovacuum report the start time of its current activity in
- pg_stat_activity (Tom)
+ <literal>pg_stat_activity</literal> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
Aside from improving performance (for example, by being able to make
- use of newly-added indexes), this finally fixes the problem
- that you couldn't drop and recreate a temp table that's used by a
- PL/PgSQL function, unless you used EXECUTE for all references to it.
- A statement that depends on a temp table will now be replanned
- automatically if the temp table has been recreated.
+ use of newly-added indexes), this finally fixes the problem that you
+ couldn't drop and recreate a temp table that's used by a PL/PgSQL
+ function, unless you used <literal>EXECUTE</literal> for all
+ references to it. A statement that depends on a temp table will now
+ be replanned automatically if the temp table has been recreated.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add log_autovacuum_min_duration parameter to support configurable
- logging of autovacuum actions (Simon, Alvaro)
+ Add <varname>log_autovacuum_min_duration</varname> parameter to
+ support configurable logging of autovacuum actions (Simon, Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add log_lock_waits parameter to log long wait times (Simon)
+ Add <varname>log_lock_waits</varname> parameter to log long wait
+ times (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add log_temp_files parameter to log usage of temporary files (Bill
- Moran)
+ Add <varname>log_temp_files</varname> parameter to log usage of
+ temporary files (Bill Moran)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add log_checkpoints parameter to improve logging of checkpoints
- (Greg Smith, Heikki)
+ Add <varname>log_checkpoints</varname> parameter to improve logging
+ of checkpoints (Greg Smith, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- %s and %c escapes in log_line_prefix can now be used in all
- processes (Andrew)
+ <literal>%s</literal> and <literal>%c</literal> escapes in
+ <varname>log_line_prefix</varname> can now be used in all processes
+ (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This avoids Windows-specific problems with localized time zone names
- that are in the wrong encoding. There is a new log_timezone
- parameter that controls the timezone used in log messages,
- separately from the client-visible timezone parameter.
+ that are in the wrong encoding. There is a new
+ <varname>log_timezone</> parameter that controls the timezone used
+ in log messages, separately from the client-visible timezone
+ parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Split the archive_command parameter into separate archive_mode and
- archive_command parameters (Simon)
+ Split the <varname>archive_command</> parameter into separate
+ <varname>archive_mode</> and <varname>archive_command</> parameters
+ (Simon)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a %r option in recovery.conf to provide last restartpoint to
- recovery_command (Simon)
+ Add a <literal>%r</> option in <filename>recovery.conf</filename> to
+ provide last restartpoint to <varname>restore_command</varname>
+ (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add log_restartpoints recovery option to emit LOG message at each
- restartpoint (Simon)
+ Add <varname>log_restartpoints</varname> recovery option to emit a
+ log message at each restartpoint (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Create a temp_tablespaces parameter to allow selection of the
- tablespace(s) in which to store temp tables and temporary files
- (Jaime Casanova, Albert Cervera, Bernd Helmle)
+ Create a <varname>temp_tablespaces</varname> parameter to allow
+ selection of one or more tablespaces in which to store temp tables
+ and temporary files (Jaime Casanova, Albert Cervera, Bernd Helmle)
</para>
<para>
This is a list to allow spreading the load across multiple
tablespaces; a random list element is chosen each time a temp object
is to be created. Temp files are not stored in per-database
- pgsql_tmp/ directories anymore, but in per-tablespace directories.
+ <filename>pgsql_tmp/</filename> directories anymore, but in
+ per-tablespace directories.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- New system view pg_stat_bgwriter displays statistics about the
- background writer process's performance (Magnus)
+ New system view <literal>pg_stat_bgwriter</literal> displays
+ statistics about the background writer process's performance
+ (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new columns for database-wide tuple statistics to
- pg_stat_database (Magnus)
+ <literal>pg_stat_database</literal> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add an xact_start column to pg_stat_activity (Neil)
+ Add an <literal>xact_start</literal> column to
+ <literal>pg_stat_activity</literal> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add n_live_tuples and n_dead_tuples columns to pg_stat_all_tables
- and related views (Glen Parker)
+ Add <literal>n_live_tuples</> and <literal>n_dead_tuples</> columns
+ to <literal>pg_stat_all_tables</literal> and related views (Glen
+ Parker)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove stats_start_collector parameter (Tom)
+ Remove <varname>stats_start_collector</varname> parameter (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove stats_reset_on_server_start parameter (Tom)
+ Remove <varname>stats_reset_on_server_start</varname> parameter (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- This seemed useless in view of the availability of pg_stat_reset().
+ This seemed useless in view of the availability of
+ <function>pg_stat_reset()</function>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Merge stats_block_level and stats_row_level parameters into a single
- parameter track_counts, which controls all reports sent to the
- collector process (Tom)
+ Merge <varname>stats_block_level</> and <varname>stats_row_level</>
+ parameters into a single parameter track_counts, which controls all
+ reports sent to the collector process (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Rename stats_command_string parameter to track_activities (Tom)
+ Rename <varname>stats_command_string</varname> parameter to
+ <varname>track_activities</varname> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
Previously, dropping (or attempting to drop) a user who owned many
- objects could result in extremely large NOTICE or ERROR messages
- listing all these objects; this caused problems for some client
- applications. The length of the list is now limited, although a
- full list is still sent to the server log.
+ objects could result in extremely large <literal>NOTICE</literal> or
+ <literal>ERROR</literal> messages listing all these objects; this
+ caused problems for some client applications. The length of the
+ list is now limited, although a full list is still sent to the
+ server log.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY to disregard transactions in other
- databases (Simon)
+ Allow <command>CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY</command> to disregard
+ transactions in other databases (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- The features previously provided by contrib/tsearch2 have been
- improved and moved into the standard server.
+ The features previously provided by <filename>contrib/tsearch2</>
+ have been improved and moved into the standard server.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Support ORDER BY ... NULLS FIRST/LAST (Teodor, Tom)
+ Support <literal>ORDER BY ... NULLS FIRST/LAST</literal> (Teodor, Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow FOR UPDATE in cursors (Arul Shaji, Tom)
+ Allow <literal>FOR UPDATE</literal> in cursors (Arul Shaji, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create a general mechanism that supports casts to and from the
- standard string types (text,varchar,bpchar) for *every* datatype, by
+ standard string types (<type>text</type>, <type>varchar</type>,
+ <type>bpchar</type>) for <emphasis>every</emphasis> datatype, by
invoking the datatype's I/O functions (Tom)
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make ARRAY(SELECT ...) return an empty array, rather than a NULL,
- when the sub-select returns zero rows (Tom)
+ Make <literal>ARRAY(SELECT ...)</literal> return an empty array,
+ rather than a NULL, when the sub-select returns zero rows (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
This allows hash joins, hash indexes, hashed subplans, and hash
aggregation to be used in situations involving cross-data-type
comparisons, if the data types have compatible hash functions. That
- is currently the case for smallint/integer/bigint, and also for
- float4/float8.
+ is currently the case for
+ <type>smallint</type>/<type>integer</type>/<type>bigint</type>, and
+ also for <type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Improve handling of "equivalence classes" of variables that are
- constrained to be equal within a query's WHERE clause (Tom)
+ Improve handling of <quote>equivalence classes</quote> of variables
+ that are constrained to be equal within a query's <literal>WHERE</>
+ clause (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fix cost estimates for EXISTS subqueries that are evaluated as
- initPlans (Tom)
+ Fix cost estimates for <literal>EXISTS</literal> subqueries that are
+ evaluated as initPlans (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
<para>
- This operator was obsoleted long ago by IN (SELECT ...) queries.
+ This operator was obsoleted long ago by <literal>IN (SELECT
+ ...)</literal> queries.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This change also removes the hardwired convention that a type's
- array type is named exactly "_type", instead using a new column
- pg_type.typarray to provide the linkage. (It still will be named
- "_type", though, except in odd corner cases such as maximum-length
- type names or collisions with a pre-existing type named with a
- leading underscore.)
+ array type is named exactly <quote>_type</quote>, instead using a
+ new column <literal>pg_type.typarray</literal> to provide the
+ linkage. (It still will be named <quote>_type</quote>, though,
+ except in odd corner cases such as maximum-length type names or
+ collisions with a pre-existing type named with a leading
+ underscore.)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This provides a simple solution for functions that need local
settings for parameters; in particular, security definer functions
- that must set search_path to avoid security loopholes.
+ that must set <varname>search_path</varname> to avoid security
+ loopholes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add COST and ROWS options to CREATE/ALTER FUNCTION (Tom)
+ Add <literal>COST</literal> and <literal>ROWS</literal> options to
+ <command>CREATE/ALTER FUNCTION</command> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This will allow replication systems to control the firing mechanism
of triggers and rewrite rules without modifying the system catalogs
directly. The behavior is controlled by a new superuser-only
- parameter session_replication_role.
+ parameter <varname>session_replication_role</varname>.
+ </para>
- psql's \d command as well as pg_dump are extended in a backward
- compatible fashion.
+ <para>
+ <application>psql</application>'s <literal>\d</literal> command as
+ well as <application>pg_dump</application> are extended in a
+ backward compatible fashion.
</para>
</listitem>
length and precision parameters used by some built-in types. Any
simple constant (numeric or string) or identifier can be used as a
parameter value. A type-specific function must be provided to
- validate this information and pack it into a 32-bit "typmod" value
- for storage.
+ validate this information and pack it into a 32-bit <quote>typmod</>
+ value for storage.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Invent "operator families" to allow improved handling of
- cross-data-type operators (Tom)
+ Invent <quote>operator families</quote> to allow improved handling
+ of cross-data-type operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Support SET FROM CURRENT in CREATE/ALTER FUNCTION, ALTER DATABASE,
- ALTER ROLE (Tom)
+ Support <literal>SET FROM CURRENT</literal> in <command>CREATE/ALTER
+ FUNCTION</command>, <command>ALTER DATABASE</command>,
+ <command>ALTER ROLE</command> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Implement new commands DISCARD ALL, DISCARD PLANS, DISCARD TEMP,
- CLOSE ALL, and DEALLOCATE ALL (Marko Kreen, Neil)
+ Implement new commands <command>DISCARD ALL</command>,
+ <command>DISCARD PLANS</command>, <command>DISCARD TEMP</command>,
+ <command>CLOSE ALL</command>, and <command>DEALLOCATE ALL</command>
+ (Marko Kreen, Neil)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add ALTER VIEW ... RENAME TO and ALTER SEQUENCE ... RENAME TO (David
- Fetter, Neil)
+ Add <command>ALTER VIEW ... RENAME TO</command> and <command>ALTER
+ SEQUENCE ... RENAME TO</command> (David Fetter, Neil)
</para>
<para>
- While it has long been possible to perform these operations using ALTER
- TABLE, users were often surprised that they couldn't say ALTER VIEW
- or ALTER SEQUENCE as appropriate.
+ While it has long been possible to perform these operations using
+ <command>ALTER TABLE</command>, users were often surprised that they
+ couldn't say <command>ALTER VIEW</command> or <command>ALTER
+ SEQUENCE</command> as appropriate.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Implement CREATE TABLE LIKE ... INCLUDING INDEXES (Trevor
- Hardcastle, Nikhil S, Neil)
+ Implement <command>CREATE TABLE LIKE ... INCLUDING
+ INDEXES</command> (Trevor Hardcastle, Nikhil S, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make CLUSTER MVCC-safe (Heikki Linnakangas)
+ Make <command>CLUSTER</command> MVCC-safe (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
<para>
- Formerly, a CLUSTER command would discard all tuples that were
- committed dead, even if there were still transactions that should be
- able to see them under the MVCC snapshot rules.
+ Formerly, a <command>CLUSTER</command> command would discard all
+ tuples that were committed dead, even if there were still
+ transactions that should be able to see them under the MVCC snapshot
+ rules.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Support syntax "CLUSTER table USING index", which is more logical
- than the old CLUSTER syntax (Holger Schurig)
+ Support new syntax for <command>CLUSTER</command>: <literal>CLUSTER
+ <replaceable>table</> USING <replaceable>index</></literal> (Holger Schurig)
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The old <command>CLUSTER</command> syntax is still supported, but
+ the new form is considered more logical.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make CLUSTER freeze tuples where possible (Heikki, Alvaro)
+ Make <command>CLUSTER</command> freeze tuples where possible
+ (Heikki, Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
- This is nearly free and may avoid the need for a subsequent VACUUM
- of the table.
+ This is nearly free and may avoid the need for a subsequent
+ <command>VACUUM</command> of the table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make CLUSTER and TRUNCATE advance the table's relfrozenxid to
- RecentXmin (Alvaro)
+ Make <command>CLUSTER</command> and <command>TRUNCATE</command>
+ advance the table's <literal>relfrozenxid</literal> to
+ <literal>RecentXmin</literal> (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
- This may avoid the need for a subsequent VACUUM of the table. The
- table-rewriting variants of ALTER TABLE do it too.
+ This may avoid the need for a subsequent <command>VACUUM</command>
+ of the table. The table-rewriting variants of <command>ALTER
+ TABLE</command> do it too.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fix EXPLAIN so it can always print the correct referent of an upper
- plan level expression (Tom)
+ Fix <command>EXPLAIN</command> so it can always print the correct
+ referent of an upper plan level expression (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- This fix banishes the old hack of showing "?columnN?" when things
- got too complicated.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Make EXPLAIN ANALYZE show which sort method was used by a Sort node
- (Tom)
+ This fix banishes the old hack of showing <quote>?columnN?</quote>
+ when things got too complicated.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make NOTIFY/LISTEN/UNLISTEN only accept identifiers without a schema
- qualifier
- (Bruce)
+ Make
+ <command>NOTIFY</command>/<command>LISTEN</command>/<command>UNLISTEN</command>
+ only accept identifiers without a schema qualifier (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a "uuid" data type similar to that defined in RFC 4122 (Gevik
- Babakhani, Neil)
+ Add a <type>uuid</type> data type similar to that defined in RFC
+ 4122 (see <xref linkend="datatype-uuid">) (Gevik Babakhani, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Widen the money data type to 64 bits (D'Arcy Cain)
+ Widen the <type>money</type> data type to 64 bits (D'Arcy Cain)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add new regexp functions regexp_matches(), regexp_split_to_array(),
- and regexp_split_to_table() (Jeremy Drake, Neil)
+ Add new regexp functions <function>regexp_matches()</function>,
+ <function>regexp_split_to_array()</function>, and
+ <function>regexp_split_to_table()</function> (Jeremy Drake, Neil)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add lo_truncate() function for large object truncation (Kris Jurka)
+ Add <function>lo_truncate()</function> function for large object
+ truncation (Kris Jurka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Implement width_bucket() for the float8 data type (Neil)
+ Implement <function>width_bucket()</function> for the float8 data
+ type (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a function pg_stat_clear_snapshot() that discards any statistics
- snapshot already collected in the current transaction (Tom)
+ Add a function <function>pg_stat_clear_snapshot()</function> that
+ discards any statistics snapshot already collected in the current
+ transaction (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- This allows plpgsql functions to watch for stats updates even though
- they are confined to a single transaction.
+ This allows PL/PgSQL functions to watch for stats updates even
+ though they are confined to a single transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make to_timestamp() and to_date() assume "TM" for potentially
- variable-width fields (Bruce)
+ Make <function>to_timestamp()</> and <function>to_date()</> assume
+ "TM" for potentially variable-width fields (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fix float4/float8 to handle Infinity and Nan consistently (Bruce)
+ Fix <type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type> to handle Infinity and
+ Nan consistently (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make setseed() return void, rather than a useless integer value
- (Neil)
+ Make <function>setseed()</function> return void, rather than a
+ useless integer value (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a hash function for "numeric" (Neil)
+ Add a hash function for <type>numeric</type> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
This allows hash indexes and hash-based plans to be used with
- the numeric datatype.
+ the <type>numeric</type> datatype.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Improve efficiency of LIKE/ILIKE code, especially for multi-byte
- charsets, and most especially for UTF8 (Andrew, Itagaki Takahiro)
+ Improve efficiency of
+ <literal>LIKE</literal>/<literal>ILIKE</literal> code, especially
+ for multi-byte charsets, and most especially for UTF8 (Andrew,
+ Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow leading and trailing whitespace in the input to the boolean
- type (Neil)
+ Allow leading and trailing whitespace in the input to the
+ <type>boolean</type> type (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This change plugs some holes that formerly existed in SQL literal
- backslash escape processing and COPY escape processing: the
- de-escaped string is rechecked if it might have resulted in creating
- invalid multi-byte characters.
+ backslash escape processing and <command>COPY</command> escape
+ processing: the de-escaped string is rechecked if it might have
+ resulted in creating invalid multi-byte characters.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Ensure that chr() cannot create invalidly encoded text (Andrew)
+ Ensure that <function>chr()</function> cannot create invalidly
+ encoded text (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
point. In other multi-byte encodings the argument must designate a
7-bit ASCII character, or an error is raised, as is also the case if
the argument is 0.
+ </para>
- ascii() is adjusted so that it remains the inverse of chr().
+ <para>
+ <function>ascii()</function> has been adjusted so that it remains
+ the inverse of <function>chr()</function>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Adjust convert() behavior to ensure encoding validity (Andrew)
+ Adjust <function>convert()</function> behavior to ensure encoding
+ validity (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
- The two argument form of convert() is gone, and the three argument
- form now takes a bytea first argument and returns a bytea. To cover
- this loss three new functions are introduced: . convert_from(bytea,
- name) returns text - converts the first argument from the named
- encoding to the database encoding . convert_to(text, name) returns
- bytea - converts the first argument from the database encoding to
- the named encoding . length(bytea, name) returns int - gives the
- length of the first argument in characters in the named encoding.
+ The two argument form of <function>convert()</function> is gone, and
+ the three argument form now takes a <type>bytea</type> first
+ argument and returns a <type>bytea</type>. To cover this loss three
+ new functions are introduced: . convert_from(bytea, name) returns
+ text - converts the first argument from the named encoding to the
+ database encoding . convert_to(text, name) returns bytea - converts
+ the first argument from the database encoding to the named encoding
+ . length(bytea, name) returns int - gives the length of the first
+ argument in characters in the named encoding.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove CONVERT(argument USING conversion_name) (Andrew)
+ Remove <literal>CONVERT(argument USING conversion_name)</literal>
+ (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- Restrict pg_database_size() to users who can connect to the target
- database (note that CONNECT privilege is granted by default, so this
- does not change the default behavior). Restrict
- pg_tablespace_size() to users who have CREATE privilege on the
- tablespace (which is *not* granted by default), except when the
- tablespace is the default tablespace for the current database (since
- we treat that as implicitly allowing use of the tablespace).
+ Restrict <function>pg_database_size()</function> to users who can
+ connect to the target database (note that <literal>CONNECT</literal>
+ privilege is granted by default, so this does not change the default
+ behavior). Restrict <function>pg_tablespace_size()</function> to
+ users who have <literal>CREATE</literal> privilege on the tablespace
+ (which is <emphasis>not</emphasis> granted by default), except when
+ the tablespace is the default tablespace for the current database
+ (since we treat that as implicitly allowing use of the tablespace).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Make currtid() functions require SELECT privileges on the target
- table (Tom)
+ Make <function>currtid()</function> functions require
+ <literal>SELECT</literal> privileges on the target table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Support scrollable cursors (ie, add a "direction" clause in FETCH)
- in plpgsql (Pavel Stehule)
+ Support scrollable cursors (ie, add a "direction" clause in
+ <command>FETCH</command>) in PL/PgSQL (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add support for IN as alternative to FROM in PL/PgSQL's FETCH
- statement, for consistency with the backend's FETCH command (Pavel
- Stehule)
+ Add support for <literal>IN</literal> as alternative to
+ <literal>FROM</literal> in PL/PgSQL's <command>FETCH</command>
+ statement, for consistency with the backend's
+ <command>FETCH</command> command (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Support MOVE in PL/PgSQL (Magnus, Pavel Stehule, Neil)
+ Support <command>MOVE</command> in PL/PgSQL (Magnus, Pavel Stehule,
+ Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Implement RETURN QUERY for PL/PgSQL (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
+ Implement <command>RETURN QUERY</command> for PL/PgSQL (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
</para>
<para>
This provides some convenient syntax sugar for PL/PgSQL
set-returning functions that want to return the result of evaluating
- a query; it should also be more efficient than repeated RETURN NEXT
- statements.
+ a query; it should also be more efficient than repeated
+ <command>RETURN NEXT</command> statements.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow plpgsql function parameter names to be qualified with the
+ Allow PL/PgSQL function parameter names to be qualified with the
function's name (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Reject zero or negative BY step in plpgsql integer FOR-loops, and
- behave sanely if the loop value overflows int32 on the way to the
- end value (Tom)
+ Reject zero or negative <literal>BY</literal> step in plpgsql
+ integer <literal>FOR</literal>-loops, and behave sanely if the loop
+ value overflows <type>int32</type> on the way to the end value (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow type-name arguments to spi_prepare() to be standard type
- aliases as well as the names given in pg_type (Andrew)
+ Allow type-name arguments to <function>spi_prepare()</function> to
+ be standard type aliases as well as the names given in
+ <literal>pg_type</literal> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow type-name arguments to plpy.prepare() to be standard type
- aliases as well as the names given in pg_type (Andrew)
+ Allow type-name arguments to <function>plpy.prepare()</function> to
+ be standard type aliases as well as the names given in
+ <literal>pg_type</literal> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow type-name arguments to spi_prepare to be standard type aliases
- as well as the names given in pg_type (Andrew)
+ Allow type-name arguments to <function>spi_prepare</> to be standard
+ type aliases as well as the names given in <literal>pg_type</>
+ (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add the function's volatility to the output of \df+ (Neil)
+ Add the function's volatility to the output of
+ <literal>\df+</literal> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In \d patterns, always match $ literally, whether quoted or not
- (Tom)
+ In <literal>\d</literal> patterns, always match <literal>$</literal>
+ literally, whether quoted or not (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- Since we allow $ as a character within identifiers, this behavior is
- useful, whereas the previous behavior of treating it as the regexp
- ending anchor was nearly useless given that the pattern is
- automatically anchored anyway.
+ Since we allow <literal>$</literal> as a character within
+ identifiers, this behavior is useful, whereas the previous behavior
+ of treating it as the regexp ending anchor was nearly useless given
+ that the pattern is automatically anchored anyway.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add \prompt command (Chad Wagner)
+ Add <literal>\prompt</literal> command (Chad Wagner)
</para>
<para>
- This lets a psql script prompt the user for input.
+ This lets a <application>psql</application> script prompt the user for input.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow \pset and \x, \t to use boolean constants on/off, rather than
+ Allow <literal>\pset</literal>, <literal>\t</literal> and
+ <literal>\x</literal> to use boolean constants on/off, rather than
always toggling (Chad Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add \sleep command to allow delays in psql scripts (Jan)
+ Add <literal>\sleep</> command to allow delays in
+ <application>psql</application> scripts (Jan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Enable \timing output for \copy commands (Andrew)
+ Enable <literal>\timing</> output for <literal>\copy</> commands
+ (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow \timing to have better resolution than ~15ms on Windows
- (Itagaki Takahiro)
+ Allow <literal>\timing</literal> to have better resolution than
+ ~15ms on Windows (Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add --tablespaces-only and --roles-only options to pg_dumpall (Dave
- Page)
+ Add --tablespaces-only and --roles-only options to
+ <application>pg_dumpall</application> (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add output-file option for pg_dumpall (Dave Page)
+ Add output-file option for <application>pg_dumpall</application>
+ (Dave Page)
</para>
<para>
This is primarily useful on Windows, where output redirection of
- child pg_dump processes doesn't work.
+ child <application>pg_dump</application> processes doesn't work.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In -n and -t switches, always match $ literally, whether quoted or
- not (Tom)
+ In -n and -t switches, always match <literal>$</literal> literally,
+ whether quoted or not (Tom)
</para>
<para>
- Since we allow $ as a character within identifiers, this behavior is
- useful, whereas the previous behavior of treating it as the regexp
- ending anchor was nearly useless given that the pattern is
- automatically anchored anyway.
+ Since we allow <literal>$</literal> as a character within
+ identifiers, this behavior is useful, whereas the previous behavior
+ of treating it as the regexp ending anchor was nearly useless given
+ that the pattern is automatically anchored anyway.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow a nondefault pg_xlog directory location to be specified to
- initdb (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
+ Allow a nondefault <filename>pg_xlog</filename> directory location
+ to be specified to initdb (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add lo_truncate() function for large object truncation (Kris Jurka)
+ Add <function>lo_truncate()</function> function for large object
+ truncation (Kris Jurka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Provide PQconnectionUsedPassword() function that returns true if the
- server demanded a password during authentication (Joe Conway)
+ Provide <function>PQconnectionUsedPassword()</function> function
+ that returns true if the server demanded a password during
+ authentication (Joe Conway)
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- Third-party C code that manipulates varlena datums *must* convert to
+ Third-party C code that manipulates varlena datums <emphasis>must</emphasis> convert to
this convention, since the varvarlena patch changes the
representation of length words on some architectures. Also, it
- may be necessary to "detoast" input varlena datums in cases where
+ may be necessary to <quote>detoast</quote> input varlena datums in cases where
no toasting could have happened before.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove the prohibition on executing cursor commands through
- SPI_execute (Tom)
+ <function>SPI_execute</function> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
Get rid of client-code dependencies on the exact text of the
- no-password error message, by using PQconnectionUsedPassword()
- instead (Tom)
+ no-password error message, by using
+ <function>PQconnectionUsedPassword()</function> instead (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove the xlog-centric "database system is ready" message and
- replace it with "database system is ready to accept connections"
+ Remove the xlog-centric <quote>database system is ready</quote>
+ message and replace it with <quote>database system is ready to
+ accept connections</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Provide strlcpy() and strlcat() on all platforms, and replace
- error-prone uses of strncpy(), strncat(), etc (Peter)
+ Provide <function>strlcpy()</function> and
+ <function>strlcat()</function> on all platforms, and replace
+ error-prone uses of <function>strncpy()</function>,
+ <function>strncat()</function>, etc (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This improves error detection and reporting, both for external
problems and for coding errors inside the backend. Notably,
- disallow mdread() beyond EOF, and enforce that mdwrite() is to be
- used for rewriting existing blocks while mdextend() is to be used
- for extending the relation EOF.
+ disallow <function>mdread()</function> beyond EOF, and enforce that
+ <function>mdwrite()</function> is to be used for rewriting existing
+ blocks while <function>mdextend()</function> is to be used for
+ extending the relation EOF.
</para>
</listitem>
determines the content of toast tables. Add TOAST_MAX_CHUNK_SIZE to
the values checked in pg_control, since it can't be changed without
invalidating toast table content.
-
- Note: while TOAST_TUPLE_THRESHOLD can now be changed without
- initdb, some thought still needs to be given to needs_toast_table()
- in toasting.c before unleashing random changes.
</para>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ While TOAST_TUPLE_THRESHOLD can now be changed without initdb, some
+ thought still needs to be given to needs_toast_table() in
+ toasting.c before unleashing random changes.
+ </para>
+ </note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Downgrade some boring startup messages to DEBUG1 (Peter)
+ Downgrade some boring startup messages to <literal>DEBUG1</literal>
+ (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Arrange for quote_identifier() and pg_dump to not quote keywords
- that are unreserved according to the grammar (Tom)
+ Arrange for <function>quote_identifier()</function> and
+ <application>pg_dump</application> to not quote keywords that are
+ unreserved according to the grammar (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Adjust the output of MemoryContextStats() so that the line for a
- child memory context is indented two spaces to the right of its
- parent context (Neil)
+ Adjust the output of <function>MemoryContextStats()</function> so
+ that the line for a child memory context is indented two spaces to
+ the right of its parent context (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Change on-disk representation of NUMERIC datatype so that the
- sign_dscale word comes before the weight instead of after (Tom)
+ Change the on-disk representation of the <type>numeric</type>
+ datatype so that the sign_dscale word comes before the weight
+ instead of after (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add /contrib/pageinspect module for low-level page inspection
- (Simon, Heikki)
+ Add <filename>/contrib/pageinspect</filename> module for low-level
+ page inspection (Simon, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add /contrib/pg_standby module for warm standby operation (Simon)
+ Add <filename>/contrib/pg_standby</filename> module for warm standby
+ operation (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add /contrib/uuid-ossp module for generating UUID values using the OSSP
- UUID library (Peter)
+ Add <filename>/contrib/uuid-ossp</filename> module for generating
+ UUID values using the OSSP UUID library (Peter)
</para>
<para>
- Use configure option --with-ossp-uuid to activate. This takes
- advantage of the new UUID builtin type.
+ Use configure option <literal>--with-ossp-uuid</literal> to
+ activate. This takes advantage of the new <type>uuid</type> builtin
+ type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Update /contrib/start-scripts OS/X startup files, and move to a
- separate OS/X directory (Mark Cotner, David Fetter)
+ Update <filename>/contrib/start-scripts</filename> OS/X startup
+ files, and move to a separate OS/X directory (Mark Cotner, David
+ Fetter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Restrict pgrowlocks() and dblink_get_pkey() to users who have SELECT
- privilege on the target table (Tom)
+ Restrict <function>pgrowlocks()</function> and
+ <function>dblink_get_pkey()</function> to users who have
+ <literal>SELECT</literal> privilege on the target table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Restrict contrib/pgstattuple functions to superusers (Tom)
+ Restrict <filename>contrib/pgstattuple</filename> functions to
+ superusers (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- contrib/xml2 is deprecated and planned for removal in 8.4 (Peter)
+ <filename>contrib/xml2</filename> is deprecated and planned for
+ removal in 8.4 (Peter)
</para>
<para>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
-
</sect2>
</sect1>
projects / postgresql / commitdiff