From: Tom Lane Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 21:35:36 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Update release notes for security releases. X-Git-Url: http://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/static/gitweb.js?a=commitdiff_plain;h=7b10995b51b02ec9e5966a25049f48e9ca8f1092;p=users%2Fbernd%2Fpostgres.git Update release notes for security releases. Security: CVE-2007-4769, CVE-2007-4772, CVE-2007-6067, CVE-2007-6600, CVE-2007-6601 --- diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml index d70c3acd44..33dd4f687e 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml @@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ non-ASCII characters convert to HTML4 entity (&) escapes wrap long lines For new features, add links to the documentation sections. Use -so that perl can remove it so HISTORY.html can be created with no +so that Perl can remove it so HISTORY.html can be created with no links to the main documentation. This was added only in 8.2, so don't do it for earlier branch release files. @@ -35,13504 +35,14524 @@ do it for earlier branch release files. Release Notes - - Release 8.2.5 + + Release 8.2.6 - - Release date - 2007-09-17 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.4. - - - - Migration to version 8.2.5 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. - - - - - - Changes - - - - - - Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and - then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM - on the same table (Tom) - - - - - - Fix ALTER DOMAIN ADD CONSTRAINT for cases involving - domains over domains (Tom) - - - - - - Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) - - - - - - Fix some planner problems with outer joins, notably poor - size estimation for t1 LEFT JOIN t2 WHERE t2.col IS NULL - (Tom) - - - - - - Allow the interval data type to accept input consisting only of - milliseconds or microseconds (Neil) - - - - - - Allow timezone name to appear before the year in timestamp input (Tom) - - - - - - Fixes for GIN indexes used by /contrib/tsearch2 (Teodor) - - - - - - Speed up rtree index insertion (Teodor) - - - - - - Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) - - - - - - Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using - the syslogger process (Andrew) - - - - - - Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out - of memory (Tom) - - - - - - Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom) - - - - - - Fix stddev_pop(numeric) and var_pop(numeric) (Tom) - - - - - - Prevent REINDEX and CLUSTER from failing - due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) - - - - - - Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom) - - - - - - Windows socket and semaphore improvements (Magnus) - - - - - - Make pg_ctl -w work properly in Windows service mode (Dave Page) - - - - - - Fix memory allocation bug when using MIT Kerberos on Windows (Magnus) - - - - - - Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows - because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom) - - - - - - Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only - password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) - - - - - - Restrict /contrib/pgstattuple functions to superusers, for security reasons (Tom) - - - - - - Do not let /contrib/intarray try to make its GIN opclass - the default (this caused problems at dump/restore) (Tom) - - - - - - - + + Release date + 2008-01-07 + - - Release 8.2.4 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.5, + including fixes for significant security issues. + - - Release date - 2007-04-23 - + + Migration to Version 8.2.6 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.3, - including a security fix. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. - - Migration to version 8.2.4 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. - - - + - - Changes + + Changes - + - + - Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within - search_path, and disable searching it for functions - and operators (Tom) + Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of + the user running VACUUM, ANALYZE, etc (Tom) + + + + Functions used in index expressions and partial-index + predicates are evaluated whenever a new table entry is made. It has + long been understood that this poses a risk of trojan-horse code + execution if one modifies a table owned by an untrustworthy user. + (Note that triggers, defaults, check constraints, etc. pose the + same type of risk.) But functions in indexes pose extra danger + because they will be executed by routine maintenance operations + such as VACUUM FULL, which are commonly performed + automatically under a superuser account. For example, a nefarious user + can execute code with superuser privileges by setting up a + trojan-horse index definition and waiting for the next routine vacuum. + The fix arranges for standard maintenance operations + (including VACUUM, ANALYZE, REINDEX, + and CLUSTER) to execute as the table owner rather than + the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already + used for SECURITY DEFINER functions. To prevent bypassing + this security measure, execution of SET SESSION + AUTHORIZATION and SET ROLE is now forbidden within a + SECURITY DEFINER context. (CVE-2007-6600) + + + - This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a - truly secure value of search_path. Without it, - an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code - with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). - See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. + Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry) - - - Fix shared_preload_libraries for Windows - by forcing reload in each backend (Korry Douglas) + Suitably crafted regular-expression patterns could cause crashes, + infinite or near-infinite looping, and/or massive memory consumption, + all of which pose denial-of-service hazards for applications that + accept regex search patterns from untrustworthy sources. + (CVE-2007-4769, CVE-2007-4772, CVE-2007-6067) - + - + - Fix to_char() so it properly upper/lower cases localized day or month - names (Pavel Stehule) + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) - - - /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) + The fix that appeared for this in 8.2.5 was incomplete, as it plugged + the hole for only some dblink functions. (CVE-2007-6601, + CVE-2007-3278) - + - + - Require COMMIT PREPARED to be executed in the same - database as the transaction was prepared in (Heikki) + Fix bugs in WAL replay for GIN indexes (Teodor) - + - + - Allow pg_dump to do binary backups larger than two gigabytes - on Windows (Magnus) + Fix GIN index build to work properly when + maintenance_work_mem is 4GB or more (Tom) - + - + - New traditional (Taiwan) Chinese FAQ (Zhou Daojing) + Update time zone data files to tzdata release 2007k + (in particular, recent Argentina changes) (Tom) - + - + - Prevent the statistics collector from writing to disk too frequently (Tom) + Improve planner's handling of LIKE/regex estimation in non-C locales + (Tom) - + - + - Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles - UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) + Fix planning-speed problem for deep outer-join nests, as well as + possible poor choice of join order (Tom) - + - + - Fix bug in domains that use array types (Tom) + Fix planner failure in some cases of WHERE false AND var IN + (SELECT ...) (Tom) - + - + - Fix pg_dump so it can dump a serial column's sequence - using - + - + - Planner fixes, including improving outer join and bitmap scan - selection logic (Tom) + Preserve the tablespace and storage parameters of indexes that are + rebuilt by ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN TYPE (Tom) - + - + - Fix possible wrong answers or crash when a PL/pgSQL function tries - to RETURN from within an EXCEPTION block - (Tom) + Make archive recovery always start a new WAL timeline, rather than only + when a recovery stop time was used (Simon) - - - Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (Tom) + This avoids a corner-case risk of trying to overwrite an existing + archived copy of the last WAL segment, and seems simpler and cleaner + than the original definition. - + - + - Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom) + Make VACUUM not use all of maintenance_work_mem + when the table is too small for it to be useful (Alvaro) - + - + + + Fix potential crash in translate() when using a multibyte + database encoding (Tom) + + - - + + + Make corr() return the correct result for negative + correlation values (Neil) + + - - Release 8.2.3 + + + Fix overflow in extract(epoch from interval) for intervals + exceeding 68 years (Tom) + + - - Release date - 2007-02-07 - + + + Fix PL/Perl to not fail when a UTF-8 regular expression is used + in a trusted function (Andrew) + + - - This release contains two fixes from 8.2.2. - + + + Fix PL/Perl to cope when platform's Perl defines type bool + as int rather than char (Tom) + - - Migration to version 8.2.3 + + While this could theoretically happen anywhere, no standard build of + Perl did things this way ... until Mac OS X 10.5. + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. - + + + Fix PL/Python to work correctly with Python 2.5 on 64-bit machines + (Marko Kreen) + + - + + + Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro) + + - - Changes + + + Fix pg_dump to correctly handle inheritance child tables + that have default expressions different from their parent's (Tom) + + - + + + Fix libpq crash when PGPASSFILE refers + to a file that is not a plain file (Martin Pitt) + + - + - Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and - functional indexes(Tom) + ecpg parser fixes (Michael) - + - + - Fix optimization so MIN/MAX in subqueries can again use indexes (Tom) + Make contrib/pgcrypto defend against + OpenSSL libraries that fail on keys longer than 128 + bits; which is the case at least on some Solaris versions (Marko Kreen) - + - + + + Make contrib/tablefunc's crosstab() handle + NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe) + + - - + + + Fix tsvector and tsquery output routines to + escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce) + + - - Release 8.2.2 + + + Fix crash of to_tsvector() on huge input strings (Teodor) + + - - Release date - 2007-02-05 - + + + Require a specific version of Autoconf to be used + when re-generating the configure script (Peter) + + + + This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made + to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of + Autoconf and PostgreSQL versions. + You can remove the version check if you really want to use a + different Autoconf version, but it's + your responsibility whether the result works or not. + + + + + + Update gettimeofday configuration check so that + PostgreSQL can be built on newer versions of + MinGW (Magnus) + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.2.5 + + + Release date + 2007-09-17 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.4. + + + + Migration to Version 8.2.5 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.1, including - a security fix. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. - - Migration to version 8.2.2 + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. - + + Changes - + - - Changes + + + Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and + then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM + on the same table (Tom) + + - + + + Fix ALTER DOMAIN ADD CONSTRAINT for cases involving + domains over domains (Tom) + + - + - Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users - to read backend memory (Tom) + Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + + + - The vulnerabilities involve suppressing the normal check that a SQL - function returns the data type it's declared to, and changing the - data type of a table column (CVE-2007-0555, CVE-2007-0556). These - errors can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in - principle might be used to read database content that the user - should not be able to access. + Fix some planner problems with outer joins, notably poor + size estimation for t1 LEFT JOIN t2 WHERE t2.col IS NULL + (Tom) - + - + - Fix not-so-rare-anymore bug wherein btree index page splits could fail - due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) + Allow the interval data type to accept input consisting only of + milliseconds or microseconds (Neil) - + - + - Fix Borland C compile scripts (L Bayuk) + Allow timezone name to appear before the year in timestamp input (Tom) - + - + - Properly handle to_char('CC') for years ending in - 00 (Tom) + Fixes for GIN indexes used by /contrib/tsearch2 (Teodor) + + + - Year 2000 is in the twentieth century, not the twenty-first. + Speed up rtree index insertion (Teodor) - + - + - /contrib/tsearch2 localization improvements (Tatsuo, Teodor) + Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) - + - + - Fix incorrect permission check in - information_schema.key_column_usage view (Tom) + Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using + the syslogger process (Andrew) + + + - The symptom is relation with OID nnnnn does not exist errors. - To get this fix without using initdb, use CREATE OR - REPLACE VIEW to install the corrected definition found in - share/information_schema.sql. Note you will need to do - this in each database. + Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out + of memory (Tom) - + - + - Improve VACUUM performance for databases with many tables (Tom) + Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom) - + - + - Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) + Fix stddev_pop(numeric) and var_pop(numeric) (Tom) - + - + - Fix potentially incorrect results from index searches using - ROW inequality conditions (Tom) + Prevent REINDEX and CLUSTER from failing + due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) - + - + - Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences - over three bytes long (Tom) + Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom) - + - + - Fix bogus permission denied failures occurring on Windows - due to attempts to fsync already-deleted files (Magnus, Tom) + Windows socket and semaphore improvements (Magnus) - + - + - Fix bug that could cause the statistics collector - to hang on Windows (Magnus) + Make pg_ctl -w work properly in Windows service mode (Dave Page) + + - This would in turn lead to autovacuum not working. + Fix memory allocation bug when using MIT Kerberos on Windows (Magnus) - + - + - Fix possible crashes when an already-in-use PL/pgSQL function is - updated (Tom) + Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows + because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom) - + - + - Improve PL/pgSQL handling of domain types (Sergiy Vyshnevetskiy, Tom) + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) - + - + - Fix possible errors in processing PL/pgSQL exception blocks (Tom) + Restrict /contrib/pgstattuple functions to superusers, for security reasons (Tom) - + - + + + Do not let /contrib/intarray try to make its GIN opclass + the default (this caused problems at dump/restore) (Tom) + + - - + - - Release 8.2.1 + + - - Release date - 2007-01-08 - + + Release 8.2.4 - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2. - + + Release date + 2007-04-23 + - - Migration to version 8.2.1 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.3, + including a security fix. + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2. - + + Migration to Version 8.2.4 - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. + - - Changes + - + + Changes - - - Fix crash with SELECT ... LIMIT ALL (also - LIMIT NULL) (Tom) - - + - - - Several /contrib/tsearch2 fixes (Teodor) - - - - - - On Windows, make log messages coming from the operating system use - ASCII encoding (Hiroshi Saito) - + + + Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within + search_path, and disable searching it for functions + and operators (Tom) + - - This fixes a conversion problem when there is a mismatch between - the encoding of the operating system and database server. - - + + This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a + truly secure value of search_path. Without it, + an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code + with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). + See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. + + - - - Fix Windows linking of pg_dump using - win32.mak - (Hiroshi Saito) - - + + + Fix shared_preload_libraries for Windows + by forcing reload in each backend (Korry Douglas) + + - - - Fix planner mistakes for outer join queries (Tom) - - + + + Fix to_char() so it properly upper/lower cases localized day or month + names (Pavel Stehule) + + - - - Fix several problems in queries involving sub-SELECTs (Tom) - - + + + /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) + + - - - Fix potential crash in SPI during subtransaction abort (Tom) - + + + Require COMMIT PREPARED to be executed in the same + database as the transaction was prepared in (Heikki) + + - - This affects all PL functions since they all use SPI. - - + + + Allow pg_dump to do binary backups larger than two gigabytes + on Windows (Magnus) + + - - - Improve build speed of PDF documentation (Peter) - - + + + New traditional (Taiwan) Chinese FAQ (Zhou Daojing) + + - - - Re-add JST (Japan) timezone abbreviation (Tom) - - + + + Prevent the statistics collector from writing to disk too frequently (Tom) + + - - - Improve optimization decisions related to index scans (Tom) - - + + + Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles + UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) + + - - - Have psql print multi-byte combining characters as - before, rather than output as \u (Tom) - - + + + Fix bug in domains that use array types (Tom) + + - - - Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) - + + + Fix pg_dump so it can dump a serial column's sequence + using + - - This improves psql \d performance also. - - + + + Planner fixes, including improving outer join and bitmap scan + selection logic (Tom) + + - - - Make pg_dumpall assume that databases have public - CONNECT privilege, when dumping from a pre-8.2 server (Tom) - + + + Fix possible wrong answers or crash when a PL/pgSQL function tries + to RETURN from within an EXCEPTION block + (Tom) + + - - This preserves the previous behavior that anyone can connect to a - database if allowed by pg_hba.conf. - - + + + Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (Tom) + + - + + + Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom) + + - - + - - Release 8.2 + + - - Release date - 2006-12-05 - + + Release 8.2.3 - - Overview + + Release date + 2007-02-07 + - - This release adds many functionality and performance improvements that - were requested by users, including: + + This release contains two fixes from 8.2.2. + - + + Migration to Version 8.2.3 - - - Query language enhancements including INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE - RETURNING, multirow VALUES lists, and - optional target-table alias in - UPDATE/DELETE - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. + - - - Index creation without blocking concurrent - INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE - operations - - + - - - Many query optimization improvements, including support for - reordering outer joins - - + + Changes - - - Improved sorting performance with lower memory usage - - + - - - More efficient locking with better concurrency - - + + + Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and + functional indexes(Tom) + + - - - More efficient vacuuming - - + + + Fix optimization so MIN/MAX in subqueries can again use indexes (Tom) + + - - - Easier administration of warm standby servers - - + - - - New FILLFACTOR support for tables and indexes - - + + - - - Monitoring, logging, and performance tuning additions - - + + Release 8.2.2 - - - More control over creating and dropping objects - - + + Release date + 2007-02-05 + - - - Table inheritance relationships can be defined - for and removed from pre-existing tables - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.1, including + a security fix. + - - - COPY TO can copy the output of an arbitrary - SELECT statement - - + + Migration to Version 8.2.2 - - - Array improvements, including nulls in arrays - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X. + - - - Aggregate-function improvements, including multiple-input - aggregates and SQL:2003 statistical functions - - + - - - Many contrib/ improvements - - + + Changes - + - - - + + + Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users + to read backend memory (Tom) + - - Migration to version 8.2 + + The vulnerabilities involve suppressing the normal check that a SQL + function returns the data type it's declared to, and changing the + data type of a table column (CVE-2007-0555, CVE-2007-0556). These + errors can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in + principle might be used to read database content that the user + should not be able to access. + + - - A dump/restore using pg_dump is - required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous - release. - + + + Fix not-so-rare-anymore bug wherein btree index page splits could fail + due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) + + - - Observe the following incompatibilities: - + + + Fix Borland C compile scripts (L Bayuk) + + - + + + Properly handle to_char('CC') for years ending in + 00 (Tom) + - - - Set escape_string_warning - to on by default (Bruce) - + + Year 2000 is in the twentieth century, not the twenty-first. + + - - This issues a warning if backslash escapes are used in - non-escape (non-E'') - strings. - - + + + /contrib/tsearch2 localization improvements (Tatsuo, Teodor) + + - - - Change the row - constructor syntax (ROW(...)) so that - list elements foo.* will be expanded to a list - of their member fields, rather than creating a nested - row type field as formerly (Tom) - + + + Fix incorrect permission check in + information_schema.key_column_usage view (Tom) + - - The new behavior is substantially more useful since it - allows, for example, triggers to check for data changes - with IF row(new.*) IS DISTINCT FROM row(old.*). - The old behavior is still available by omitting .*. - - + + The symptom is relation with OID nnnnn does not exist errors. + To get this fix without using initdb, use CREATE OR + REPLACE VIEW to install the corrected definition found in + share/information_schema.sql. Note you will need to do + this in each database. + + - - - Make row comparisons - follow SQL standard semantics and allow them - to be used in index scans (Tom) - + + + Improve VACUUM performance for databases with many tables (Tom) + + - - Previously, row = and <> comparisons followed the - standard but < <= > >= did not. A row comparison - can now be used as an index constraint for a multicolumn - index matching the row value. - - + + + Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) + + - - - Make row IS NOT NULL - tests follow SQL standard semantics (Tom) - + + + Fix potentially incorrect results from index searches using + ROW inequality conditions (Tom) + + - - The former behavior conformed to the standard for simple cases - with IS NULL, but IS NOT NULL would return - true if any row field was non-null, whereas the standard says it - should return true only when all fields are non-null. - - + + + Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences + over three bytes long (Tom) + + - - - Make SET - CONSTRAINT affect only one constraint (Kris Jurka) - + + + Fix bogus permission denied failures occurring on Windows + due to attempts to fsync already-deleted files (Magnus, Tom) + + - - In previous releases, SET CONSTRAINT modified - all constraints with a matching name. In this release, - the schema search path is used to modify only the first - matching constraint. A schema specification is also - supported. This more nearly conforms to the SQL standard. - - + + + Fix bug that could cause the statistics collector + to hang on Windows (Magnus) + - - - Remove RULE permission for tables, for security reasons - (Tom) - + + This would in turn lead to autovacuum not working. + + - - As of this release, only a table's owner can create or modify - rules for the table. For backwards compatibility, - GRANT/REVOKE RULE is still accepted, - but it does nothing. - - + + + Fix possible crashes when an already-in-use PL/pgSQL function is + updated (Tom) + + - - - Array comparison improvements (Tom) - + + + Improve PL/pgSQL handling of domain types (Sergiy Vyshnevetskiy, Tom) + + - - Now array dimensions are also compared. - - + + + Fix possible errors in processing PL/pgSQL exception blocks (Tom) + + - - - Change array concatenation - to match documented behavior (Tom) - + - - This changes the previous behavior where concatenation - would modify the array lower bound. - - + + - - - Make command-line options of postmaster - and postgres - identical (Peter) - + + Release 8.2.1 - - This allows the postmaster to pass arguments to each backend - without using -o. Note that some options are now - only available as long-form options, because there were conflicting - single-letter options. - - + + Release date + 2007-01-08 + - - - Deprecate use of postmaster symbolic link (Peter) - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2. + - - postmaster and postgres - commands now act identically, with the behavior determined - by command-line options. The postmaster symbolic link is - kept for compatibility, but is not really needed. - - + + Migration to Version 8.2.1 - - - Change log_duration - to output even if the query is not output (Tom) - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2. + - - In prior releases, log_duration only printed if - the query appeared earlier in the log. - - + - - - Make to_char(time) - and to_char(interval) - treat HH and HH12 as 12-hour - intervals - + + Changes - - Most applications should use HH24 unless they - want a 12-hour display. - - + - - - Zero unmasked bits in conversion from INET to CIDR (Tom) - + + + Fix crash with SELECT ... LIMIT ALL (also + LIMIT NULL) (Tom) + + - - This ensures that the converted value is actually valid for - CIDR. - - + + + Several /contrib/tsearch2 fixes (Teodor) + + - - - Remove australian_timezones configuration variable - (Joachim Wieland) - + + + On Windows, make log messages coming from the operating system use + ASCII encoding (Hiroshi Saito) + - - This variable has been superseded by a more general facility - for configuring timezone abbreviations. - - + + This fixes a conversion problem when there is a mismatch between + the encoding of the operating system and database server. + + - - - Improve cost estimation for nested-loop index scans (Tom) - + + + Fix Windows linking of pg_dump using + win32.mak + (Hiroshi Saito) + + - - This might eliminate the need to set unrealistically small - values of random_page_cost. - If you have been using a very small random_page_cost, - please recheck your test cases. - - + + + Fix planner mistakes for outer join queries (Tom) + + - - - Change behavior of pg_dump -n and - -t options. (Greg Sabino Mullane) - - - See the pg_dump manual page for details. - - + + + Fix several problems in queries involving sub-SELECTs (Tom) + + - - - Change libpq - PQdsplen() to return a useful value (Martijn - van Oosterhout) - - + + + Fix potential crash in SPI during subtransaction abort (Tom) + - - - Declare libpq - PQgetssl() as returning void *, - rather than SSL * (Martijn van Oosterhout) - + + This affects all PL functions since they all use SPI. + + - - This allows applications to use the function without including - the OpenSSL headers. - - + + + Improve build speed of PDF documentation (Peter) + + - - - C-language loadable modules must now include a - PG_MODULE_MAGIC - macro call for version compatibility checking - (Martijn van Oosterhout) - - + + + Re-add JST (Japan) timezone abbreviation (Tom) + + - - - For security's sake, modules used by a PL/PerlU function are no - longer available to PL/Perl functions (Andrew) - - - - This also implies that data can no longer be shared between a PL/Perl - function and a PL/PerlU function. - Some Perl installations have not been compiled with the correct flags - to allow multiple interpreters to exist within a single process. - In this situation PL/Perl and PL/PerlU cannot both be used in a - single backend. The solution is to get a Perl installation which - supports multiple interpreters. - - - + + + Improve optimization decisions related to index scans (Tom) + + - - - In contrib/xml2/, rename xml_valid() to - xml_is_well_formed() (Tom) - + + + Have psql print multi-byte combining characters as + before, rather than output as \u (Tom) + + - - xml_valid() will remain for backward compatibility, - but its behavior will change to do schema checking in a future - release. - - + + + Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + - - - Remove contrib/ora2pg/, now at - - + + This improves psql \d performance also. + + - - - Remove contrib modules that have been migrated to PgFoundry: - adddepend, dbase, dbmirror, - fulltextindex, mac, userlock - - + + + Make pg_dumpall assume that databases have public + CONNECT privilege, when dumping from a pre-8.2 server (Tom) + - - - Remove abandoned contrib modules: - mSQL-interface, tips - - + + This preserves the previous behavior that anyone can connect to a + database if allowed by pg_hba.conf. + + - - - Remove QNX and BEOS ports (Bruce) - + - - These ports no longer had active maintainers. - - + + - - + + Release 8.2 - - Changes + + Release date + 2006-12-05 + - - Below you will find a detailed account of the - changes between PostgreSQL 8.2 and - the previous major release. - + + Overview - - Performance Improvements - + + This release adds many functionality and performance improvements that + were requested by users, including: - - - Allow the planner to reorder outer - joins in some circumstances (Tom) - + - - In previous releases, outer joins would always be evaluated in - the order written in the query. This change allows the - query optimizer to consider reordering outer joins, in cases where - it can determine 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 or mixed inner and outer joins. - - + + + Query language enhancements including INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE + RETURNING, multirow VALUES lists, and + optional target-table alias in + UPDATE/DELETE + + - - - Improve efficiency of IN - (list-of-expressions) clauses (Tom) - - + + + Index creation without blocking concurrent + INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE + operations + + - - - Improve sorting speed and reduce memory usage (Simon, Tom) - - + + + Many query optimization improvements, including support for + reordering outer joins + + - - - Improve subtransaction performance (Alvaro, Itagaki Takahiro, - Tom) - - + + + Improved sorting performance with lower memory usage + + - - - Add FILLFACTOR to table and index creation (ITAGAKI - Takahiro) - + + + More efficient locking with better concurrency + + - - This leaves extra free space in each table or index page, - allowing improved performance as the database grows. This - is particularly valuable to maintain clustering. - - + + + More efficient vacuuming + + - - - Increase default values for shared_buffers - and max_fsm_pages - (Andrew) - - + + + Easier administration of warm standby servers + + - - - Improve locking performance by breaking the lock manager tables into - sections - (Tom) - + + + New FILLFACTOR support for tables and indexes + + - - This allows locking to be more fine-grained, reducing - contention. - - + + + Monitoring, logging, and performance tuning additions + + - - - Reduce locking requirements of sequential scans (Qingqing - Zhou) - - + + + More control over creating and dropping objects + + - - - Reduce locking required for database creation and destruction - (Tom) - - + + + Table inheritance relationships can be defined + for and removed from pre-existing tables + + - - - Improve the optimizer's selectivity estimates for LIKE, ILIKE, and - regular expression - operations (Tom) - - + + + COPY TO can copy the output of an arbitrary + SELECT statement + + - - - Improve planning of joins to inherited - tables and UNION - ALL views (Tom) - - + + + Array improvements, including nulls in arrays + + - - - Allow constraint - exclusion to be applied to inherited UPDATE and - DELETE queries (Tom) - + + + Aggregate-function improvements, including multiple-input + aggregates and SQL:2003 statistical functions + + - - SELECT already honored constraint exclusion. - - + + + Many contrib/ improvements + + - - - Improve planning of constant WHERE clauses, such as - a condition that depends only on variables inherited from an - outer query level (Tom) - - + - - - Protocol-level unnamed prepared statements are re-planned - for each set of BIND values (Tom) - + - - This improves performance because the exact parameter values - can be used in the plan. - - + - - - Speed up vacuuming of B-Tree indexes (Heikki Linnakangas, - Tom) - - + + Migration to Version 8.2 - - - Avoid extra scan of tables without indexes during VACUUM (Greg Stark) - - + + A dump/restore using pg_dump is + required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous + release. + - - - Improve multicolumn GiST - indexing (Oleg, Teodor) - - + + Observe the following incompatibilities: + - - - Remove dead index entries before B-Tree page split (Junji - Teramoto) - - + - + + + Set escape_string_warning + to on by default (Bruce) + - + + This issues a warning if backslash escapes are used in + non-escape (non-E'') + strings. + + - - Server Changes - + + + Change the row + constructor syntax (ROW(...)) so that + list elements foo.* will be expanded to a list + of their member fields, rather than creating a nested + row type field as formerly (Tom) + - - - Allow a forced switch to a new transaction log file (Simon, Tom) - + + The new behavior is substantially more useful since it + allows, for example, triggers to check for data changes + with IF row(new.*) IS DISTINCT FROM row(old.*). + The old behavior is still available by omitting .*. + + - - This is valuable for keeping warm standby slave servers - in sync with the master. Transaction log file switching now also happens - automatically during pg_stop_backup(). - This ensures that all - transaction log files needed for recovery can be archived immediately. - - + + + Make row comparisons + follow SQL standard semantics and allow them + to be used in index scans (Tom) + - - - Add WAL informational functions (Simon) - + + Previously, row = and <> comparisons followed the + standard but < <= > >= did not. A row comparison + can now be used as an index constraint for a multicolumn + index matching the row value. + + - - Add functions for interrogating the current transaction log insertion - point and determining WAL filenames from the - hex WAL locations displayed by pg_stop_backup() - and related functions. - - + + + Make row IS NOT NULL + tests follow SQL standard semantics (Tom) + - - - Improve recovery from a crash during WAL replay (Simon) - + + The former behavior conformed to the standard for simple cases + with IS NULL, but IS NOT NULL would return + true if any row field was non-null, whereas the standard says it + should return true only when all fields are non-null. + + - - The server now does periodic checkpoints during WAL - recovery, so if there is a crash, future WAL - recovery is shortened. This also eliminates the need for - warm standby servers to replay the entire log since the - base backup if they crash. - - + + + Make SET + CONSTRAINT affect only one constraint (Kris Jurka) + - - - Improve reliability of long-term WAL replay - (Heikki, Simon, Tom) - + + In previous releases, SET CONSTRAINT modified + all constraints with a matching name. In this release, + the schema search path is used to modify only the first + matching constraint. A schema specification is also + supported. This more nearly conforms to the SQL standard. + + - - Formerly, trying to roll forward through more than 2 billion - transactions would not work due to XID wraparound. This meant - warm standby servers had to be reloaded - from fresh base backups periodically. - - + + + Remove RULE permission for tables, for security reasons + (Tom) + - - - Add archive_timeout - to force transaction log file switches at a given interval (Simon) - + + As of this release, only a table's owner can create or modify + rules for the table. For backwards compatibility, + GRANT/REVOKE RULE is still accepted, + but it does nothing. + + - - This enforces a maximum replication delay for warm standby servers. - - + + + Array comparison improvements (Tom) + - - - Add native LDAP - authentication (Magnus Hagander) - + + Now array dimensions are also compared. + + - - This is particularly useful for platforms that do not - support PAM, such as Windows. - - + + + Change array concatenation + to match documented behavior (Tom) + - - - Add GRANT - CONNECT ON DATABASE (Gevik Babakhani) - + + This changes the previous behavior where concatenation + would modify the array lower bound. + + - - This gives SQL-level control over database access. It works as - an additional filter on top of the existing - pg_hba.conf - controls. - - + + + Make command-line options of postmaster + and postgres + identical (Peter) + - - - Add support for SSL - Certificate Revocation List (CRL) files - (Libor Hohoš) - + + This allows the postmaster to pass arguments to each backend + without using -o. Note that some options are now + only available as long-form options, because there were conflicting + single-letter options. + + - - The server and libpq both recognize CRL - files now. - - + + + Deprecate use of postmaster symbolic link (Peter) + - - - GiST indexes are - now clusterable (Teodor) - - + + postmaster and postgres + commands now act identically, with the behavior determined + by command-line options. The postmaster symbolic link is + kept for compatibility, but is not really needed. + + - - - Remove routine autovacuum server log entries (Bruce) - + + + Change log_duration + to output even if the query is not output (Tom) + - - pg_stat_activity - now shows autovacuum activity. - - + + In prior releases, log_duration only printed if + the query appeared earlier in the log. + + - - - Track maximum XID age within individual tables, instead of whole databases (Alvaro) - + + + Make to_char(time) + and to_char(interval) + treat HH and HH12 as 12-hour + intervals + - - This reduces the overhead involved in preventing transaction - ID wraparound, by avoiding unnecessary VACUUMs. - - + + Most applications should use HH24 unless they + want a 12-hour display. + + - - - Add last vacuum and analyze timestamp columns to the stats - collector (Larry Rosenman) - + + + Zero unmasked bits in conversion from INET to CIDR (Tom) + - - These values now appear in the pg_stat_*_tables - system views. - - + + This ensures that the converted value is actually valid for + CIDR. + + - - - Improve performance of statistics monitoring, especially - stats_command_string - (Tom, Bruce) - + + + Remove australian_timezones configuration variable + (Joachim Wieland) + - - This release enables stats_command_string by - default, now that its overhead is minimal. This means - pg_stat_activity - will now show all active queries by default. - - + + This variable has been superseded by a more general facility + for configuring timezone abbreviations. + + - - - Add a waiting column to pg_stat_activity - (Tom) - + + + Improve cost estimation for nested-loop index scans (Tom) + - - This allows pg_stat_activity to show all the - information included in the ps display. - - + + This might eliminate the need to set unrealistically small + values of random_page_cost. + If you have been using a very small random_page_cost, + please recheck your test cases. + + - - - Add configuration parameter update_process_title - to control whether the ps display is updated - for every command (Bruce) - + + + Change behavior of pg_dump -n and + -t options. (Greg Sabino Mullane) + + + See the pg_dump manual page for details. + + - - On platforms where it is expensive to update the ps - display, it might be worthwhile to turn this off and rely solely on - pg_stat_activity for status information. - - + + + Change libpq + PQdsplen() to return a useful value (Martijn + van Oosterhout) + + - - - Allow units to be specified in configuration settings - (Peter) - + + + Declare libpq + PQgetssl() as returning void *, + rather than SSL * (Martijn van Oosterhout) + - - For example, you can now set shared_buffers - to 32MB rather than mentally converting sizes. - - + + This allows applications to use the function without including + the OpenSSL headers. + + - - - Add support for include - directives in postgresql.conf (Joachim - Wieland) - - + + + C-language loadable modules must now include a + PG_MODULE_MAGIC + macro call for version compatibility checking + (Martijn van Oosterhout) + + - + + + For security's sake, modules used by a PL/PerlU function are no + longer available to PL/Perl functions (Andrew) + + - Improve logging of protocol-level prepare/bind/execute - messages (Bruce, Tom) + This also implies that data can no longer be shared between a PL/Perl + function and a PL/PerlU function. + Some Perl installations have not been compiled with the correct flags + to allow multiple interpreters to exist within a single process. + In this situation PL/Perl and PL/PerlU cannot both be used in a + single backend. The solution is to get a Perl installation which + supports multiple interpreters. + + - - Such logging now shows statement names, bind parameter - values, and the text of the query being executed. Also, - the query text is properly included in logged error messages - when enabled by log_min_error_statement. - - + + + In contrib/xml2/, rename xml_valid() to + xml_is_well_formed() (Tom) + - - - Prevent max_stack_depth - from being set to unsafe values - + + xml_valid() will remain for backward compatibility, + but its behavior will change to do schema checking in a future + release. + + - - On platforms where we can determine the actual kernel stack depth - limit (which is most), make sure that the initial default value of - max_stack_depth is safe, and reject attempts to set it - to unsafely large values. - - + + + Remove contrib/ora2pg/, now at + + - - - Enable highlighting of error location in query in more - cases (Tom) - + + + Remove contrib modules that have been migrated to PgFoundry: + adddepend, dbase, dbmirror, + fulltextindex, mac, userlock + + - - The server is now able to report a specific error location for - some semantic errors (such as unrecognized column name), rather - than just for basic syntax errors as before. - - + + + Remove abandoned contrib modules: + mSQL-interface, tips + + - - - Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in - VACUUM (Tom) - - + + + Remove QNX and BEOS ports (Bruce) + - - - Clean out pg_internal.init cache files during server - restart (Simon) - + + These ports no longer had active maintainers. + + - - This avoids a hazard that the cache files might contain stale - data after PITR recovery. - - + + - - - Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a - gigabyte boundary by VACUUM (Tom) - - + + Changes - - - Fix bug causing needless deadlock errors on row-level locks (Tom) - - + + Below you will find a detailed account of the + changes between PostgreSQL 8.2 and + the previous major release. + - - - Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) - - + + Performance Improvements + - - - Each backend process is now its own process group leader (Tom) - + + + Allow the planner to reorder outer + joins in some circumstances (Tom) + - - This allows query cancel to abort subprocesses invoked from a - backend or archive/recovery process. - - + + In previous releases, outer joins would always be evaluated in + the order written in the query. This change allows the + query optimizer to consider reordering outer joins, in cases where + it can determine 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 or mixed inner and outer joins. + + - + + + Improve efficiency of IN + (list-of-expressions) clauses (Tom) + + - + + + Improve sorting speed and reduce memory usage (Simon, Tom) + + - - Query Changes - + + + Improve subtransaction performance (Alvaro, Itagaki Takahiro, + Tom) + + - - - Add INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE - RETURNING (Jonah Harris, Tom) - + + + Add FILLFACTOR to table and index creation (ITAGAKI + Takahiro) + - - This allows these commands to return values, such as the - computed serial key for a new row. In the UPDATE - case, values from the updated version of the row are returned. - - + + This leaves extra free space in each table or index page, + allowing improved performance as the database grows. This + is particularly valuable to maintain clustering. + + - - - Add support for multiple-row VALUES clauses, - per SQL standard (Joe, Tom) - + + + Increase default values for shared_buffers + and max_fsm_pages + (Andrew) + + - - This allows INSERT to insert multiple rows of - constants, or queries to generate result sets using constants. - For example, INSERT ... VALUES (...), (...), - ...., and SELECT * FROM (VALUES (...), (...), - ....) AS alias(f1, ...). - - + + + Improve locking performance by breaking the lock manager tables into + sections + (Tom) + - - - Allow UPDATE - and DELETE - to use an alias for the target table (Atsushi Ogawa) - + + This allows locking to be more fine-grained, reducing + contention. + + - - The SQL standard does not permit an alias in these commands, but - many database systems allow one anyway for notational convenience. - - + + + Reduce locking requirements of sequential scans (Qingqing + Zhou) + + - - - Allow UPDATE - to set multiple columns with a list of values (Susanne - Ebrecht) - + + + Reduce locking required for database creation and destruction + (Tom) + + - - This is basically a short-hand for assigning the columns - and values in pairs. The syntax is UPDATE tab - SET (column, ...) = (val, ...). - - + + + Improve the optimizer's selectivity estimates for LIKE, ILIKE, and + regular expression + operations (Tom) + + - - - Make row comparisons work per standard (Tom) - + + + Improve planning of joins to inherited + tables and UNION + ALL views (Tom) + + - - The forms <, <=, >, >= now compare rows lexicographically, - that is, compare the first elements, if equal compare the second - elements, and so on. Formerly they expanded to an AND condition - across all the elements, which was neither standard nor very useful. - - + + + Allow constraint + exclusion to be applied to inherited UPDATE and + DELETE queries (Tom) + - - - Add CASCADE - option to TRUNCATE (Joachim Wieland) - + + SELECT already honored constraint exclusion. + + - - This causes TRUNCATE to automatically include all tables - that reference the specified table(s) via foreign keys. While - convenient, this is a dangerous tool — use with caution! - - + + + Improve planning of constant WHERE clauses, such as + a condition that depends only on variables inherited from an + outer query level (Tom) + + - - - Support FOR UPDATE and FOR SHARE - in the same SELECT - command (Tom) - - + + + Protocol-level unnamed prepared statements are re-planned + for each set of BIND values (Tom) + - - - Add IS NOT - DISTINCT FROM (Pavel Stehule) - + + This improves performance because the exact parameter values + can be used in the plan. + + - - This operator is similar to equality (=), but - evaluates to true when both left and right operands are - NULL, and to false when just one is, rather than - yielding NULL in these cases. - - + + + Speed up vacuuming of B-Tree indexes (Heikki Linnakangas, + Tom) + + - - - Improve the length output used by UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT - (Tom) - + + + Avoid extra scan of tables without indexes during VACUUM (Greg Stark) + + - - When all corresponding columns are of the same defined length, that - length is used for the result, rather than a generic length. - - + + + Improve multicolumn GiST + indexing (Oleg, Teodor) + + - - - Allow ILIKE - to work for multi-byte encodings (Tom) - + + + Remove dead index entries before B-Tree page split (Junji + Teramoto) + + - - Internally, ILIKE now calls lower() - and then uses LIKE. Locale-specific regular - expression patterns still do not work in these encodings. - - + - - - Enable standard_conforming_strings - to be turned on (Kevin Grittner) - + - - This allows backslash escaping in strings to be disabled, - making PostgreSQL more - standards-compliant. The default is off for backwards - compatibility, but future releases will default this to on. - - + + Server Changes + - - - Do not flatten subqueries that contain volatile - functions in their target lists (Jaime Casanova) - + + + Allow a forced switch to a new transaction log file (Simon, Tom) + - - This prevents surprising behavior due to multiple evaluation - of a volatile function (such as random() - or nextval()). It might cause performance - degradation in the presence of functions that are unnecessarily - marked as volatile. - - + + This is valuable for keeping warm standby slave servers + in sync with the master. Transaction log file switching now also happens + automatically during pg_stop_backup(). + This ensures that all + transaction log files needed for recovery can be archived immediately. + + - - - Add system views pg_prepared_statements - and pg_cursors - to show prepared statements and open cursors (Joachim Wieland, Neil) - + + + Add WAL informational functions (Simon) + - - These are very useful in pooled connection setups. - - + + Add functions for interrogating the current transaction log insertion + point and determining WAL filenames from the + hex WAL locations displayed by pg_stop_backup() + and related functions. + + - - - Support portal parameters in EXPLAIN and EXECUTE (Tom) - + + + Improve recovery from a crash during WAL replay (Simon) + - - This allows, for example, JDBC ? parameters to - work in these commands. - - + + The server now does periodic checkpoints during WAL + recovery, so if there is a crash, future WAL + recovery is shortened. This also eliminates the need for + warm standby servers to replay the entire log since the + base backup if they crash. + + - - - If SQL-level PREPARE parameters - are unspecified, infer their types from the content of the - query (Neil) - + + + Improve reliability of long-term WAL replay + (Heikki, Simon, Tom) + - - Protocol-level PREPARE already did this. - - + + Formerly, trying to roll forward through more than 2 billion + transactions would not work due to XID wraparound. This meant + warm standby servers had to be reloaded + from fresh base backups periodically. + + - - - Allow LIMIT and OFFSET to exceed - two billion (Dhanaraj M) - - + + + Add archive_timeout + to force transaction log file switches at a given interval (Simon) + - + + This enforces a maximum replication delay for warm standby servers. + + - + + + Add native LDAP + authentication (Magnus Hagander) + - - Object Manipulation Changes - + + This is particularly useful for platforms that do not + support PAM, such as Windows. + + - - - Add TABLESPACE clause to CREATE TABLE AS - (Neil) - + + + Add GRANT + CONNECT ON DATABASE (Gevik Babakhani) + - - This allows a tablespace to be specified for the new table. - - + + This gives SQL-level control over database access. It works as + an additional filter on top of the existing + pg_hba.conf + controls. + + - - - Add ON COMMIT clause to CREATE TABLE AS - (Neil) - - - - This allows temporary tables to be truncated or dropped on - transaction commit. The default behavior is for the table - to remain until the session ends. - - + + + Add support for SSL + Certificate Revocation List (CRL) files + (Libor Hohoš) + - - - Add INCLUDING CONSTRAINTS to CREATE TABLE LIKE - (Greg Stark) - + + The server and libpq both recognize CRL + files now. + + - - This allows easy copying of CHECK constraints to a new - table. - - + + + GiST indexes are + now clusterable (Teodor) + + - - - Allow the creation of placeholder (shell) types (Martijn van Oosterhout) - + + + Remove routine autovacuum server log entries (Bruce) + - - A shell type declaration creates a type name, without specifying - any of the details of the type. Making a shell type is useful - because it allows cleaner declaration of the type's input/output - functions, which must exist before the type can be defined for - real. The syntax is CREATE TYPE typename. - - + + pg_stat_activity + now shows autovacuum activity. + + - - - Aggregate functions - now support multiple input parameters (Sergey Koposov, Tom) - - + + + Track maximum XID age within individual tables, instead of whole databases (Alvaro) + - - - Add new aggregate creation syntax (Tom) - + + This reduces the overhead involved in preventing transaction + ID wraparound, by avoiding unnecessary VACUUMs. + + - - The new syntax is CREATE AGGREGATE - aggname (input_type) - (parameter_list). This more - naturally supports the new multi-parameter aggregate - functionality. The previous syntax is still supported. - - + + + Add last vacuum and analyze timestamp columns to the stats + collector (Larry Rosenman) + - - - Add ALTER ROLE PASSWORD NULL - to remove a previously set role password (Peter) - - + + These values now appear in the pg_stat_*_tables + system views. + + - - - Add DROP object IF EXISTS for many - object types (Andrew) - + + + Improve performance of statistics monitoring, especially + stats_command_string + (Tom, Bruce) + - - This allows DROP operations on non-existent - objects without generating an error. - - + + This release enables stats_command_string by + default, now that its overhead is minimal. This means + pg_stat_activity + will now show all active queries by default. + + - - - Add DROP OWNED - to drop all objects owned by a role (Alvaro) - - + + + Add a waiting column to pg_stat_activity + (Tom) + - - - Add REASSIGN - OWNED to reassign ownership of all objects owned - by a role (Alvaro) - + + This allows pg_stat_activity to show all the + information included in the ps display. + + - - This, and DROP OWNED above, facilitate dropping - roles. - - + + + Add configuration parameter update_process_title + to control whether the ps display is updated + for every command (Bruce) + - - - Add GRANT ON SEQUENCE - syntax (Bruce) - + + On platforms where it is expensive to update the ps + display, it might be worthwhile to turn this off and rely solely on + pg_stat_activity for status information. + + - - This was added for setting sequence-specific permissions. - GRANT ON TABLE for sequences is still supported - for backward compatibility. - - + + + Allow units to be specified in configuration settings + (Peter) + - - - Add USAGE - permission for sequences that allows only currval() - and nextval(), not setval() - (Bruce) - + + For example, you can now set shared_buffers + to 32MB rather than mentally converting sizes. + + - - USAGE permission allows more fine-grained - control over sequence access. Granting USAGE - allows users to increment - a sequence, but prevents them from setting the sequence to - an arbitrary value using setval(). - - + + + Add support for include + directives in postgresql.conf (Joachim + Wieland) + + - - - Add ALTER TABLE - [ NO ] INHERIT (Greg Stark) - + + + Improve logging of protocol-level prepare/bind/execute + messages (Bruce, Tom) + - - This allows inheritance to be adjusted dynamically, rather than - just at table creation and destruction. This is very valuable - when using inheritance to implement table partitioning. - - + + Such logging now shows statement names, bind parameter + values, and the text of the query being executed. Also, + the query text is properly included in logged error messages + when enabled by log_min_error_statement. + + - - - Allow comments on global - objects to be stored globally (Kris Jurka) - + + + Prevent max_stack_depth + from being set to unsafe values + - - Previously, comments attached to databases were stored in individual - databases, making them ineffective, and there was no provision - at all for comments on roles or tablespaces. This change adds a new - shared catalog pg_shdescription - and stores comments on databases, roles, and tablespaces therein. - - + + On platforms where we can determine the actual kernel stack depth + limit (which is most), make sure that the initial default value of + max_stack_depth is safe, and reject attempts to set it + to unsafely large values. + + - + + + Enable highlighting of error location in query in more + cases (Tom) + - + + The server is now able to report a specific error location for + some semantic errors (such as unrecognized column name), rather + than just for basic syntax errors as before. + + - - Utility Command Changes - + + + Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in + VACUUM (Tom) + + - - - Add option to allow indexes to be created without blocking - concurrent writes to the table (Greg Stark, Tom) - + + + Clean out pg_internal.init cache files during server + restart (Simon) + - - The new syntax is CREATE - INDEX CONCURRENTLY. The default behavior is - still to block table modification while a index is being - created. - - + + This avoids a hazard that the cache files might contain stale + data after PITR recovery. + + - - - Provide advisory - locking functionality (Abhijit Menon-Sen, Tom) - + + + Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a + gigabyte boundary by VACUUM (Tom) + + - - This is a new locking API designed to replace what used to be - in /contrib/userlock. The userlock code is now on pgfoundry. - - + + + Fix bug causing needless deadlock errors on row-level locks (Tom) + + - - - Allow COPY to - dump a SELECT query (Zoltan Boszormenyi, Karel - Zak) - + + + Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) + + - - This allows COPY to dump arbitrary SQL - queries. The syntax is COPY (SELECT ...) TO. - - + + + Each backend process is now its own process group leader (Tom) + - - - Make the COPY - command return a command tag that includes the number of - rows copied (Volkan YAZICI) - - + + This allows query cancel to abort subprocesses invoked from a + backend or archive/recovery process. + + - - - Allow VACUUM - to expire rows without being affected by other concurrent - VACUUM operations (Hannu Krossing, Alvaro, Tom) - - + - - - Make initdb - detect the operating system locale and set the default - DateStyle accordingly (Peter) - + - - This makes it more likely that the installed - postgresql.conf DateStyle value will - be as desired. - - + + Query Changes + - - - Reduce number of progress messages displayed by initdb (Tom) - - + + + Add INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE + RETURNING (Jonah Harris, Tom) + - + + This allows these commands to return values, such as the + computed serial key for a new row. In the UPDATE + case, values from the updated version of the row are returned. + + - + + + Add support for multiple-row VALUES clauses, + per SQL standard (Joe, Tom) + - - Date/Time Changes - + + This allows INSERT to insert multiple rows of + constants, or queries to generate result sets using constants. + For example, INSERT ... VALUES (...), (...), + ...., and SELECT * FROM (VALUES (...), (...), + ....) AS alias(f1, ...). + + - - - Allow full timezone names in timestamp input values - (Joachim Wieland) - + + + Allow UPDATE + and DELETE + to use an alias for the target table (Atsushi Ogawa) + - - For example, '2006-05-24 21:11 - America/New_York'::timestamptz. - - + + The SQL standard does not permit an alias in these commands, but + many database systems allow one anyway for notational convenience. + + - - - Support configurable timezone abbreviations (Joachim Wieland) - + + + Allow UPDATE + to set multiple columns with a list of values (Susanne + Ebrecht) + - - A desired set of timezone abbreviations can be chosen via the - configuration parameter timezone_abbreviations. - - + + This is basically a short-hand for assigning the columns + and values in pairs. The syntax is UPDATE tab + SET (column, ...) = (val, ...). + + - - - Add pg_timezone_abbrevs - and pg_timezone_names - views to show supported timezones (Magnus Hagander) - - + + + Make row comparisons work per standard (Tom) + - - - Add clock_timestamp(), - statement_timestamp(), - and transaction_timestamp() - (Bruce) - + + The forms <, <=, >, >= now compare rows lexicographically, + that is, compare the first elements, if equal compare the second + elements, and so on. Formerly they expanded to an AND condition + across all the elements, which was neither standard nor very useful. + + - - clock_timestamp() is the current wall-clock time, - statement_timestamp() is the time the current - statement arrived at the server, and - transaction_timestamp() is an alias for - now(). - - + + + Add CASCADE + option to TRUNCATE (Joachim Wieland) + - - - Allow to_char() - to print localized month and day names (Euler Taveira de - Oliveira) - - + + This causes TRUNCATE to automatically include all tables + that reference the specified table(s) via foreign keys. While + convenient, this is a dangerous tool — use with caution! + + - - - Allow to_char(time) - and to_char(interval) - to output AM/PM specifications - (Bruce) - + + + Support FOR UPDATE and FOR SHARE + in the same SELECT + command (Tom) + + - - Intervals and times are treated as 24-hour periods, e.g. - 25 hours is considered AM. - - + + + Add IS NOT + DISTINCT FROM (Pavel Stehule) + - - - Add new function justify_interval() - to adjust interval units (Mark Dilger) - - + + This operator is similar to equality (=), but + evaluates to true when both left and right operands are + NULL, and to false when just one is, rather than + yielding NULL in these cases. + + - - - Allow timezone offsets up to 14:59 away from GMT - + + + Improve the length output used by UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT + (Tom) + - - Kiribati uses GMT+14, so we'd better accept that. - - + + When all corresponding columns are of the same defined length, that + length is used for the result, rather than a generic length. + + - - - Interval computation improvements (Michael Glaesemann, Bruce) - - + + + Allow ILIKE + to work for multi-byte encodings (Tom) + - + + Internally, ILIKE now calls lower() + and then uses LIKE. Locale-specific regular + expression patterns still do not work in these encodings. + + - + + + Enable standard_conforming_strings + to be turned on (Kevin Grittner) + - - Other Data Type and Function Changes - + + This allows backslash escaping in strings to be disabled, + making PostgreSQL more + standards-compliant. The default is off for backwards + compatibility, but future releases will default this to on. + + - - - Allow arrays to contain NULL elements (Tom) - - + + + Do not flatten subqueries that contain volatile + functions in their target lists (Jaime Casanova) + - - - Allow assignment to array elements not contiguous with the existing - entries (Tom) - + + This prevents surprising behavior due to multiple evaluation + of a volatile function (such as random() + or nextval()). It might cause performance + degradation in the presence of functions that are unnecessarily + marked as volatile. + + - - The intervening array positions will be filled with nulls. - This is per SQL standard. - - + + + Add system views pg_prepared_statements + and pg_cursors + to show prepared statements and open cursors (Joachim Wieland, Neil) + - - - New built-in operators - for array-subset comparisons (@>, - <@, &&) (Teodor, Tom) - + + These are very useful in pooled connection setups. + + - - These operators can be indexed for many data types using - GiST or GIN indexes. - - + + + Support portal parameters in EXPLAIN and EXECUTE (Tom) + - - - Add convenient arithmetic operations on - INET/CIDR values (Stephen R. van den - Berg) - + + This allows, for example, JDBC ? parameters to + work in these commands. + + - - The new operators are & (and), | - (or), ~ (not), inet + int8, - inet - int8, and - inet - inet. - - + + + If SQL-level PREPARE parameters + are unspecified, infer their types from the content of the + query (Neil) + - - - Add new aggregate functions - from SQL:2003 (Neil) - + + Protocol-level PREPARE already did this. + + - - The new functions are var_pop(), - var_samp(), stddev_pop(), and - stddev_samp(). var_samp() and - stddev_samp() are merely renamings of the - existing aggregates variance() and - stddev(). The latter names remain available - for backward compatibility. - - + + + Allow LIMIT and OFFSET to exceed + two billion (Dhanaraj M) + + - - - Add SQL:2003 statistical aggregates - (Sergey Koposov) - + - - New functions: regr_intercept(), - regr_slope(), regr_r2(), - corr(), covar_samp(), - covar_pop(), regr_avgx(), - regr_avgy(), regr_sxy(), - regr_sxx(), regr_syy(), - regr_count(). - - + - - - Allow domains to be - based on other domains (Tom) - - + + Object Manipulation Changes + - - - Properly enforce domain CHECK constraints - everywhere (Neil, Tom) - + + + Add TABLESPACE clause to CREATE TABLE AS + (Neil) + - - For example, the result of a user-defined function that is - declared to return a domain type is now checked against the - domain's constraints. This closes a significant hole in the domain - implementation. - - + + This allows a tablespace to be specified for the new table. + + - - - Fix problems with dumping renamed SERIAL columns - (Tom) - + + + Add ON COMMIT clause to CREATE TABLE AS + (Neil) + - - The fix is to dump a SERIAL column by explicitly - specifying its DEFAULT and sequence elements, - and reconstructing the SERIAL column on reload - using a new ALTER - SEQUENCE OWNED BY command. This also allows - dropping a SERIAL column specification. - - + + This allows temporary tables to be truncated or dropped on + transaction commit. The default behavior is for the table + to remain until the session ends. + + - - - Add a server-side sleep function pg_sleep() - (Joachim Wieland) - - + + + Add INCLUDING CONSTRAINTS to CREATE TABLE LIKE + (Greg Stark) + - - - Add all comparison operators for the tid (tuple id) data - type (Mark Kirkwood, Greg Stark, Tom) - - + + This allows easy copying of CHECK constraints to a new + table. + + - + + + Allow the creation of placeholder (shell) types (Martijn van Oosterhout) + - + + A shell type declaration creates a type name, without specifying + any of the details of the type. Making a shell type is useful + because it allows cleaner declaration of the type's input/output + functions, which must exist before the type can be defined for + real. The syntax is CREATE TYPE typename. + + - - PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language Changes - + + + Aggregate functions + now support multiple input parameters (Sergey Koposov, Tom) + + - - - Add TG_table_name and TG_table_schema to - trigger parameters (Andrew) - + + + Add new aggregate creation syntax (Tom) + - - TG_relname is now deprecated. Comparable - changes have been made in the trigger parameters for the other - PLs as well. - - + + The new syntax is CREATE AGGREGATE + aggname (input_type) + (parameter_list). This more + naturally supports the new multi-parameter aggregate + functionality. The previous syntax is still supported. + + - - - Allow FOR statements to return values to scalars - as well as records and row types (Pavel Stehule) - - + + + Add ALTER ROLE PASSWORD NULL + to remove a previously set role password (Peter) + + - - - Add a BY clause to the FOR loop, - to control the iteration increment (Jaime Casanova) - - + + + Add DROP object IF EXISTS for many + object types (Andrew) + - - - Add STRICT to SELECT - INTO (Matt Miller) - + + This allows DROP operations on non-existent + objects without generating an error. + + - - STRICT mode throws an exception if more or less - than one row is returned by the SELECT, for - Oracle PL/SQL compatibility. - - + + + Add DROP OWNED + to drop all objects owned by a role (Alvaro) + + - + + + Add REASSIGN + OWNED to reassign ownership of all objects owned + by a role (Alvaro) + - + + This, and DROP OWNED above, facilitate dropping + roles. + + - - PL/Perl Server-Side Language Changes - + + + Add GRANT ON SEQUENCE + syntax (Bruce) + - - - Add table_name and table_schema to - trigger parameters (Adam Sjøgren) - - + + This was added for setting sequence-specific permissions. + GRANT ON TABLE for sequences is still supported + for backward compatibility. + + - - - Add prepared queries (Dmitry Karasik) - - - - - - Make $_TD trigger data a global variable (Andrew) - + + + Add USAGE + permission for sequences that allows only currval() + and nextval(), not setval() + (Bruce) + - - Previously, it was lexical, which caused unexpected sharing - violations. - - + + USAGE permission allows more fine-grained + control over sequence access. Granting USAGE + allows users to increment + a sequence, but prevents them from setting the sequence to + an arbitrary value using setval(). + + - - - Run PL/Perl and PL/PerlU in separate interpreters, for security - reasons (Andrew) - - - In consequence, they can no longer share data nor loaded modules. - Also, if Perl has not been compiled with the requisite flags to - allow multiple interpreters, only one of these languages can be used - in any given backend process. - - + + + Add ALTER TABLE + [ NO ] INHERIT (Greg Stark) + - + + This allows inheritance to be adjusted dynamically, rather than + just at table creation and destruction. This is very valuable + when using inheritance to implement table partitioning. + + - + + + Allow comments on global + objects to be stored globally (Kris Jurka) + - - PL/Python Server-Side Language Changes - + + Previously, comments attached to databases were stored in individual + databases, making them ineffective, and there was no provision + at all for comments on roles or tablespaces. This change adds a new + shared catalog pg_shdescription + and stores comments on databases, roles, and tablespaces therein. + + - - - Named parameters are passed as ordinary variables, as well as in the - args[] array (Sven Suursoho) - - + - - - Add table_name and table_schema to - trigger parameters (Andrew) - - + - - - Allow returning of composite types and result sets (Sven Suursoho) - - + + Utility Command Changes + - - - Return result-set as list, iterator, - or generator (Sven Suursoho) - - + + + Add option to allow indexes to be created without blocking + concurrent writes to the table (Greg Stark, Tom) + - - - Allow functions to return void (Neil) - - + + The new syntax is CREATE + INDEX CONCURRENTLY. The default behavior is + still to block table modification while a index is being + created. + + - - - Python 2.5 is now supported (Tom) - - + + + Provide advisory + locking functionality (Abhijit Menon-Sen, Tom) + - + + This is a new locking API designed to replace what used to be + in /contrib/userlock. The userlock code is now on pgfoundry. + + - + + + Allow COPY to + dump a SELECT query (Zoltan Boszormenyi, Karel + Zak) + - - <link linkend="APP-PSQL"><application>psql</></link> Changes - + + This allows COPY to dump arbitrary SQL + queries. The syntax is COPY (SELECT ...) TO. + + - - - Add new command \password for changing role - password with client-side password encryption (Peter) - - + + + Make the COPY + command return a command tag that includes the number of + rows copied (Volkan YAZICI) + + - - - Allow \c to connect to a new host and port - number (David, Volkan YAZICI) - - + + + Allow VACUUM + to expire rows without being affected by other concurrent + VACUUM operations (Hannu Krossing, Alvaro, Tom) + + - - - Add tablespace display to \l+ (Philip Yarra) - - + + + Make initdb + detect the operating system locale and set the default + DateStyle accordingly (Peter) + - - - Improve \df slash command to include the argument - names and modes (OUT or INOUT) of - the function (David Fetter) - - + + This makes it more likely that the installed + postgresql.conf DateStyle value will + be as desired. + + - - - Support binary COPY (Andreas Pflug) - - + + + Reduce number of progress messages displayed by initdb (Tom) + + - - - Add option to run the entire session in a single transaction - (Simon) - + - - Use option -1 or --single-transaction. - - + - - - Support for automatically retrieving SELECT - results in batches using a cursor (Chris Mair) - + + Date/Time Changes + - - This is enabled using \set FETCH_COUNT - n. This - feature allows large result sets to be retrieved in - psql without attempting to buffer the entire - result set in memory. - - + + + Allow full timezone names in timestamp input values + (Joachim Wieland) + - - - Make multi-line values align in the proper column - (Martijn van Oosterhout) - + + For example, '2006-05-24 21:11 + America/New_York'::timestamptz. + + - - Field values containing newlines are now displayed in a more - readable fashion. - - + + + Support configurable timezone abbreviations (Joachim Wieland) + - - - Save multi-line statements as a single entry, rather than - one line at a time (Sergey E. Koposov) - + + A desired set of timezone abbreviations can be chosen via the + configuration parameter timezone_abbreviations. + + - - This makes up-arrow recall of queries easier. (This is - not available on Windows, because that platform uses the native - command-line editing present in the operating system.) - - + + + Add pg_timezone_abbrevs + and pg_timezone_names + views to show supported timezones (Magnus Hagander) + + - - - Make the line counter 64-bit so it can handle files with more - than two billion lines (David Fetter) - - + + + Add clock_timestamp(), + statement_timestamp(), + and transaction_timestamp() + (Bruce) + - - - Report both the returned data and the command status tag - for INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE - RETURNING (Tom) - - + + clock_timestamp() is the current wall-clock time, + statement_timestamp() is the time the current + statement arrived at the server, and + transaction_timestamp() is an alias for + now(). + + - + + + Allow to_char() + to print localized month and day names (Euler Taveira de + Oliveira) + + - + + + Allow to_char(time) + and to_char(interval) + to output AM/PM specifications + (Bruce) + - - <link linkend="APP-PGDUMP"><application>pg_dump</></link> Changes - + + Intervals and times are treated as 24-hour periods, e.g. + 25 hours is considered AM. + + - - - Allow complex selection of objects to be included or excluded - by pg_dump (Greg Sabino Mullane) - + + + Add new function justify_interval() + to adjust interval units (Mark Dilger) + + - - pg_dump now supports multiple -n - (schema) and -t (table) options, and adds - -N and -T options to exclude objects. - Also, the arguments of these switches can now be wild-card expressions - rather than single object names, for example - -t 'foo*', and a schema can be part of - a -t or -T switch, for example - -t schema1.table1. - - + + + Allow timezone offsets up to 14:59 away from GMT + - - - Add pg_restore - --no-data-for-failed-tables option to suppress - loading data if table creation failed (i.e., the table already - exists) (Martin Pitt) - - + + Kiribati uses GMT+14, so we'd better accept that. + + - - - Add pg_restore - option to run the entire session in a single transaction - (Simon) - + + + Interval computation improvements (Michael Glaesemann, Bruce) + + - - Use option -1 or --single-transaction. - - + - + - + + Other Data Type and Function Changes + - - <link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link> Changes - + + + Allow arrays to contain NULL elements (Tom) + + - - - Add PQencryptPassword() - to encrypt passwords (Tom) - + + + Allow assignment to array elements not contiguous with the existing + entries (Tom) + - - This allows passwords to be sent pre-encrypted for commands - like ALTER ROLE ... - PASSWORD. - - + + The intervening array positions will be filled with nulls. + This is per SQL standard. + + - - - Add function PQisthreadsafe() - (Bruce) - + + + New built-in operators + for array-subset comparisons (@>, + <@, &&) (Teodor, Tom) + - - This allows applications to query the thread-safety status - of the library. - - + + These operators can be indexed for many data types using + GiST or GIN indexes. + + - - - Add PQdescribePrepared(), - PQdescribePortal(), - and related functions to return information about previously - prepared statements and open cursors (Volkan YAZICI) - - + + + Add convenient arithmetic operations on + INET/CIDR values (Stephen R. van den + Berg) + - - - Allow LDAP lookups - from pg_service.conf - (Laurenz Albe) - - + + The new operators are & (and), | + (or), ~ (not), inet + int8, + inet - int8, and + inet - inet. + + - - - Allow a hostname in ~/.pgpass - to match the default socket directory (Bruce) - + + + Add new aggregate functions + from SQL:2003 (Neil) + - - A blank hostname continues to match any Unix-socket connection, - but this addition allows entries that are specific to one of - several postmasters on the machine. - - + + The new functions are var_pop(), + var_samp(), stddev_pop(), and + stddev_samp(). var_samp() and + stddev_samp() are merely renamings of the + existing aggregates variance() and + stddev(). The latter names remain available + for backward compatibility. + + - + + + Add SQL:2003 statistical aggregates + (Sergey Koposov) + - + + New functions: regr_intercept(), + regr_slope(), regr_r2(), + corr(), covar_samp(), + covar_pop(), regr_avgx(), + regr_avgy(), regr_sxy(), + regr_sxx(), regr_syy(), + regr_count(). + + - - <link linkend="ecpg"><application>ecpg</></link> Changes - + + + Allow domains to be + based on other domains (Tom) + + - - - Allow SHOW to - put its result into a variable (Joachim Wieland) - - + + + Properly enforce domain CHECK constraints + everywhere (Neil, Tom) + - - - Add COPY TO STDOUT - (Joachim Wieland) - - + + For example, the result of a user-defined function that is + declared to return a domain type is now checked against the + domain's constraints. This closes a significant hole in the domain + implementation. + + - - - Add regression tests (Joachim Wieland, Michael) - - + + + Fix problems with dumping renamed SERIAL columns + (Tom) + - - - Major source code cleanups (Joachim Wieland, Michael) - - + + The fix is to dump a SERIAL column by explicitly + specifying its DEFAULT and sequence elements, + and reconstructing the SERIAL column on reload + using a new ALTER + SEQUENCE OWNED BY command. This also allows + dropping a SERIAL column specification. + + - + + + Add a server-side sleep function pg_sleep() + (Joachim Wieland) + + - + + + Add all comparison operators for the tid (tuple id) data + type (Mark Kirkwood, Greg Stark, Tom) + + - - <application>Windows</> Port - + - - - Allow MSVC to compile the PostgreSQL - server (Magnus, Hiroshi Saito) - - + - - - Add MSVC support for utility commands and pg_dump (Hiroshi - Saito) - - + + PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language Changes + - - - Add support for Windows code pages 1253, - 1254, 1255, and 1257 - (Kris Jurka) - - + + + Add TG_table_name and TG_table_schema to + trigger parameters (Andrew) + - - - Drop privileges on startup, so that the server can be started from - an administrative account (Magnus) - - + + TG_relname is now deprecated. Comparable + changes have been made in the trigger parameters for the other + PLs as well. + + - - - Stability fixes (Qingqing Zhou, Magnus) - - + + + Allow FOR statements to return values to scalars + as well as records and row types (Pavel Stehule) + + - - - Add native semaphore implementation (Qingqing Zhou) - + + + Add a BY clause to the FOR loop, + to control the iteration increment (Jaime Casanova) + + - - The previous code mimicked SysV semaphores. - - + + + Add STRICT to SELECT + INTO (Matt Miller) + - + + STRICT mode throws an exception if more or less + than one row is returned by the SELECT, for + Oracle PL/SQL compatibility. + + - + - - Source Code Changes - + - - - Add GIN (Generalized - Inverted iNdex) index access method (Teodor, Oleg) - - + + PL/Perl Server-Side Language Changes + - - - Remove R-tree indexing (Tom) - + + + Add table_name and table_schema to + trigger parameters (Adam Sjøgren) + + - - Rtree has been re-implemented using GiST. Among other - differences, this means that rtree indexes now have support - for crash recovery via write-ahead logging (WAL). - - + + + Add prepared queries (Dmitry Karasik) + + - - - Reduce libraries needlessly linked into the backend (Martijn - van Oosterhout, Tom) - - + + + Make $_TD trigger data a global variable (Andrew) + - - - Add a configure flag to allow libedit to be preferred over - GNU readline (Bruce) - + + Previously, it was lexical, which caused unexpected sharing + violations. + + - - Use configure --with-libedit-preferred. - - + + + Run PL/Perl and PL/PerlU in separate interpreters, for security + reasons (Andrew) + + + In consequence, they can no longer share data nor loaded modules. + Also, if Perl has not been compiled with the requisite flags to + allow multiple interpreters, only one of these languages can be used + in any given backend process. + + - - - Allow installation into directories containing spaces - (Peter) - - + - - - Improve ability to relocate installation directories (Tom) - - + - - - Add support for Solaris x86_64 using the - Solaris compiler (Pierre Girard, Theo - Schlossnagle, Bruce) - - + + PL/Python Server-Side Language Changes + - - - Add DTrace support (Robert Lor) - - + + + Named parameters are passed as ordinary variables, as well as in the + args[] array (Sven Suursoho) + + - - - Add PG_VERSION_NUM for use by third-party - applications wanting to test the backend version in C using > - and < comparisons (Bruce) - - + + + Add table_name and table_schema to + trigger parameters (Andrew) + + - - - Add XLOG_BLCKSZ as independent from BLCKSZ - (Mark Wong) - - + + + Allow returning of composite types and result sets (Sven Suursoho) + + - - - Add LWLOCK_STATS define to report locking - activity (Tom) - - + + + Return result-set as list, iterator, + or generator (Sven Suursoho) + + - - - Emit warnings for unknown configure options - (Martijn van Oosterhout) - - + + + Allow functions to return void (Neil) + + - - - Add server support for plugin libraries - that can be used for add-on tasks such as debugging and performance - measurement (Korry Douglas) - + + + Python 2.5 is now supported (Tom) + + - - This consists of two features: a table of rendezvous - variables that allows separately-loaded shared libraries to - communicate, and a new configuration parameter local_preload_libraries - that allows libraries to be loaded into specific sessions without - explicit cooperation from the client application. This allows - external add-ons to implement features such as a PL/PgSQL debugger. - - + - - - Rename existing configuration parameter - preload_libraries to shared_preload_libraries - (Tom) - + - - This was done for clarity in comparison to - local_preload_libraries. - - + + <link linkend="APP-PSQL"><application>psql</></link> Changes + - - - Add new configuration parameter server_version_num - (Greg Sabino Mullane) - - - - This is like server_version, but is an - integer, e.g. 80200. This allows applications to - make version checks more easily. - - - - - - Add a configuration parameter seq_page_cost - (Tom) - - - - - - Re-implement the regression test script as a C program - (Magnus, Tom) - - - - - - Allow loadable modules to allocate shared memory and - lightweight locks (Marc Munro) - - - - - - Add automatic initialization and finalization of dynamically - loaded libraries (Ralf Engelschall, Tom) - - - - New functions - _PG_init() and _PG_fini() are - called if the library defines such symbols. Hence we no - longer need to specify an initialization function in - shared_preload_libraries; we can assume that - the library used the _PG_init() convention - instead. - - - - - - Add PG_MODULE_MAGIC - header block to all shared object files (Martijn van - Oosterhout) - - - - The magic block prevents version mismatches between loadable object - files and servers. - - - - - - Add shared library support for AIX (Laurenz Albe) - - - - - - New XML - documentation section (Bruce) - - - - - - - - - Contrib Changes - - - - - Major tsearch2 improvements (Oleg, Teodor) - - - - - - - multibyte encoding support, including UTF8 - - - - - query rewriting support - - - - - improved ranking functions - - - - - thesaurus dictionary support - - - - - Ispell dictionaries now recognize MySpell - format, used by OpenOffice - - - - - GIN support - - - - - - - - - - Add adminpack module containing Pgadmin administration - functions (Dave) - - - - These functions provide additional file system access - routines not present in the default PostgreSQL - server. - - - - - - Add sslinfo module (Victor Wagner) - - - - Reports information about the current connection's SSL - certificate. - - - - - - Add pgrowlocks module (Tatsuo) - - - - This shows row locking information for a specified table. - - - - - - Add hstore module (Oleg, Teodor) - - - - - - Add isn module, replacing isbn_issn (Jeremy Kronuz) - - - - This new implementation supports EAN13, UPC, - ISBN (books), ISMN (music), and - ISSN (serials). - - - - - - Add index information functions to pgstattuple (ITAGAKI Takahiro, - Satoshi Nagayasu) - - - - - - Add pg_freespacemap module to display free space map information - (Mark Kirkwood) - - - - - - pgcrypto now has all planned functionality (Marko Kreen) - - - - - Include iMath library in pgcrypto to have the public-key encryption - functions always available. - - - - - Add SHA224 algorithm that was missing in OpenBSD code. - - - - - Activate builtin code for SHA224/256/384/512 hashes on older - OpenSSL to have those algorithms always available. - - - - - New function gen_random_bytes() that returns cryptographically strong - randomness. Useful for generating encryption keys. - - - - - Remove digest_exists(), hmac_exists() and cipher_exists() functions. - - - - - - - - Improvements to cube module (Joshua Reich) - - - - New functions are cube(float[]), - cube(float[], float[]), and - cube_subset(cube, int4[]). - - - - - - Add async query capability to dblink (Kai Londenberg, - Joe Conway) - - - - - - New operators for array-subset comparisons (@>, - <@, &&) (Tom) - - - - Various contrib packages already had these operators for their - datatypes, but the naming wasn't consistent. We have now added - consistently named array-subset comparison operators to the core code - and all the contrib packages that have such functionality. - (The old names remain available, but are deprecated.) - - - - - - Add uninstall scripts for all contrib packages that have install - scripts (David, Josh Drake) - - - - - - - - - - - - Release 8.1.10 - - - Release date - 2007-09-17 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.9. - - - - Migration to version 8.1.10 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - - - - - - Changes - - + + + Add new command \password for changing role + password with client-side password encryption (Peter) + + - Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and - then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM - on the same table (Tom) + Allow \c to connect to a new host and port + number (David, Volkan YAZICI) - Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + Add tablespace display to \l+ (Philip Yarra) - Allow the interval data type to accept input consisting only of - milliseconds or microseconds (Neil) + Improve \df slash command to include the argument + names and modes (OUT or INOUT) of + the function (David Fetter) - Speed up rtree index insertion (Teodor) + Support binary COPY (Andreas Pflug) - Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) + Add option to run the entire session in a single transaction + (Simon) - - - Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using - the syslogger process (Andrew) + Use option -1 or --single-transaction. - Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out - of memory (Tom) + Support for automatically retrieving SELECT + results in batches using a cursor (Chris Mair) - - - Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom) + This is enabled using \set FETCH_COUNT + n. This + feature allows large result sets to be retrieved in + psql without attempting to buffer the entire + result set in memory. - Prevent REINDEX and CLUSTER from failing - due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) + Make multi-line values align in the proper column + (Martijn van Oosterhout) - - - Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom) + Field values containing newlines are now displayed in a more + readable fashion. - Windows socket improvements (Magnus) + Save multi-line statements as a single entry, rather than + one line at a time (Sergey E. Koposov) + + + + This makes up-arrow recall of queries easier. (This is + not available on Windows, because that platform uses the native + command-line editing present in the operating system.) - Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows - because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom) + Make the line counter 64-bit so it can handle files with more + than two billion lines (David Fetter) - Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only - password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + Report both the returned data and the command status tag + for INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE + RETURNING (Tom) - - + - - Release 8.1.9 + + <link linkend="APP-PGDUMP"><application>pg_dump</></link> Changes + - - Release date - 2007-04-23 - + + + Allow complex selection of objects to be included or excluded + by pg_dump (Greg Sabino Mullane) + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.8, - including a security fix. - + + pg_dump now supports multiple -n + (schema) and -t (table) options, and adds + -N and -T options to exclude objects. + Also, the arguments of these switches can now be wild-card expressions + rather than single object names, for example + -t 'foo*', and a schema can be part of + a -t or -T switch, for example + -t schema1.table1. + + - - Migration to version 8.1.9 + + + Add pg_restore + --no-data-for-failed-tables option to suppress + loading data if table creation failed (i.e., the table already + exists) (Martin Pitt) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - + + + Add pg_restore + option to run the entire session in a single transaction + (Simon) + - + + Use option -1 or --single-transaction. + + - - Changes + + + + + <link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link> Changes - - Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within - search_path, and disable searching it for functions - and operators (Tom) - - - This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a - truly secure value of search_path. Without it, - an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code - with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). - See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. - - + + Add PQencryptPassword() + to encrypt passwords (Tom) + - - - /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) - + + This allows passwords to be sent pre-encrypted for commands + like ALTER ROLE ... + PASSWORD. + - - Require COMMIT PREPARED to be executed in the same - database as the transaction was prepared in (Heikki) - - + + Add function PQisthreadsafe() + (Bruce) + - - - Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles - UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) - + + This allows applications to query the thread-safety status + of the library. + - - Planner fixes, including improving outer join and bitmap scan - selection logic (Tom) - + + Add PQdescribePrepared(), + PQdescribePortal(), + and related functions to return information about previously + prepared statements and open cursors (Volkan YAZICI) + - - Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 8.1.6) - (Tom) - + + Allow LDAP lookups + from pg_service.conf + (Laurenz Albe) + - - Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom) - + + Allow a hostname in ~/.pgpass + to match the default socket directory (Bruce) + + + + A blank hostname continues to match any Unix-socket connection, + but this addition allows entries that are specific to one of + several postmasters on the machine. + - - + - - Release 8.1.8 + + <link linkend="ecpg"><application>ecpg</></link> Changes + - - Release date - 2007-02-07 - + + + Allow SHOW to + put its result into a variable (Joachim Wieland) + + - - This release contains one fix from 8.1.7. - + + + Add COPY TO STDOUT + (Joachim Wieland) + + - - Migration to version 8.1.8 + + + Add regression tests (Joachim Wieland, Michael) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - + + + Major source code cleanups (Joachim Wieland, Michael) + + - + - - Changes + + + <application>Windows</> Port - - Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and - functional indexes(Tom) - + + Allow MSVC to compile the PostgreSQL + server (Magnus, Hiroshi Saito) + - - - - + + + Add MSVC support for utility commands and pg_dump (Hiroshi + Saito) + + - - Release 8.1.7 + + + Add support for Windows code pages 1253, + 1254, 1255, and 1257 + (Kris Jurka) + + - - Release date - 2007-02-05 - + + + Drop privileges on startup, so that the server can be started from + an administrative account (Magnus) + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.6, including - a security fix. - + + + Stability fixes (Qingqing Zhou, Magnus) + + - - Migration to version 8.1.7 + + + Add native semaphore implementation (Qingqing Zhou) + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - + + The previous code mimicked SysV semaphores. + + - + - - Changes + + + Source Code Changes - - Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users - to read backend memory (Tom) - - - The vulnerabilities involve suppressing the normal check that a SQL - function returns the data type it's declared to, and changing the - data type of a table column (CVE-2007-0555, CVE-2007-0556). These - errors can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in - principle might be used to read database content that the user - should not be able to access. - + + Add GIN (Generalized + Inverted iNdex) index access method (Teodor, Oleg) + - - Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail - due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) - + + Remove R-tree indexing (Tom) + + + + Rtree has been re-implemented using GiST. Among other + differences, this means that rtree indexes now have support + for crash recovery via write-ahead logging (WAL). + - - Improve VACUUM performance for databases with many tables (Tom) - + + Reduce libraries needlessly linked into the backend (Martijn + van Oosterhout, Tom) + - - Fix autovacuum to avoid leaving non-permanent transaction IDs in - non-connectable databases (Alvaro) - + + Add a configure flag to allow libedit to be preferred over + GNU readline (Bruce) + - - This bug affects the 8.1 branch only. - + + Use configure --with-libedit-preferred. + - - Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) - + + Allow installation into directories containing spaces + (Peter) + - - Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences - over three bytes long (Tom) - + + Improve ability to relocate installation directories (Tom) + - - Fix bogus permission denied failures occurring on Windows - due to attempts to fsync already-deleted files (Magnus, Tom) - + + Add support for Solaris x86_64 using the + Solaris compiler (Pierre Girard, Theo + Schlossnagle, Bruce) + - - Fix possible crashes when an already-in-use PL/pgSQL function is - updated (Tom) - + + Add DTrace support (Robert Lor) + - - - - - - - Release 8.1.6 - - - Release date - 2007-01-08 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.5. - - - - Migration to version 8.1.6 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - - - - - - Changes - - - - Improve handling of getaddrinfo() on AIX (Tom) + Add PG_VERSION_NUM for use by third-party + applications wanting to test the backend version in C using > + and < comparisons (Bruce) + + - This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector, - among other things. + Add XLOG_BLCKSZ as independent from BLCKSZ + (Mark Wong) - Fix pg_restore to handle a tar-format backup - that contains large objects (blobs) with comments (Tom) + Add LWLOCK_STATS define to report locking + activity (Tom) - - - Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in - VACUUM (Tom) - - - - - - Clean out pg_internal.init cache files during server - restart (Simon) - + + + Emit warnings for unknown configure options + (Martijn van Oosterhout) + + - - This avoids a hazard that the cache files might contain stale - data after PITR recovery. - - + + + Add server support for plugin libraries + that can be used for add-on tasks such as debugging and performance + measurement (Korry Douglas) + - - - Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a - gigabyte boundary by VACUUM (Tom) - - + + This consists of two features: a table of rendezvous + variables that allows separately-loaded shared libraries to + communicate, and a new configuration parameter local_preload_libraries + that allows libraries to be loaded into specific sessions without + explicit cooperation from the client application. This allows + external add-ons to implement features such as a PL/PgSQL debugger. + + - - - Fix bug causing needless deadlock errors on row-level locks (Tom) - - + + + Rename existing configuration parameter + preload_libraries to shared_preload_libraries + (Tom) + - - - Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) - - + + This was done for clarity in comparison to + local_preload_libraries. + + - Fix possible deadlock in Windows signal handling (Teodor) + Add new configuration parameter server_version_num + (Greg Sabino Mullane) + + + + This is like server_version, but is an + integer, e.g. 80200. This allows applications to + make version checks more easily. - Fix error when constructing an ARRAY[] made up of multiple - empty elements (Tom) + Add a configuration parameter seq_page_cost + (Tom) - Fix ecpg memory leak during connection (Michael) + Re-implement the regression test script as a C program + (Magnus, Tom) - Fix for Darwin (OS X) compilation (Tom) + Allow loadable modules to allocate shared memory and + lightweight locks (Marc Munro) - to_number() and to_char(numeric) - are now STABLE, not IMMUTABLE, for - new initdb installs (Tom) + Add automatic initialization and finalization of dynamically + loaded libraries (Ralf Engelschall, Tom) - This is because lc_numeric can potentially - change the output of these functions. + New functions + _PG_init() and _PG_fini() are + called if the library defines such symbols. Hence we no + longer need to specify an initialization function in + shared_preload_libraries; we can assume that + the library used the _PG_init() convention + instead. - Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + Add PG_MODULE_MAGIC + header block to all shared object files (Martijn van + Oosterhout) - This improves psql \d performance also. + The magic block prevents version mismatches between loadable object + files and servers. - Update timezone database + Add shared library support for AIX (Laurenz Albe) + + - This affects Australian and Canadian daylight-savings rules in - particular. + New XML + documentation section (Bruce) - - + - - Release 8.1.5 + + Contrib Changes + - - Release date - 2006-10-16 - + + + Major tsearch2 improvements (Oleg, Teodor) + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.4. - + - - Migration to version 8.1.5 + + + multibyte encoding support, including UTF8 + + + + + query rewriting support + + + + + improved ranking functions + + + + + thesaurus dictionary support + + + + + Ispell dictionaries now recognize MySpell + format, used by OpenOffice + + + + + GIN support + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - + - + - - Changes + + + Add adminpack module containing Pgadmin administration + functions (Dave) + - -Disallow aggregate functions in UPDATE -commands, except within sub-SELECTs (Tom) -The behavior of such an aggregate was unpredictable, and in 8.1.X -could cause a crash, so it has been disabled. The SQL standard does not allow -this either. -Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as -ANYARRAY -Fix core dump in duration logging for extended query protocol -when a COMMIT or ROLLBACK is -executed -Fix mishandling of AFTER triggers when query contains a SQL -function returning multiple rows (Tom) -Fix ALTER TABLE ... TYPE to recheck -NOT NULL for USING clause (Tom) -Fix string_to_array() to handle overlapping - matches for the separator string -For example, string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx'). - -Fix to_timestamp() for -AM/PM formats (Bruce) -Fix autovacuum's calculation that decides whether - ANALYZE is needed (Alvaro) -Fix corner cases in pattern matching for - psql's \d commands -Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree - (Teodor) -Numerous robustness fixes in ecpg (Joachim -Wieland) -Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror -Minor fixes in /contrib/dblink and /contrib/tsearch2 - -Efficiency improvements in hash tables and bitmap index scans -(Tom) -Fix instability of statistics collection on Windows (Tom, Andrew) -Fix statement_timeout to use the proper -units on Win32 (Bruce) -In previous Win32 8.1.X versions, the delay was off by a factor of -100. -Fixes for MSVC and Borland C++ -compilers (Hiroshi Saito) -Fixes for AIX and -Intel compilers (Tom) -Fix rare bug in continuous archiving (Tom) - + + These functions provide additional file system access + routines not present in the default PostgreSQL + server. + + - - + + + Add sslinfo module (Victor Wagner) + - - Release 8.1.4 + + Reports information about the current connection's SSL + certificate. + + - - Release date - 2006-05-23 - + + + Add pgrowlocks module (Tatsuo) + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.3, - including patches for extremely serious security issues. - + + This shows row locking information for a specified table. + + - - Migration to version 8.1.4 + + + Add hstore module (Oleg, Teodor) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - + + + Add isn module, replacing isbn_issn (Jeremy Kronuz) + - - Full security against the SQL-injection attacks described in - CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314 might require changes in application - code. If you have applications that embed untrustworthy strings - into SQL commands, you should examine them as soon as possible to - ensure that they are using recommended escaping techniques. In - most cases, applications should be using subroutines provided by - libraries or drivers (such as libpq's - PQescapeStringConn()) to perform string escaping, - rather than relying on ad hoc code to do it. - - + + This new implementation supports EAN13, UPC, + ISBN (books), ISMN (music), and + ISSN (serials). + + - - Changes + + + Add index information functions to pgstattuple (ITAGAKI Takahiro, + Satoshi Nagayasu) + + - -Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte -characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom) -While PostgreSQL has been moving in this direction for -some time, the checks are now applied uniformly to all encodings and all -textual input, and are now always errors not merely warnings. This change -defends against SQL-injection attacks of the type described in CVE-2006-2313. - + + + Add pg_freespacemap module to display free space map information + (Mark Kirkwood) + + -Reject unsafe uses of \' in string literals -As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type -described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts '' and not -\' as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string -literals. By default, \' is rejected only when -client_encoding is set to a client-only encoding (SJIS, BIG5, GBK, -GB18030, or UHC), which is the scenario in which SQL injection is possible. -A new configuration parameter backslash_quote is available to -adjust this behavior when needed. Note that full security against -CVE-2006-2314 might require client-side changes; the purpose of -backslash_quote is in part to make it obvious that insecure -clients are insecure. - + + + pgcrypto now has all planned functionality (Marko Kreen) + + + + + Include iMath library in pgcrypto to have the public-key encryption + functions always available. + + + + + Add SHA224 algorithm that was missing in OpenBSD code. + + + + + Activate builtin code for SHA224/256/384/512 hashes on older + OpenSSL to have those algorithms always available. + + + + + New function gen_random_bytes() that returns cryptographically strong + randomness. Useful for generating encryption keys. + + + + + Remove digest_exists(), hmac_exists() and cipher_exists() functions. + + + + -Modify libpq's string-escaping routines to be -aware of encoding considerations and -standard_conforming_strings -This fixes libpq-using applications for the security -issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314, and also future-proofs -them against the planned changeover to SQL-standard string literal syntax. -Applications that use multiple PostgreSQL connections -concurrently should migrate to PQescapeStringConn() and -PQescapeByteaConn() to ensure that escaping is done correctly -for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that -do string escaping by hand should be modified to rely on library -routines instead. - + + + Improvements to cube module (Joshua Reich) + -Fix weak key selection in pgcrypto (Marko Kreen) -Errors in fortuna PRNG reseeding logic could cause a predictable -session key to be selected by pgp_sym_encrypt() in some cases. -This only affects non-OpenSSL-using builds. - + + New functions are cube(float[]), + cube(float[], float[]), and + cube_subset(cube, int4[]). + + -Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions -win1251_to_iso, win866_to_iso, -euc_tw_to_big5, euc_tw_to_mic, -mic_to_euc_tw were all broken to varying -extents. - + + + Add async query capability to dblink (Kai Londenberg, + Joe Conway) + + -Clean up stray remaining uses of \' in strings -(Bruce, Jan) + + + New operators for array-subset comparisons (@>, + <@, &&) (Tom) + -Make autovacuum visible in pg_stat_activity -(Alvaro) + + Various contrib packages already had these operators for their + datatypes, but the naming wasn't consistent. We have now added + consistently named array-subset comparison operators to the core code + and all the contrib packages that have such functionality. + (The old names remain available, but are deprecated.) + + -Disable full_page_writes (Tom) -In certain cases, having full_page_writes off would cause -crash recovery to fail. A proper fix will appear in 8.2; for now it's just -disabled. - + + + Add uninstall scripts for all contrib packages that have install + scripts (David, Josh Drake) + + -Various planner fixes, particularly for bitmap index scans and -MIN/MAX optimization (Tom) + -Fix incorrect optimization in merge join (Tom) -Outer joins could sometimes emit multiple copies of unmatched rows. - + -Fix crash from using and modifying a plpgsql function in the -same transaction + + -Fix WAL replay for case where a B-Tree index has been -truncated + + Release 8.1.11 -Fix SIMILAR TO for patterns involving -| (Tom) + + Release date + 2008-01-07 + -Fix SELECT INTO and CREATE TABLE AS to -create tables in the default tablespace, not the base directory (Kris -Jurka) + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.10, + including fixes for significant security issues. + -Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael -Fuhr) - -Improve qsort performance (Dann Corbit) -Currently this code is only used on Solaris. - - -Fix for OS/X Bonjour on x86 systems (Ashley Clark) - -Fix various minor memory leaks - -Fix problem with password prompting on some Win32 systems -(Robert Kinberg) + + This is the last 8.1.X release for which the PostgreSQL + community will produce binary packages for Windows. + Windows users are encouraged to move to 8.2.X or later, + since there are Windows-specific fixes in 8.2.X that + are impractical to back-port. 8.1.X will continue to + be supported on other platforms. + -Improve pg_dump's handling of default values -for domains + + Migration to Version 8.1.11 -Fix pg_dumpall to handle identically-named -users and groups reasonably (only possible when dumping from a pre-8.1 server) -(Tom) -The user and group will be merged into a single role with -LOGIN permission. Formerly the merged role wouldn't have -LOGIN permission, making it unusable as a user. - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + -Fix pg_restore -n to work as -documented (Tom) - + - - + + Changes - - Release 8.1.3 + - - Release date - 2006-02-14 - + + + Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of + the user running VACUUM, ANALYZE, etc (Tom) + + + + Functions used in index expressions and partial-index + predicates are evaluated whenever a new table entry is made. It has + long been understood that this poses a risk of trojan-horse code + execution if one modifies a table owned by an untrustworthy user. + (Note that triggers, defaults, check constraints, etc. pose the + same type of risk.) But functions in indexes pose extra danger + because they will be executed by routine maintenance operations + such as VACUUM FULL, which are commonly performed + automatically under a superuser account. For example, a nefarious user + can execute code with superuser privileges by setting up a + trojan-horse index definition and waiting for the next routine vacuum. + The fix arranges for standard maintenance operations + (including VACUUM, ANALYZE, REINDEX, + and CLUSTER) to execute as the table owner rather than + the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already + used for SECURITY DEFINER functions. To prevent bypassing + this security measure, execution of SET SESSION + AUTHORIZATION and SET ROLE is now forbidden within a + SECURITY DEFINER context. (CVE-2007-6600) + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.2, - including one very serious security issue. - + + + Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry) + - - Migration to version 8.1.3 + + Suitably crafted regular-expression patterns could cause crashes, + infinite or near-infinite looping, and/or massive memory consumption, + all of which pose denial-of-service hazards for applications that + accept regex search patterns from untrustworthy sources. + (CVE-2007-4769, CVE-2007-4772, CVE-2007-6067) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, - see the release notes for 8.1.2. - - + + + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + - - Changes + + The fix that appeared for this in 8.1.10 was incomplete, as it plugged + the hole for only some dblink functions. (CVE-2007-6601, + CVE-2007-3278) + + - + + + Update time zone data files to tzdata release 2007k + (in particular, recent Argentina changes) (Tom) + + -Fix bug that allowed any logged-in user to SET -ROLE to any other database user id (CVE-2006-0553) -Due to inadequate validity checking, a user could exploit the special -case that SET ROLE normally uses to restore the previous role -setting after an error. This allowed ordinary users to acquire superuser -status, for example. -The escalation-of-privilege risk exists only in 8.1.0-8.1.2. -However, in all releases back to 7.3 there is a related bug in SET -SESSION AUTHORIZATION that allows unprivileged users to crash the server, -if it has been compiled with Asserts enabled (which is not the default). -Thanks to Akio Ishida for reporting this problem. - + + + Improve planner's handling of LIKE/regex estimation in non-C locales + (Tom) + + -Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted -rows (Tom) -Under rare circumstances a row inserted by the current command -could be seen as already valid, when it should not be. Repairs bug -created in 8.0.4, 7.4.9, and 7.3.11 releases. - + + + Fix planner failure in some cases of WHERE false AND var IN + (SELECT ...) (Tom) + + -Fix race condition that could lead to file already -exists errors during pg_clog and pg_subtrans file creation -(Tom) + + + Preserve the tablespace of indexes that are + rebuilt by ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN TYPE (Tom) + + -Fix cases that could lead to crashes if a cache-invalidation -message arrives at just the wrong time (Tom) + + + Make archive recovery always start a new WAL timeline, rather than only + when a recovery stop time was used (Simon) + -Properly check DOMAIN constraints for -UNKNOWN parameters in prepared statements -(Neil) + + This avoids a corner-case risk of trying to overwrite an existing + archived copy of the last WAL segment, and seems simpler and cleaner + than the original definition. + + -Ensure ALTER COLUMN TYPE will process -FOREIGN KEY, UNIQUE, and PRIMARY KEY -constraints in the proper order (Nakano Yoshihisa) + + + Make VACUUM not use all of maintenance_work_mem + when the table is too small for it to be useful (Alvaro) + + -Fixes to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema -references to custom operators or operator classes (Tom) + + + Fix potential crash in translate() when using a multibyte + database encoding (Tom) + + -Allow pg_restore to continue properly after a -COPY failure; formerly it tried to treat the remaining -COPY data as SQL commands (Stephen Frost) + + + Fix overflow in extract(epoch from interval) for intervals + exceeding 68 years (Tom) + + -Fix pg_ctl unregister crash -when the data directory is not specified (Magnus) + + + Fix PL/Perl to not fail when a UTF-8 regular expression is used + in a trusted function (Andrew) + + -Fix libpq PQprint HTML tags -(Christoph Zwerschke) + + + Fix PL/Perl to cope when platform's Perl defines type bool + as int rather than char (Tom) + -Fix ecpg crash on AMD64 and PPC -(Neil) + + While this could theoretically happen anywhere, no standard build of + Perl did things this way ... until Mac OS X 10.5. + + -Allow SETOF and %TYPE to be used -together in function result type declarations + + + Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro) + + -Recover properly if error occurs during argument passing -in PL/python (Neil) + + + Fix pg_dump to correctly handle inheritance child tables + that have default expressions different from their parent's (Tom) + + -Fix memory leak in plperl_return_next -(Neil) + + + Fix libpq crash when PGPASSFILE refers + to a file that is not a plain file (Martin Pitt) + + -Fix PL/perl's handling of locales on -Win32 to match the backend (Andrew) + + + ecpg parser fixes (Michael) + + -Various optimizer fixes (Tom) + + + Make contrib/pgcrypto defend against + OpenSSL libraries that fail on keys longer than 128 + bits; which is the case at least on some Solaris versions (Marko Kreen) + + -Fix crash when log_min_messages is set to -DEBUG3 or above in postgresql.conf on Win32 -(Bruce) + + + Make contrib/tablefunc's crosstab() handle + NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe) + + -Fix pgxs -L library path -specification for Win32, Cygwin, OS X, AIX (Bruce) + + + Fix tsvector and tsquery output routines to + escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce) + + -Check that SID is enabled while checking for Win32 admin -privileges (Magnus) + + + Fix crash of to_tsvector() on huge input strings (Teodor) + + -Properly reject out-of-range date inputs (Kris -Jurka) + + + Require a specific version of Autoconf to be used + when re-generating the configure script (Peter) + -Portability fix for testing presence of finite -and isinf during configure (Tom) + + This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made + to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of + Autoconf and PostgreSQL versions. + You can remove the version check if you really want to use a + different Autoconf version, but it's + your responsibility whether the result works or not. + + -Improve speed of COPY IN via libpq, by -avoiding a kernel call per data line (Alon Goldshuv) + -Improve speed of /contrib/tsearch2 index -creation (Tom) + + - + + Release 8.1.10 - - + + Release date + 2007-09-17 + - - Release 8.1.2 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.9. + - - Release date - 2006-01-09 - + + Migration to Version 8.1.10 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.1. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. - - Migration to version 8.1.2 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - However, you might need to REINDEX indexes on textual - columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or - plperl issues described below. - - + - - Changes + + Changes - + -Fix Windows code so that postmaster will continue rather -than exit if there is no more room in ShmemBackendArray (Magnus) -The previous behavior could lead to a denial-of-service situation if too -many connection requests arrive close together. This applies -only to the Windows port. + + + Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and + then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM + on the same table (Tom) + + -Fix bug introduced in 8.0 that could allow ReadBuffer -to return an already-used page as new, potentially causing loss of -recently-committed data (Tom) + + + Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + + -Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued -outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom) + + + Allow the interval data type to accept input consisting only of + milliseconds or microseconds (Neil) + + -Fix character string comparison for locales that consider -different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom) -This might require REINDEX to fix existing indexes on -textual columns. + + + Speed up rtree index insertion (Teodor) + + -Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup -to ensure that plperl won't change the locale later -This fixes a problem that occurred if the postmaster was -started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what -initdb had been told. Under these conditions, any use of -plperl was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need -REINDEX to fix existing indexes on -textual columns if this has happened to you. + + + Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) + + -Allow more flexible relocation of installation -directories (Tom) -Previous releases supported relocation only if all installation -directory paths were the same except for the last component. + + + Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using + the syslogger process (Andrew) + + -Prevent crashes caused by the use of -ISO-8859-5 and ISO-8859-9 encodings -(Tatsuo) + + + Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out + of memory (Tom) + + -Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression -handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo) - + + + Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom) + + -Fix bug where COPY CSV mode considered any -\. to terminate the copy data The new code -requires \. to appear alone on a line, as per -documentation. + + + Prevent REINDEX and CLUSTER from failing + due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) + + -Make COPY CSV mode quote a literal data value of -\. to ensure it cannot be interpreted as the -end-of-data marker (Bruce) + + + Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom) + + -Various fixes for functions returning RECORDs -(Tom) + + + Windows socket improvements (Magnus) + + -Fix processing of postgresql.conf so a -final line with no newline is processed properly (Tom) - + + + Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows + because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom) + + -Fix bug in /contrib/pgcrypto gen_salt, -which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and -XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer) -Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected. + + + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + + -Fix autovacuum crash when processing expression indexes - + -Fix /contrib/dblink to throw an error, -rather than crashing, when the number of columns specified is different from -what's actually returned by the query (Joe) + + - + + Release 8.1.9 - - + + Release date + 2007-04-23 + - - Release 8.1.1 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.8, + including a security fix. + - - Release date - 2005-12-12 - + + Migration to Version 8.1.9 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.0. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. - - Migration to version 8.1.1 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. - - - - - Changes + - -Fix incorrect optimizations of outer-join conditions -(Tom) + + Changes -Fix problems with wrong reported column names in cases -involving sub-selects flattened by the optimizer (Tom) + -Fix update failures in scenarios involving CHECK constraints, -toasted columns, and indexes (Tom) + + + Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within + search_path, and disable searching it for functions + and operators (Tom) + + + This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a + truly secure value of search_path. Without it, + an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code + with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). + See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. + + -Fix bgwriter problems after recovering from errors -(Tom) - -The background writer was found to leak buffer pins after write errors. -While not fatal in itself, this might lead to mysterious blockages of -later VACUUM commands. - - + + + /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) + + -Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message -when current transaction is already aborted + + + Require COMMIT PREPARED to be executed in the same + database as the transaction was prepared in (Heikki) + + -/contrib/tsearch2 and /contrib/ltree -fixes (Teodor) + + + Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles + UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) + + -Fix problems with translated error messages in -languages that require word reordering, such as Turkish; also problems with -unexpected truncation of output strings and wrong display of the smallest -possible bigint value (Andrew, Tom) - -These problems only appeared on platforms that were using our -port/snprintf.c code, which includes BSD variants if ---enable-nls was given, and perhaps others. In addition, -a different form of the translated-error-message problem could appear -on Windows depending on which version of libintl was used. - + + + Planner fixes, including improving outer join and bitmap scan + selection logic (Tom) + + -Re-allow AM/PM, HH, -HH12, and D format specifiers for -to_char(time) and to_char(interval). -(to_char(interval) should probably use -HH24.) (Bruce) + + + Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 8.1.6) + (Tom) + + -AIX, HPUX, and MSVC compile fixes (Tom, Hiroshi -Saito) + + + Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom) + + -Optimizer improvements (Tom) + -Retry file reads and writes after Windows -NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES error (Qingqing Zhou) + + -Prevent autovacuum from crashing during -ANALYZE of expression index (Alvaro) + + Release 8.1.8 -Fix problems with ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS temp -tables + + Release date + 2007-02-07 + -Fix problems when a trigger alters the output of a SELECT -DISTINCT query + + This release contains one fix from 8.1.7. + -Add 8.1.0 release note item on how to migrate invalid -UTF-8 byte sequences (Paul Lindner) - + + Migration to Version 8.1.8 - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + - - Release 8.1 + - - Release date - 2005-11-08 - + + Changes - - Overview + + - Major changes in this release: + Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and + functional indexes(Tom) + - + - - - Improve concurrent access to the shared buffer cache (Tom) - + + - - - Access to the shared buffer cache was identified as a - significant scalability problem, particularly on multi-CPU - systems. In this release, the way that locking is done in the - buffer manager has been overhauled to reduce lock contention - and improve scalability. The buffer manager has also been - changed to use a clock sweep replacement - policy. - - - + + Release 8.1.7 - - - Allow index scans to use an intermediate in-memory bitmap (Tom) - + + Release date + 2007-02-05 + - - - In previous releases, only a single index could be used to do - lookups on a table. With this feature, if a query has - WHERE tab.col1 = 4 and tab.col2 = 9, and there is - no multicolumn index on col1 and col2, - but there is an index on col1 and another on - col2, it is possible to search both indexes and - combine the results in memory, then do heap fetches for only - the rows matching both the col1 and - col2 restrictions. This is very useful in - environments that have a lot of unstructured queries where it - is impossible to create indexes that match all possible access - conditions. Bitmap scans are useful even with a single index, - as they reduce the amount of random access needed; a bitmap - index scan is efficient for retrieving fairly large fractions - of the complete table, whereas plain index scans are not. - - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.6, including + a security fix. + - - - Add two-phase commit (Heikki Linnakangas, Alvaro, Tom) - + + Migration to Version 8.1.7 - - - Two-phase commit allows transactions to be "prepared" on several - computers, and once all computers have successfully prepared - their transactions (none failed), all transactions can be - committed. Even if a machine crashes after a prepare, the - prepared transaction can be committed after the machine is - restarted. New syntax includes PREPARE TRANSACTION and - COMMIT/ROLLBACK PREPARED. A new system view - pg_prepared_xacts has also been added. - - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + - - - Create a new role system that replaces users and groups - (Stephen Frost) - + - - - Roles are a combination of users and groups. Like users, they - can have login capability, and like groups, a role can have - other roles as members. Roles basically remove the distinction - between users and groups. For example, a role can: - + + Changes - + - - - Have login capability (optionally) - - + + + Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users + to read backend memory (Tom) + + + The vulnerabilities involve suppressing the normal check that a SQL + function returns the data type it's declared to, and changing the + data type of a table column (CVE-2007-0555, CVE-2007-0556). These + errors can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in + principle might be used to read database content that the user + should not be able to access. + + - - - Own objects - - + + + Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail + due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) + + - - - Hold access permissions for database objects - - - - - - Inherit permissions from other roles it is a member of - - - - - - Once a user logs into a role, she obtains capabilities of - the login role plus any inherited roles, and can use - SET ROLE to switch to other roles she is a member of. - This feature is a generalization of the SQL standard's concept of - roles. - This change also replaces pg_shadow and - pg_group by new role-capable catalogs - pg_authid and pg_auth_members. The old - tables are redefined as read-only views on the new role tables. - - - - - - - Automatically use indexes for MIN() and - MAX() (Tom) - - - - - In previous releases, the only way to use an index for - MIN() or MAX() was to rewrite the - query as SELECT col FROM tab ORDER BY col LIMIT 1. - Index usage now happens automatically. - - - - - - - Move /contrib/pg_autovacuum into the main server - (Alvaro) - - - - - Integrating autovacuum into the server allows it to be - automatically started and stopped in sync with the database - server, and allows autovacuum to be configured from - postgresql.conf. - - - - - - - Add shared row level locks using SELECT ... FOR SHARE - (Alvaro) - - - - - While PostgreSQL's MVCC locking - allows SELECT to never be blocked by writers and - therefore does not need shared row locks for typical operations, - shared locks are useful for applications that require shared row - locking. In particular this reduces the locking requirements - imposed by referential integrity checks. - - - - - - - Add dependencies on shared objects, specifically roles - (Alvaro) - - - - - This extension of the dependency mechanism prevents roles from - being dropped while there are still database objects they own. - Formerly it was possible to accidentally orphan objects by - deleting their owner. While this could be recovered from, it - was messy and unpleasant. - - - - - - - Improve performance for partitioned tables (Simon) - + + + Improve VACUUM performance for databases with many tables (Tom) + + - - - The new constraint_exclusion configuration - parameter avoids lookups on child tables where constraints indicate - that no matching rows exist in the child table. - - - This allows for a basic type of table partitioning. If child tables - store separate key ranges and this is enforced using appropriate - CHECK constraints, the optimizer will skip child - table accesses when the constraint guarantees no matching rows - exist in the child table. - - - + + + Fix autovacuum to avoid leaving non-permanent transaction IDs in + non-connectable databases (Alvaro) + - - + + This bug affects the 8.1 branch only. + + - - Migration to version 8.1 + + + Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) + + + - A dump/restore using pg_dump is required - for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release. + Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences + over three bytes long (Tom) + + - The 8.0 release announced that the to_char() function - for intervals would be removed in 8.1. However, since no better API - has been suggested, to_char(interval) has been enhanced in - 8.1 and will remain in the server. + Fix bogus permission denied failures occurring on Windows + due to attempts to fsync already-deleted files (Magnus, Tom) + + - Observe the following incompatibilities: + Fix possible crashes when an already-in-use PL/pgSQL function is + updated (Tom) + - + - - - add_missing_from is now false by default (Neil) - - - By default, we now generate an error if a table is used in a query - without a FROM reference. The old behavior is still - available, but the parameter must be set to 'true' to obtain it. - + + - - It might be necessary to set add_missing_from to true - in order to load an existing dump file, if the dump contains any - views or rules created using the implicit-FROM syntax. - This should be a one-time annoyance, because - PostgreSQL 8.1 will convert - such views and rules to standard explicit-FROM syntax. - Subsequent dumps will therefore not have the problem. - - + + Release 8.1.6 - - - Cause input of a zero-length string ('') for - float4/float8/oid - to throw an error, rather than treating it as a zero (Neil) - - - This change is consistent with the current handling of - zero-length strings for integers. The schedule for this change - was announced in 8.0. - - + + Release date + 2007-01-08 + - - - default_with_oids is now false by default (Neil) - - - With this option set to false, user-created tables no longer - have an OID column unless WITH OIDS is specified in - CREATE TABLE. Though OIDs have existed in all - releases of PostgreSQL, their use is limited - because they are only four bytes long and the counter is shared - across all installed databases. The preferred way of uniquely - identifying rows is via sequences and the SERIAL type, - which have been supported since PostgreSQL 6.4. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.5. + - - - Add E'' syntax so eventually ordinary strings can - treat backslashes literally (Bruce) - - - Currently PostgreSQL processes a - backslash in a string literal as introducing a special escape sequence, - e.g. \n or \010. - While this allows easy entry of special values, it is - nonstandard and makes porting of applications from other - databases more difficult. For this reason, the - PostgreSQL project is planning to - remove the special meaning of backslashes in strings. For - backward compatibility and for users who want special backslash - processing, a new string syntax has been created. This new string - syntax is formed by writing an E immediately preceding the - single quote that starts the string, e.g. E'hi\n'. While - this release does not change the handling of backslashes in strings, it - does add new configuration parameters to help users migrate applications - for future releases: - - + + Migration to Version 8.1.6 - - - standard_conforming_strings — does this release - treat backslashes literally in ordinary strings? - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + - - - escape_string_warning — warn about backslashes in - ordinary (non-E) strings - - + - + + Changes - - The standard_conforming_strings value is read-only. - Applications can retrieve the value to know how backslashes are - processed. (Presence of the parameter can also be taken as an - indication that E'' string syntax is supported.) - In a future release, standard_conforming_strings - will be true, meaning backslashes will be treated literally in - non-E strings. To prepare for this change, use E'' - strings in places that need special backslash processing, and - turn on escape_string_warning to find additional - strings that need to be converted to use E''. - Also, use two single-quotes ('') to embed a literal - single-quote in a string, rather than the - PostgreSQL-supported syntax of - backslash single-quote (\'). The former is - standards-conforming and does not require the use of the - E'' string syntax. You can also use the - $$ string syntax, which does not treat backslashes - specially. - - + - - - Make REINDEX DATABASE reindex all indexes in the - database (Tom) - - - Formerly, REINDEX DATABASE reindexed only - system tables. This new behavior seems more intuitive. A new - command REINDEX SYSTEM provides the old functionality - of reindexing just the system tables. - - + + + Improve handling of getaddrinfo() on AIX (Tom) + - - - Read-only large object descriptors now obey MVCC snapshot semantics - - - When a large object is opened with INV_READ (and not - INV_WRITE), the data read from the descriptor will now - reflect a snapshot of the large object's state at the - time of the transaction snapshot in use by the query that called - lo_open(). To obtain the old behavior of always - returning the latest committed data, include INV_WRITE - in the mode flags for lo_open(). - - + + This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector, + among other things. + + - - - Add proper dependencies for arguments of sequence functions (Tom) - - - In previous releases, sequence names passed to nextval(), - currval(), and setval() were stored as - simple text strings, meaning that renaming or dropping a - sequence used in a DEFAULT clause made the clause - invalid. This release stores all newly-created sequence function - arguments as internal OIDs, allowing them to track sequence - renaming, and adding dependency information that prevents - improper sequence removal. It also makes such DEFAULT - clauses immune to schema renaming and search path changes. - - - Some applications might rely on the old behavior of - run-time lookup for sequence names. This can still be done by - explicitly casting the argument to text, for example - nextval('myseq'::text). - - - Pre-8.1 database dumps loaded into 8.1 will use the old text-based - representation and therefore will not have the features of - OID-stored arguments. However, it is possible to update a - database containing text-based DEFAULT clauses. - First, save this query into a file, such as fixseq.sql: - -SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' || - pg_catalog.quote_ident(n.nspname) || '.' || - pg_catalog.quote_ident(c.relname) || - ' ALTER COLUMN ' || pg_catalog.quote_ident(a.attname) || - ' SET DEFAULT ' || - regexp_replace(d.adsrc, - $$val\(\(('[^']*')::text\)::regclass$$, - $$val(\1$$, - 'g') || - ';' -FROM pg_namespace n, pg_class c, pg_attribute a, pg_attrdef d -WHERE n.oid = c.relnamespace AND - c.oid = a.attrelid AND - a.attrelid = d.adrelid AND - a.attnum = d.adnum AND - d.adsrc ~ $$val\(\('[^']*'::text\)::regclass$$; - - Next, run the query against a database to find what - adjustments are required, like this for database db1: - -psql -t -f fixseq.sql db1 - - This will show the ALTER TABLE commands needed to - convert the database to the newer OID-based representation. - If the commands look reasonable, run this to update the database: - -psql -t -f fixseq.sql db1 | psql -e db1 - - This process must be repeated in each database to be updated. - - + + + Fix pg_restore to handle a tar-format backup + that contains large objects (blobs) with comments (Tom) + + - In psql, treat unquoted - \{digit}+ sequences as octal (Bruce) - - - In previous releases, \{digit}+ sequences were - treated as decimal, and only \0{digit}+ were treated - as octal. This change was made for consistency. + Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in + VACUUM (Tom) - Remove grammar productions for prefix and postfix % - and ^ operators - (Tom) - - - These have never been documented and complicated the use of the - modulus operator (%) with negative numbers. + Clean out pg_internal.init cache files during server + restart (Simon) - - - Make &< and &> for polygons - consistent with the box "over" operators (Tom) + This avoids a hazard that the cache files might contain stale + data after PITR recovery. - CREATE LANGUAGE can ignore the provided arguments - in favor of information from pg_pltemplate - (Tom) - - - A new system catalog pg_pltemplate has been defined - to carry information about the preferred definitions of procedural - languages (such as whether they have validator functions). When - an entry exists in this catalog for the language being created, - CREATE LANGUAGE will ignore all its parameters except the - language name and instead use the catalog information. This measure - was taken because of increasing problems with obsolete language - definitions being loaded by old dump files. As of 8.1, - pg_dump will dump procedural language definitions as - just CREATE LANGUAGE name, relying - on a template entry to exist at load time. We expect this will be a - more future-proof representation. + Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a + gigabyte boundary by VACUUM (Tom) - Make pg_cancel_backend(int) return a - boolean rather than an integer (Neil) + Fix bug causing needless deadlock errors on row-level locks (Tom) - Some users are having problems loading UTF-8 data into 8.1.X. - This is because previous versions allowed invalid UTF-8 byte - sequences to be entered into the database, and this release - properly accepts only valid UTF-8 sequences. One way to correct a - dumpfile is to run the command iconv -c -f UTF-8 -t - UTF-8 -o cleanfile.sql dumpfile.sql. The -c option - removes invalid character sequences. A diff of the two files will - show the sequences that are invalid. iconv reads the - entire input file into memory so it might be necessary to use - split to break up the dump into multiple smaller - files for processing. + Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) - - + + + Fix possible deadlock in Windows signal handling (Teodor) + + - - Additional Changes + + + Fix error when constructing an ARRAY[] made up of multiple + empty elements (Tom) + + - - Below you will find a detailed account of the additional changes - between PostgreSQL 8.1 and the - previous major release. - + + + Fix ecpg memory leak during connection (Michael) + + - - Performance Improvements - + + + Fix for Darwin (OS X) compilation (Tom) + + - - - Improve GiST and R-tree index performance (Neil) - - + + + to_number() and to_char(numeric) + are now STABLE, not IMMUTABLE, for + new initdb installs (Tom) + - - - Improve the optimizer, including auto-resizing of hash joins - (Tom) - - + + This is because lc_numeric can potentially + change the output of these functions. + + - - - Overhaul internal API in several areas - - + + + Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + - - - Change WAL record CRCs from 64-bit to 32-bit (Tom) - - - We determined that the extra cost of computing 64-bit CRCs was - significant, and the gain in reliability too marginal to justify it. - - + + This improves psql \d performance also. + + - - - Prevent writing large empty gaps in WAL pages (Tom) - - + + + Update timezone database + - - - Improve spinlock behavior on SMP machines, particularly Opterons (Tom) - - + + This affects Australian and Canadian daylight-savings rules in + particular. + + - - - Allow nonconsecutive index columns to be used in a multicolumn - index (Tom) - - - For example, this allows an index on columns a,b,c to be used in - a query with WHERE a = 4 and c = 10. - - + - - - Skip WAL logging for CREATE TABLE AS / - SELECT INTO (Simon) - - - Since a crash during CREATE TABLE AS would cause the - table to be dropped during recovery, there is no reason to WAL - log as the table is loaded. (Logging still happens if WAL - archiving is enabled, however.) - - + + - - - Allow concurrent GiST index access (Teodor, Oleg) - - + + Release 8.1.5 - - - Add configuration parameter full_page_writes to - control writing full pages to WAL (Bruce) - - - To prevent partial disk writes from corrupting the database, - PostgreSQL writes a complete copy of - each database disk page to WAL the first time it is modified - after a checkpoint. This option turns off that functionality for more - speed. This is safe to use with battery-backed disk caches where - partial page writes cannot happen. - - + + Release date + 2006-10-16 + - - - Use O_DIRECT if available when using - O_SYNC for wal_sync_method - (Itagaki Takahiro) - - - O_DIRECT causes disk writes to bypass the kernel - cache, and for WAL writes, this improves performance. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.4. + - - - Improve COPY FROM performance (Alon Goldshuv) - - - This was accomplished by reading COPY input in - larger chunks, rather than character by character. - - + + Migration to Version 8.1.5 - - - Improve the performance of COUNT(), - SUM, AVG(), - STDDEV(), and - VARIANCE() (Neil, Tom) - - - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + - - Server Changes - + - - - Prevent problems due to transaction ID (XID) wraparound (Tom) - - - The server will now warn when the transaction counter approaches - the wraparound point. If the counter becomes too close to wraparound, - the server will stop accepting queries. This ensures that data is - not lost before needed vacuuming is performed. - - + + Changes - - - Fix problems with object IDs (OIDs) conflicting with existing system - objects after the OID counter has wrapped around (Tom) - - + +Disallow aggregate functions in UPDATE +commands, except within sub-SELECTs (Tom) +The behavior of such an aggregate was unpredictable, and in 8.1.X +could cause a crash, so it has been disabled. The SQL standard does not allow +this either. +Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as +ANYARRAY +Fix core dump in duration logging for extended query protocol +when a COMMIT or ROLLBACK is +executed +Fix mishandling of AFTER triggers when query contains a SQL +function returning multiple rows (Tom) +Fix ALTER TABLE ... TYPE to recheck +NOT NULL for USING clause (Tom) +Fix string_to_array() to handle overlapping + matches for the separator string +For example, string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx'). + +Fix to_timestamp() for +AM/PM formats (Bruce) +Fix autovacuum's calculation that decides whether + ANALYZE is needed (Alvaro) +Fix corner cases in pattern matching for + psql's \d commands +Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree + (Teodor) +Numerous robustness fixes in ecpg (Joachim +Wieland) +Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror +Minor fixes in /contrib/dblink and /contrib/tsearch2 + +Efficiency improvements in hash tables and bitmap index scans +(Tom) +Fix instability of statistics collection on Windows (Tom, Andrew) +Fix statement_timeout to use the proper +units on Win32 (Bruce) +In previous Win32 8.1.X versions, the delay was off by a factor of +100. +Fixes for MSVC and Borland C++ +compilers (Hiroshi Saito) +Fixes for AIX and +Intel compilers (Tom) +Fix rare bug in continuous archiving (Tom) + - - - Add warning about the need to increase - max_fsm_relations and max_fsm_pages - during VACUUM (Ron Mayer) - - + + - - - Add temp_buffers configuration parameter to allow - users to determine the size of the local buffer area for - temporary table access (Tom) - - + + Release 8.1.4 - - - Add session start time and client IP address to - pg_stat_activity (Magnus) - - + + Release date + 2006-05-23 + - - - Adjust pg_stat views for bitmap scans (Tom) - - - The meanings of some of the fields have changed slightly. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.3, + including patches for extremely serious security issues. + - - - Enhance pg_locks view (Tom) - - + + Migration to Version 8.1.4 - - - Log queries for client-side PREPARE and - EXECUTE (Simon) - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + - - - Allow Kerberos name and user name case sensitivity to be - specified in postgresql.conf (Magnus) - - + + Full security against the SQL-injection attacks described in + CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314 might require changes in application + code. If you have applications that embed untrustworthy strings + into SQL commands, you should examine them as soon as possible to + ensure that they are using recommended escaping techniques. In + most cases, applications should be using subroutines provided by + libraries or drivers (such as libpq's + PQescapeStringConn()) to perform string escaping, + rather than relying on ad hoc code to do it. + + - - - Add configuration parameter krb_server_hostname so - that the server host name can be specified as part of service - principal (Todd Kover) - - - If not set, any service principal matching an entry in the - keytab can be used. This is new Kerberos matching behavior in - this release. - - + + Changes - - - Add log_line_prefix options for millisecond - timestamps (%m) and remote host (%h) (Ed - L.) - - + +Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte +characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom) +While PostgreSQL has been moving in this direction for +some time, the checks are now applied uniformly to all encodings and all +textual input, and are now always errors not merely warnings. This change +defends against SQL-injection attacks of the type described in CVE-2006-2313. + - - - Add WAL logging for GiST indexes (Teodor, Oleg) - - - GiST indexes are now safe for crash and point-in-time recovery. - - +Reject unsafe uses of \' in string literals +As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type +described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts '' and not +\' as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string +literals. By default, \' is rejected only when +client_encoding is set to a client-only encoding (SJIS, BIG5, GBK, +GB18030, or UHC), which is the scenario in which SQL injection is possible. +A new configuration parameter backslash_quote is available to +adjust this behavior when needed. Note that full security against +CVE-2006-2314 might require client-side changes; the purpose of +backslash_quote is in part to make it obvious that insecure +clients are insecure. + - - - Remove old *.backup files when we do - pg_stop_backup() (Bruce) - - - This prevents a large number of *.backup files from - existing in pg_xlog/. - - +Modify libpq's string-escaping routines to be +aware of encoding considerations and +standard_conforming_strings +This fixes libpq-using applications for the security +issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314, and also future-proofs +them against the planned changeover to SQL-standard string literal syntax. +Applications that use multiple PostgreSQL connections +concurrently should migrate to PQescapeStringConn() and +PQescapeByteaConn() to ensure that escaping is done correctly +for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that +do string escaping by hand should be modified to rely on library +routines instead. + - - - Add configuration parameters to control TCP/IP keep-alive - times for idle, interval, and count (Oliver Jowett) - +Fix weak key selection in pgcrypto (Marko Kreen) +Errors in fortuna PRNG reseeding logic could cause a predictable +session key to be selected by pgp_sym_encrypt() in some cases. +This only affects non-OpenSSL-using builds. + - - These values can be changed to allow more rapid detection of - lost client connections. - - +Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions +win1251_to_iso, win866_to_iso, +euc_tw_to_big5, euc_tw_to_mic, +mic_to_euc_tw were all broken to varying +extents. + - - - Add per-user and per-database connection limits (Petr Jelinek) - - - Using ALTER USER and ALTER DATABASE, - limits can now be enforced on the maximum number of sessions that - can concurrently connect as a specific user or to a specific database. - Setting the limit to zero disables user or database connections. - - +Clean up stray remaining uses of \' in strings +(Bruce, Jan) - - - Allow more than two gigabytes of shared memory and per-backend - work memory on 64-bit machines (Koichi Suzuki) - - +Make autovacuum visible in pg_stat_activity +(Alvaro) - - - New system catalog pg_pltemplate allows overriding - obsolete procedural-language definitions in dump files (Tom) - - +Disable full_page_writes (Tom) +In certain cases, having full_page_writes off would cause +crash recovery to fail. A proper fix will appear in 8.2; for now it's just +disabled. + - - +Various planner fixes, particularly for bitmap index scans and +MIN/MAX optimization (Tom) +Fix incorrect optimization in merge join (Tom) +Outer joins could sometimes emit multiple copies of unmatched rows. + - - Query Changes - +Fix crash from using and modifying a plpgsql function in the +same transaction - - - Add temporary views (Koju Iijima, Neil) - - +Fix WAL replay for case where a B-Tree index has been +truncated - - - Fix HAVING without any aggregate functions or - GROUP BY so that the query returns a single group (Tom) - - - Previously, such a case would treat the HAVING - clause the same as a WHERE clause. This was not per spec. - - +Fix SIMILAR TO for patterns involving +| (Tom) - - - Add USING clause to allow additional tables to be - specified to DELETE (Euler Taveira de Oliveira, Neil) - - - In prior releases, there was no clear method for specifying - additional tables to be used for joins in a DELETE - statement. UPDATE already has a FROM - clause for this purpose. - - +Fix SELECT INTO and CREATE TABLE AS to +create tables in the default tablespace, not the base directory (Kris +Jurka) - - - Add support for \x hex escapes in backend and ecpg - strings (Bruce) - - - This is just like the standard C \x escape syntax. - Octal escapes were already supported. - - +Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael +Fuhr) - - - Add BETWEEN SYMMETRIC query syntax (Pavel Stehule) - - - This feature allows BETWEEN comparisons without - requiring the first value to be less than the second. For - example, 2 BETWEEN [ASYMMETRIC] 3 AND 1 returns - false, while 2 BETWEEN SYMMETRIC 3 AND 1 returns - true. BETWEEN ASYMMETRIC was already supported. - - +Improve qsort performance (Dann Corbit) +Currently this code is only used on Solaris. + - - - Add NOWAIT option to SELECT ... FOR - UPDATE/SHARE (Hans-Juergen Schoenig) - - - While the statement_timeout configuration - parameter allows a query taking more than a certain amount of - time to be cancelled, the NOWAIT option allows a - query to be canceled as soon as a SELECT ... FOR - UPDATE/SHARE command cannot immediately acquire a row lock. - - - - +Fix for OS/X Bonjour on x86 systems (Ashley Clark) +Fix various minor memory leaks - - Object Manipulation Changes - +Fix problem with password prompting on some Win32 systems +(Robert Kinberg) - - - Track dependencies of shared objects (Alvaro) - - - PostgreSQL allows global tables - (users, databases, tablespaces) to reference information in - multiple databases. This addition adds dependency information - for global tables, so, for example, user ownership can be - tracked across databases, so a user who owns something in any - database can no longer be removed. Dependency tracking already - existed for database-local objects. - - +Improve pg_dump's handling of default values +for domains - - - Allow limited ALTER OWNER commands to be performed - by the object owner (Stephen Frost) - - - Prior releases allowed only superusers to change object owners. - Now, ownership can be transferred if the user executing the command - owns the object and would be able to create it as the new owner - (that is, the user is a member of the new owning role and that role - has the CREATE permission that would be needed to create the object - afresh). - - +Fix pg_dumpall to handle identically-named +users and groups reasonably (only possible when dumping from a pre-8.1 server) +(Tom) +The user and group will be merged into a single role with +LOGIN permission. Formerly the merged role wouldn't have +LOGIN permission, making it unusable as a user. + - - - Add ALTER object SET SCHEMA capability - for some object types (tables, functions, types) (Bernd Helmle) - - - This allows objects to be moved to different schemas. - - +Fix pg_restore -n to work as +documented (Tom) + - - - Add ALTER TABLE ENABLE/DISABLE TRIGGER to - disable triggers (Satoshi Nagayasu) - - + + - - + + Release 8.1.3 + + Release date + 2006-02-14 + - - Utility Command Changes - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.2, + including one very serious security issue. + - - - Allow TRUNCATE to truncate multiple tables in a - single command (Alvaro) - - - Because of referential integrity checks, it is not allowed to - truncate a table that is part of a referential integrity - constraint. Using this new functionality, TRUNCATE - can be used to truncate such tables, if both tables involved in - a referential integrity constraint are truncated in a single - TRUNCATE command. - - + + Migration to Version 8.1.3 - - - Properly process carriage returns and line feeds in - COPY CSV mode (Andrew) - - - In release 8.0, carriage returns and line feeds in CSV - COPY TO were processed in an inconsistent manner. (This was - documented on the TODO list.) - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.2, + see the release notes for 8.1.2. + + - - - Add COPY WITH CSV HEADER to allow a header line as - the first line in COPY (Andrew) - - - This allows handling of the common CSV usage of - placing the column names on the first line of the data file. For - COPY TO, the first line contains the column names, - and for COPY FROM, the first line is ignored. - - + + Changes - - - On Windows, display better sub-second precision in - EXPLAIN ANALYZE (Magnus) - - + - - - Add trigger duration display to EXPLAIN ANALYZE - (Tom) - - - Prior releases included trigger execution time as part of the - total execution time, but did not show it separately. It is now - possible to see how much time is spent in each trigger. - - +Fix bug that allowed any logged-in user to SET +ROLE to any other database user id (CVE-2006-0553) +Due to inadequate validity checking, a user could exploit the special +case that SET ROLE normally uses to restore the previous role +setting after an error. This allowed ordinary users to acquire superuser +status, for example. +The escalation-of-privilege risk exists only in 8.1.0-8.1.2. +However, in all releases back to 7.3 there is a related bug in SET +SESSION AUTHORIZATION that allows unprivileged users to crash the server, +if it has been compiled with Asserts enabled (which is not the default). +Thanks to Akio Ishida for reporting this problem. + - - - Add support for \x hex escapes in COPY - (Sergey Ten) - - - Previous releases only supported octal escapes. - - +Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted +rows (Tom) +Under rare circumstances a row inserted by the current command +could be seen as already valid, when it should not be. Repairs bug +created in 8.0.4, 7.4.9, and 7.3.11 releases. + - - - Make SHOW ALL include variable descriptions - (Matthias Schmidt) - - - SHOW varname still only displays the variable's - value and does not include the description. - - +Fix race condition that could lead to file already +exists errors during pg_clog and pg_subtrans file creation +(Tom) - - - Make initdb create a new standard - database called postgres, and convert utilities to - use postgres rather than template1 for - standard lookups (Dave) - - - In prior releases, template1 was used both as a - default connection for utilities like - createuser, and as a template for - new databases. This caused CREATE DATABASE to - sometimes fail, because a new database cannot be created if - anyone else is in the template database. With this change, the - default connection database is now postgres, - meaning it is much less likely someone will be using - template1 during CREATE DATABASE. - - +Fix cases that could lead to crashes if a cache-invalidation +message arrives at just the wrong time (Tom) - - - Create new reindexdb command-line - utility by moving /contrib/reindexdb into the - server (Euler Taveira de Oliveira) - - +Properly check DOMAIN constraints for +UNKNOWN parameters in prepared statements +(Neil) - - +Ensure ALTER COLUMN TYPE will process +FOREIGN KEY, UNIQUE, and PRIMARY KEY +constraints in the proper order (Nakano Yoshihisa) +Fixes to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema +references to custom operators or operator classes (Tom) - - Data Type and Function Changes - +Allow pg_restore to continue properly after a +COPY failure; formerly it tried to treat the remaining +COPY data as SQL commands (Stephen Frost) - - - Add MAX() and MIN() aggregates for - array types (Koju Iijima) - - +Fix pg_ctl unregister crash +when the data directory is not specified (Magnus) - - - Fix to_date() and to_timestamp() to - behave reasonably when CC and YY fields - are both used (Karel Zak) - - - If the format specification contains CC and a year - specification is YYY or longer, ignore the - CC. If the year specification is YY or - shorter, interpret CC as the previous century. - - +Fix libpq PQprint HTML tags +(Christoph Zwerschke) - - - Add md5(bytea) (Abhijit Menon-Sen) - - - md5(text) already existed. - - +Fix ecpg crash on AMD64 and PPC +(Neil) - - - Add support for numeric ^ numeric based on - power(numeric, numeric) - - - The function already existed, but there was no operator assigned - to it. - - +Allow SETOF and %TYPE to be used +together in function result type declarations - - - Fix NUMERIC modulus by properly truncating the quotient - during computation (Bruce) - - - In previous releases, modulus for large values sometimes - returned negative results due to rounding of the quotient. - - +Recover properly if error occurs during argument passing +in PL/python (Neil) - - - Add a function lastval() (Dennis Björklund) - - - lastval() is a simplified version of - currval(). It automatically determines the proper - sequence name based on the most recent nextval() or - setval() call performed by the current session. - - +Fix memory leak in plperl_return_next +(Neil) - - - Add to_timestamp(DOUBLE PRECISION) (Michael Glaesemann) - - - Converts Unix seconds since 1970 to a TIMESTAMP WITH - TIMEZONE. - - +Fix PL/perl's handling of locales on +Win32 to match the backend (Andrew) - - - Add pg_postmaster_start_time() function (Euler - Taveira de Oliveira, Matthias Schmidt) - - +Various optimizer fixes (Tom) - - - Allow the full use of time zone names in AT TIME - ZONE, not just the short list previously available (Magnus) - - - Previously, only a predefined list of time zone names were - supported by AT TIME ZONE. Now any supported time - zone name can be used, e.g.: - - SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AT TIME ZONE 'Europe/London'; - - In the above query, the time zone used is adjusted based on the - daylight saving time rules that were in effect on the supplied - date. - - +Fix crash when log_min_messages is set to +DEBUG3 or above in postgresql.conf on Win32 +(Bruce) - - - Add GREATEST() and LEAST() variadic - functions (Pavel Stehule) - - - These functions take a variable number of arguments and return - the greatest or least value among the arguments. - - +Fix pgxs -L library path +specification for Win32, Cygwin, OS X, AIX (Bruce) - - - Add pg_column_size() (Mark Kirkwood) - - - This returns storage size of a column, which might be compressed. - - +Check that SID is enabled while checking for Win32 admin +privileges (Magnus) - - - Add regexp_replace() (Atsushi Ogawa) - - - This allows regular expression replacement, like sed. An optional - flag argument allows selection of global (replace all) and - case-insensitive modes. - - +Properly reject out-of-range date inputs (Kris +Jurka) - - - Fix interval division and multiplication (Bruce) - - - Previous versions sometimes returned unjustified results, like - '4 months'::interval / 5 returning '1 mon - -6 days'. - - - - - - Fix roundoff behavior in timestamp, time, and interval output (Tom) - - - This fixes some cases in which the seconds field would be shown as - 60 instead of incrementing the higher-order fields. - - - - - - Add a separate day field to type interval so a one day - interval can be distinguished from a 24 hour interval (Michael - Glaesemann) - - - Days that contain a daylight saving time adjustment are not 24 - hours long, but typically 23 or 25 hours. This change creates a - conceptual distinction between intervals of so many days - and intervals of so many hours. Adding - 1 day to a timestamp now gives the same local time on - the next day even if a daylight saving time adjustment occurs - between, whereas adding 24 hours will give a different - local time when this happens. For example, under US DST rules: - - '2005-04-03 00:00:00-05' + '1 day' = '2005-04-04 00:00:00-04' - '2005-04-03 00:00:00-05' + '24 hours' = '2005-04-04 01:00:00-04' - - - - - - - Add justify_days() and justify_hours() - (Michael Glaesemann) - - - These functions, respectively, adjust days to an appropriate - number of full months and days, and adjust hours to an - appropriate number of full days and hours. - - +Portability fix for testing presence of finite +and isinf during configure (Tom) - - - Move /contrib/dbsize into the backend, and rename - some of the functions (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) - - - - - - - pg_tablespace_size() - - - - - - pg_database_size() - - - - - - pg_relation_size() - - - - - - pg_total_relation_size() - - - - - - pg_size_pretty() - - - - - - - pg_total_relation_size() includes indexes and TOAST - tables. - - +Improve speed of COPY IN via libpq, by +avoiding a kernel call per data line (Alon Goldshuv) - - - Add functions for read-only file access to the cluster directory - (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) - - - - - - - pg_stat_file() - - - - - - pg_read_file() - - - - - - pg_ls_dir() - - - - - - +Improve speed of /contrib/tsearch2 index +creation (Tom) - - - Add pg_reload_conf() to force reloading of the - configuration files (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) - - + - - - Add pg_rotate_logfile() to force rotation of the - server log file (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) - - + + - - - Change pg_stat_* views to include TOAST tables (Tom) - - + + Release 8.1.2 - - + + Release date + 2006-01-09 + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.1. + - - Encoding and Locale Changes - + + Migration to Version 8.1.2 - - - Rename some encodings to be more consistent and to follow - international standards (Bruce) - - - - - - - UNICODE is now UTF8 - - - - - - ALT is now WIN866 - - - - - - WIN is now WIN1251 - - - - - - TCVN is now WIN1258 - - - - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + However, you might need to REINDEX indexes on textual + columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or + plperl issues described below. + + - - The original names still work. - - + + Changes - - - Add support for WIN1252 encoding (Roland Volkmann) - - + - - - Add support for four-byte UTF8 characters (John - Hansen) - - - Previously only one, two, and three-byte UTF8 characters - were supported. This is particularly important for support for - some Chinese character sets. - - +Fix Windows code so that postmaster will continue rather +than exit if there is no more room in ShmemBackendArray (Magnus) +The previous behavior could lead to a denial-of-service situation if too +many connection requests arrive close together. This applies +only to the Windows port. - - - Allow direct conversion between EUC_JP and - SJIS to improve performance (Atsushi Ogawa) - - +Fix bug introduced in 8.0 that could allow ReadBuffer +to return an already-used page as new, potentially causing loss of +recently-committed data (Tom) - - - Allow the UTF8 encoding to work on Windows (Magnus) - - - This is done by mapping UTF8 to the Windows-native UTF16 - implementation. - - +Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued +outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom) - - +Fix character string comparison for locales that consider +different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom) +This might require REINDEX to fix existing indexes on +textual columns. +Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup +to ensure that plperl won't change the locale later +This fixes a problem that occurred if the postmaster was +started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what +initdb had been told. Under these conditions, any use of +plperl was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need +REINDEX to fix existing indexes on +textual columns if this has happened to you. - - General Server-Side Language Changes - +Allow more flexible relocation of installation +directories (Tom) +Previous releases supported relocation only if all installation +directory paths were the same except for the last component. - - - Fix ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME (Sergey Yatskevich) - - +Prevent crashes caused by the use of +ISO-8859-5 and ISO-8859-9 encodings +(Tatsuo) - - - Allow function characteristics, like strictness and volatility, - to be modified via ALTER FUNCTION (Neil) - - +Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression +handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo) + - - - Increase the maximum number of function arguments to 100 (Tom) - - +Fix bug where COPY CSV mode considered any +\. to terminate the copy data The new code +requires \. to appear alone on a line, as per +documentation. - - - Allow SQL and PL/PgSQL functions to use OUT and - INOUT parameters (Tom) - - - OUT is an alternate way for a function to return - values. Instead of using RETURN, values can be - returned by assigning to parameters declared as OUT or - INOUT. This is notationally simpler in some cases, - particularly so when multiple values need to be returned. - While returning multiple values from a function - was possible in previous releases, this greatly simplifies the - process. (The feature will be extended to other server-side - languages in future releases.) - - +Make COPY CSV mode quote a literal data value of +\. to ensure it cannot be interpreted as the +end-of-data marker (Bruce) - - - Move language handler functions into the pg_catalog schema - - - This makes it easier to drop the public schema if desired. - - +Various fixes for functions returning RECORDs +(Tom) - - - Add SPI_getnspname() to SPI (Neil) - - +Fix processing of postgresql.conf so a +final line with no newline is processed properly (Tom) + - - +Fix bug in /contrib/pgcrypto gen_salt, +which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and +XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer) +Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected. - - PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language Changes - +Fix autovacuum crash when processing expression indexes + - - - Overhaul the memory management of PL/PgSQL functions (Neil) - - - The parsetree of each function is now stored in a separate - memory context. This allows this memory to be easily reclaimed - when it is no longer needed. - - +Fix /contrib/dblink to throw an error, +rather than crashing, when the number of columns specified is different from +what's actually returned by the query (Joe) - - - Check function syntax at CREATE FUNCTION time, - rather than at runtime (Neil) - - - Previously, most syntax errors were reported only when the - function was executed. - - + - - - Allow OPEN to open non-SELECT queries - like EXPLAIN and SHOW (Tom) - - + + - - - No longer require functions to issue a RETURN - statement (Tom) - - - This is a byproduct of the newly added OUT and - INOUT functionality. RETURN can - be omitted when it is not needed to provide the function's - return value. - - + + Release 8.1.1 - - - Add support for an optional INTO clause to - PL/PgSQL's EXECUTE statement (Pavel Stehule, Neil) - - + + Release date + 2005-12-12 + - - - Make CREATE TABLE AS set ROW_COUNT (Tom) - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.0. + - - - Define SQLSTATE and SQLERRM to return - the SQLSTATE and error message of the current - exception (Pavel Stehule, Neil) - - - These variables are only defined inside exception blocks. - - + + Migration to Version 8.1.1 - - - Allow the parameters to the RAISE statement to be - expressions (Pavel Stehule, Neil) - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X. + + - - - Add a loop CONTINUE statement (Pavel Stehule, Neil) - - + + Changes - - - Allow block and loop labels (Pavel Stehule) - - + +Fix incorrect optimizations of outer-join conditions +(Tom) - - +Fix problems with wrong reported column names in cases +involving sub-selects flattened by the optimizer (Tom) +Fix update failures in scenarios involving CHECK constraints, +toasted columns, and indexes (Tom) - - PL/Perl Server-Side Language Changes - +Fix bgwriter problems after recovering from errors +(Tom) + +The background writer was found to leak buffer pins after write errors. +While not fatal in itself, this might lead to mysterious blockages of +later VACUUM commands. + + - - - Allow large result sets to be returned efficiently (Abhijit - Menon-Sen) - - - This allows functions to use return_next() to avoid - building the entire result set in memory. - - +Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message +when current transaction is already aborted - - - Allow one-row-at-a-time retrieval of query results (Abhijit Menon-Sen) - - - This allows functions to use spi_query() and - spi_fetchrow() to avoid accumulating the entire - result set in memory. - - +/contrib/tsearch2 and /contrib/ltree +fixes (Teodor) - - - Force PL/Perl to handle strings as UTF8 if the - server encoding is UTF8 (David Kamholz) - - +Fix problems with translated error messages in +languages that require word reordering, such as Turkish; also problems with +unexpected truncation of output strings and wrong display of the smallest +possible bigint value (Andrew, Tom) + +These problems only appeared on platforms that were using our +port/snprintf.c code, which includes BSD variants if +--enable-nls was given, and perhaps others. In addition, +a different form of the translated-error-message problem could appear +on Windows depending on which version of libintl was used. + - - - Add a validator function for PL/Perl (Andrew) - - - This allows syntax errors to be reported at definition time, - rather than execution time. - - +Re-allow AM/PM, HH, +HH12, and D format specifiers for +to_char(time) and to_char(interval). +(to_char(interval) should probably use +HH24.) (Bruce) - - - Allow PL/Perl to return a Perl array when the function returns - an array type (Andrew) - - - This basically maps PostgreSQL arrays - to Perl arrays. - - +AIX, HPUX, and MSVC compile fixes (Tom, Hiroshi +Saito) - - - Allow Perl nonfatal warnings to generate NOTICE - messages (Andrew) - - +Optimizer improvements (Tom) - - - Allow Perl's strict mode to be enabled (Andrew) - - +Retry file reads and writes after Windows +NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES error (Qingqing Zhou) - - +Prevent autovacuum from crashing during +ANALYZE of expression index (Alvaro) +Fix problems with ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS temp +tables - - <application>psql</> Changes - +Fix problems when a trigger alters the output of a SELECT +DISTINCT query - - - Add \set ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK to allow statements in - a transaction to error without affecting the rest of the - transaction (Greg Sabino Mullane) - - - This is basically implemented by wrapping every statement in a - sub-transaction. - - +Add 8.1.0 release note item on how to migrate invalid +UTF-8 byte sequences (Paul Lindner) + - - - Add support for \x hex strings in - psql variables (Bruce) - - - Octal escapes were already supported. - - + + - - - Add support for troff -ms output format (Roger - Leigh) - - + + Release 8.1 - - - Allow the history file location to be controlled by - HISTFILE (Andreas Seltenreich) - - - This allows configuration of per-database history storage. - - + + Release date + 2005-11-08 + - - - Prevent \x (expanded mode) from affecting - the output of \d tablename (Neil) - - + + Overview - - - Add - - This option was added because some operating systems do not have - simple command-line activity logging functionality. - - + + Major changes in this release: + - - - Make \d show the tablespaces of indexes (Qingqing - Zhou) - - + - - - Allow psql help (\h) to - make a best guess on the proper help information (Greg Sabino - Mullane) - - - This allows the user to just add \h to the front of - the syntax error query and get help on the supported syntax. - Previously any additional query text beyond the command name - had to be removed to use \h. - - + + + Improve concurrent access to the shared buffer cache (Tom) + - - - Add \pset numericlocale to allow numbers to be - output in a locale-aware format (Eugen Nedelcu) - - - For example, using C locale 100000 would - be output as 100,000.0 while a European locale might - output this value as 100.000,0. - - + + + Access to the shared buffer cache was identified as a + significant scalability problem, particularly on multi-CPU + systems. In this release, the way that locking is done in the + buffer manager has been overhauled to reduce lock contention + and improve scalability. The buffer manager has also been + changed to use a clock sweep replacement + policy. + + + - - - Make startup banner show both server version number and - psql's version number, when they are different (Bruce) - - - Also, a warning will be shown if the server and psql - are from different major releases. - - + + + Allow index scans to use an intermediate in-memory bitmap (Tom) + - - + + + In previous releases, only a single index could be used to do + lookups on a table. With this feature, if a query has + WHERE tab.col1 = 4 and tab.col2 = 9, and there is + no multicolumn index on col1 and col2, + but there is an index on col1 and another on + col2, it is possible to search both indexes and + combine the results in memory, then do heap fetches for only + the rows matching both the col1 and + col2 restrictions. This is very useful in + environments that have a lot of unstructured queries where it + is impossible to create indexes that match all possible access + conditions. Bitmap scans are useful even with a single index, + as they reduce the amount of random access needed; a bitmap + index scan is efficient for retrieving fairly large fractions + of the complete table, whereas plain index scans are not. + + + + + + Add two-phase commit (Heikki Linnakangas, Alvaro, Tom) + - - <application>pg_dump</> Changes - + + + Two-phase commit allows transactions to be "prepared" on several + computers, and once all computers have successfully prepared + their transactions (none failed), all transactions can be + committed. Even if a machine crashes after a prepare, the + prepared transaction can be committed after the machine is + restarted. New syntax includes PREPARE TRANSACTION and + COMMIT/ROLLBACK PREPARED. A new system view + pg_prepared_xacts has also been added. + + + - - - Add - - This allows just the objects in a specified schema to be restored. - - + + + Create a new role system that replaces users and groups + (Stephen Frost) + - - - Allow pg_dump to dump large objects even in - text mode (Tom) - - - With this change, large objects are now always dumped; the former - - + + + Roles are a combination of users and groups. Like users, they + can have login capability, and like groups, a role can have + other roles as members. Roles basically remove the distinction + between users and groups. For example, a role can: + - - - Allow pg_dump to dump a consistent snapshot of - large objects (Tom) - - + - - - Dump comments for large objects (Tom) - - + + + Have login capability (optionally) + + - - - Add - - This allows a database to be dumped in an encoding that is - different from the server's encoding. This is valuable when - transferring the dump to a machine with a different encoding. - - + + + Own objects + + - - - Rely on pg_pltemplate for procedural languages (Tom) - - - If the call handler for a procedural language is in the - pg_catalog schema, pg_dump does not - dump the handler. Instead, it dumps the language using just - CREATE LANGUAGE name, - relying on the pg_pltemplate catalog to provide - the language's creation parameters at load time. - - + + + Hold access permissions for database objects + + - - + + + Inherit permissions from other roles it is a member of + + + + + Once a user logs into a role, she obtains capabilities of + the login role plus any inherited roles, and can use + SET ROLE to switch to other roles she is a member of. + This feature is a generalization of the SQL standard's concept of + roles. + This change also replaces pg_shadow and + pg_group by new role-capable catalogs + pg_authid and pg_auth_members. The old + tables are redefined as read-only views on the new role tables. + + + - - <application>libpq</application> Changes - + + + Automatically use indexes for MIN() and + MAX() (Tom) + - - - Add a PGPASSFILE environment variable to specify the - password file's filename (Andrew) - - + + + In previous releases, the only way to use an index for + MIN() or MAX() was to rewrite the + query as SELECT col FROM tab ORDER BY col LIMIT 1. + Index usage now happens automatically. + + + - - - Add lo_create(), that is similar to - lo_creat() but allows the OID of the large object - to be specified (Tom) - - + + + Move /contrib/pg_autovacuum into the main server + (Alvaro) + - - - Make libpq consistently return an error - to the client application on malloc() - failure (Neil) - - - - + + + Integrating autovacuum into the server allows it to be + automatically started and stopped in sync with the database + server, and allows autovacuum to be configured from + postgresql.conf. + + + + + + Add shared row level locks using SELECT ... FOR SHARE + (Alvaro) + - - Source Code Changes - + + + While PostgreSQL's MVCC locking + allows SELECT to never be blocked by writers and + therefore does not need shared row locks for typical operations, + shared locks are useful for applications that require shared row + locking. In particular this reduces the locking requirements + imposed by referential integrity checks. + + + - - - Fix pgxs to support building against a relocated - installation - - + + + Add dependencies on shared objects, specifically roles + (Alvaro) + - - - Add spinlock support for the Itanium processor using Intel - compiler (Vikram Kalsi) - - + + + This extension of the dependency mechanism prevents roles from + being dropped while there are still database objects they own. + Formerly it was possible to accidentally orphan objects by + deleting their owner. While this could be recovered from, it + was messy and unpleasant. + + + - - - Add Kerberos 5 support for Windows (Magnus) - - + + + Improve performance for partitioned tables (Simon) + - - - Add Chinese FAQ (laser@pgsqldb.com) - - + + + The new constraint_exclusion configuration + parameter avoids lookups on child tables where constraints indicate + that no matching rows exist in the child table. + + + This allows for a basic type of table partitioning. If child tables + store separate key ranges and this is enforced using appropriate + CHECK constraints, the optimizer will skip child + table accesses when the constraint guarantees no matching rows + exist in the child table. + + + - - - Rename Rendezvous to Bonjour to match OS/X feature renaming - (Bruce) - - + + - - - Add support for fsync_writethrough on - Darwin (Chris Campbell) - - + + Migration to Version 8.1 - - - Streamline the passing of information within the server, the - optimizer, and the lock system (Tom) - - + + A dump/restore using pg_dump is required + for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release. + - - - Allow pg_config to be compiled using MSVC (Andrew) - - - This is required to build DBD::Pg using MSVC. - - + + The 8.0 release announced that the to_char() function + for intervals would be removed in 8.1. However, since no better API + has been suggested, to_char(interval) has been enhanced in + 8.1 and will remain in the server. + - - - Remove support for Kerberos V4 (Magnus) - - - Kerberos 4 had security vulnerabilities and is no longer - maintained. - - + + Observe the following incompatibilities: + - - - Code cleanups (Coverity static analysis performed by - EnterpriseDB) - - + - - - Modify postgresql.conf to use documentation defaults - on/off rather than - true/false (Bruce) - - + + + add_missing_from is now false by default (Neil) + + + By default, we now generate an error if a table is used in a query + without a FROM reference. The old behavior is still + available, but the parameter must be set to 'true' to obtain it. + - - - Enhance pg_config to be able to report more - build-time values (Tom) - - + + It might be necessary to set add_missing_from to true + in order to load an existing dump file, if the dump contains any + views or rules created using the implicit-FROM syntax. + This should be a one-time annoyance, because + PostgreSQL 8.1 will convert + such views and rules to standard explicit-FROM syntax. + Subsequent dumps will therefore not have the problem. + + - - - Allow libpq to be built thread-safe - on Windows (Dave Page) - - + + + Cause input of a zero-length string ('') for + float4/float8/oid + to throw an error, rather than treating it as a zero (Neil) + + + This change is consistent with the current handling of + zero-length strings for integers. The schedule for this change + was announced in 8.0. + + - - - Allow IPv6 connections to be used on Windows (Andrew) - - + + + default_with_oids is now false by default (Neil) + + + With this option set to false, user-created tables no longer + have an OID column unless WITH OIDS is specified in + CREATE TABLE. Though OIDs have existed in all + releases of PostgreSQL, their use is limited + because they are only four bytes long and the counter is shared + across all installed databases. The preferred way of uniquely + identifying rows is via sequences and the SERIAL type, + which have been supported since PostgreSQL 6.4. + + - - - Add Server Administration documentation about I/O subsystem - reliability (Bruce) - - + + + Add E'' syntax so eventually ordinary strings can + treat backslashes literally (Bruce) + + + Currently PostgreSQL processes a + backslash in a string literal as introducing a special escape sequence, + e.g. \n or \010. + While this allows easy entry of special values, it is + nonstandard and makes porting of applications from other + databases more difficult. For this reason, the + PostgreSQL project is planning to + remove the special meaning of backslashes in strings. For + backward compatibility and for users who want special backslash + processing, a new string syntax has been created. This new string + syntax is formed by writing an E immediately preceding the + single quote that starts the string, e.g. E'hi\n'. While + this release does not change the handling of backslashes in strings, it + does add new configuration parameters to help users migrate applications + for future releases: + + - Move private declarations from gist.h to - gist_private.h (Neil) - - - - In previous releases, gist.h contained both the - public GiST API (intended for use by authors of GiST index - implementations) as well as some private declarations used by - the implementation of GiST itself. The latter have been moved - to a separate file, gist_private.h. Most GiST - index implementations should be unaffected. + standard_conforming_strings — does this release + treat backslashes literally in ordinary strings? - - Overhaul GiST memory management (Neil) - + + escape_string_warning — warn about backslashes in + ordinary (non-E) strings + + - - GiST methods are now always invoked in a short-lived memory - context. Therefore, memory allocated via palloc() - will be reclaimed automatically, so GiST index implementations - do not need to manually release allocated memory via - pfree(). - - - + + The standard_conforming_strings value is read-only. + Applications can retrieve the value to know how backslashes are + processed. (Presence of the parameter can also be taken as an + indication that E'' string syntax is supported.) + In a future release, standard_conforming_strings + will be true, meaning backslashes will be treated literally in + non-E strings. To prepare for this change, use E'' + strings in places that need special backslash processing, and + turn on escape_string_warning to find additional + strings that need to be converted to use E''. + Also, use two single-quotes ('') to embed a literal + single-quote in a string, rather than the + PostgreSQL-supported syntax of + backslash single-quote (\'). The former is + standards-conforming and does not require the use of the + E'' string syntax. You can also use the + $$ string syntax, which does not treat backslashes + specially. + + - - Contrib Changes - + + + Make REINDEX DATABASE reindex all indexes in the + database (Tom) + + + Formerly, REINDEX DATABASE reindexed only + system tables. This new behavior seems more intuitive. A new + command REINDEX SYSTEM provides the old functionality + of reindexing just the system tables. + + - - - Add /contrib/pg_buffercache contrib module (Mark - Kirkwood) - - - This displays the contents of the buffer cache, for debugging and - performance tuning purposes. - - + + + Read-only large object descriptors now obey MVCC snapshot semantics + + + When a large object is opened with INV_READ (and not + INV_WRITE), the data read from the descriptor will now + reflect a snapshot of the large object's state at the + time of the transaction snapshot in use by the query that called + lo_open(). To obtain the old behavior of always + returning the latest committed data, include INV_WRITE + in the mode flags for lo_open(). + + - - - Remove /contrib/array because it is obsolete (Tom) - - + + + Add proper dependencies for arguments of sequence functions (Tom) + + + In previous releases, sequence names passed to nextval(), + currval(), and setval() were stored as + simple text strings, meaning that renaming or dropping a + sequence used in a DEFAULT clause made the clause + invalid. This release stores all newly-created sequence function + arguments as internal OIDs, allowing them to track sequence + renaming, and adding dependency information that prevents + improper sequence removal. It also makes such DEFAULT + clauses immune to schema renaming and search path changes. + + + Some applications might rely on the old behavior of + run-time lookup for sequence names. This can still be done by + explicitly casting the argument to text, for example + nextval('myseq'::text). + + + Pre-8.1 database dumps loaded into 8.1 will use the old text-based + representation and therefore will not have the features of + OID-stored arguments. However, it is possible to update a + database containing text-based DEFAULT clauses. + First, save this query into a file, such as fixseq.sql: + +SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' || + pg_catalog.quote_ident(n.nspname) || '.' || + pg_catalog.quote_ident(c.relname) || + ' ALTER COLUMN ' || pg_catalog.quote_ident(a.attname) || + ' SET DEFAULT ' || + regexp_replace(d.adsrc, + $$val\(\(('[^']*')::text\)::regclass$$, + $$val(\1$$, + 'g') || + ';' +FROM pg_namespace n, pg_class c, pg_attribute a, pg_attrdef d +WHERE n.oid = c.relnamespace AND + c.oid = a.attrelid AND + a.attrelid = d.adrelid AND + a.attnum = d.adnum AND + d.adsrc ~ $$val\(\('[^']*'::text\)::regclass$$; + + Next, run the query against a database to find what + adjustments are required, like this for database db1: + +psql -t -f fixseq.sql db1 + + This will show the ALTER TABLE commands needed to + convert the database to the newer OID-based representation. + If the commands look reasonable, run this to update the database: + +psql -t -f fixseq.sql db1 | psql -e db1 + + This process must be repeated in each database to be updated. + + - - - Clean up the /contrib/lo module (Tom) - - + + + In psql, treat unquoted + \{digit}+ sequences as octal (Bruce) + + + In previous releases, \{digit}+ sequences were + treated as decimal, and only \0{digit}+ were treated + as octal. This change was made for consistency. + + - - - Move /contrib/findoidjoins to - /src/tools (Tom) - - + + + Remove grammar productions for prefix and postfix % + and ^ operators + (Tom) + + + These have never been documented and complicated the use of the + modulus operator (%) with negative numbers. + + - - - Remove the <<, >>, - &<, and &> operators from - /contrib/cube - - - These operators were not useful. - - + + + Make &< and &> for polygons + consistent with the box "over" operators (Tom) + + - - - Improve /contrib/btree_gist (Janko Richter) - - + + + CREATE LANGUAGE can ignore the provided arguments + in favor of information from pg_pltemplate + (Tom) + + + A new system catalog pg_pltemplate has been defined + to carry information about the preferred definitions of procedural + languages (such as whether they have validator functions). When + an entry exists in this catalog for the language being created, + CREATE LANGUAGE will ignore all its parameters except the + language name and instead use the catalog information. This measure + was taken because of increasing problems with obsolete language + definitions being loaded by old dump files. As of 8.1, + pg_dump will dump procedural language definitions as + just CREATE LANGUAGE name, relying + on a template entry to exist at load time. We expect this will be a + more future-proof representation. + + - - - Improve /contrib/pgbench (Tomoaki Sato, Tatsuo) - - - There is now a facility for testing with SQL command scripts given - by the user, instead of only a hard-wired command sequence. - - + + + Make pg_cancel_backend(int) return a + boolean rather than an integer (Neil) + + - - - Improve /contrib/pgcrypto (Marko Kreen) - + + + Some users are having problems loading UTF-8 data into 8.1.X. + This is because previous versions allowed invalid UTF-8 byte + sequences to be entered into the database, and this release + properly accepts only valid UTF-8 sequences. One way to correct a + dumpfile is to run the command iconv -c -f UTF-8 -t + UTF-8 -o cleanfile.sql dumpfile.sql. The -c option + removes invalid character sequences. A diff of the two files will + show the sequences that are invalid. iconv reads the + entire input file into memory so it might be necessary to use + split to break up the dump into multiple smaller + files for processing. + + - + + - - - Implementation of OpenPGP symmetric-key and public-key encryption - - - Both RSA and Elgamal public-key algorithms are supported. - - - - - - Stand alone build: include SHA256/384/512 hashes, Fortuna PRNG - - - - - - OpenSSL build: support 3DES, use internal AES with OpenSSL < 0.9.7 - - - - - - Take build parameters (OpenSSL, zlib) from configure result - - - There is no need to edit the Makefile anymore. - - - - - - Remove support for libmhash and libmcrypt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Release 8.0.14 - - - Release date - 2007-09-17 - + + Additional Changes - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.13. + Below you will find a detailed account of the additional changes + between PostgreSQL 8.1 and the + previous major release. - - Migration to version 8.0.14 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - - - - - - Changes - + + Performance Improvements - Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and - then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM - on the same table (Tom) + Improve GiST and R-tree index performance (Neil) - Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + Improve the optimizer, including auto-resizing of hash joins + (Tom) - Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) + Overhaul internal API in several areas - Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using - the syslogger process (Andrew) + Change WAL record CRCs from 64-bit to 32-bit (Tom) + + + We determined that the extra cost of computing 64-bit CRCs was + significant, and the gain in reliability too marginal to justify it. - Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out - of memory (Tom) + Prevent writing large empty gaps in WAL pages (Tom) - Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom) + Improve spinlock behavior on SMP machines, particularly Opterons (Tom) - Prevent CLUSTER from failing - due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) + Allow nonconsecutive index columns to be used in a multicolumn + index (Tom) + + + For example, this allows an index on columns a,b,c to be used in + a query with WHERE a = 4 and c = 10. - Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom) + Skip WAL logging for CREATE TABLE AS / + SELECT INTO (Simon) + + + Since a crash during CREATE TABLE AS would cause the + table to be dropped during recovery, there is no reason to WAL + log as the table is loaded. (Logging still happens if WAL + archiving is enabled, however.) - Windows socket improvements (Magnus) + Allow concurrent GiST index access (Teodor, Oleg) - Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows - because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom) + Add configuration parameter full_page_writes to + control writing full pages to WAL (Bruce) + + + To prevent partial disk writes from corrupting the database, + PostgreSQL writes a complete copy of + each database disk page to WAL the first time it is modified + after a checkpoint. This option turns off that functionality for more + speed. This is safe to use with battery-backed disk caches where + partial page writes cannot happen. - Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only - password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + Use O_DIRECT if available when using + O_SYNC for wal_sync_method + (Itagaki Takahiro) + + + O_DIRECT causes disk writes to bypass the kernel + cache, and for WAL writes, this improves performance. - - - - - - - Release 8.0.13 - - - Release date - 2007-04-23 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.12, - including a security fix. - - - - Migration to version 8.0.13 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - - - - - - Changes - - - - - Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within - search_path, and disable searching it for functions - and operators (Tom) - - - This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a - truly secure value of search_path. Without it, - an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code - with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). - See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. - + + Improve COPY FROM performance (Alon Goldshuv) + + + This was accomplished by reading COPY input in + larger chunks, rather than character by character. + - - /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) - + + Improve the performance of COUNT(), + SUM, AVG(), + STDDEV(), and + VARIANCE() (Neil, Tom) + + + - - - Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles - UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) - - + + Server Changes + - - Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 8.0.10) - (Tom) - + + Prevent problems due to transaction ID (XID) wraparound (Tom) + + + The server will now warn when the transaction counter approaches + the wraparound point. If the counter becomes too close to wraparound, + the server will stop accepting queries. This ensures that data is + not lost before needed vacuuming is performed. + - - Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom) - + + Fix problems with object IDs (OIDs) conflicting with existing system + objects after the OID counter has wrapped around (Tom) + - - - - - - - Release 8.0.12 - - - Release date - 2007-02-07 - - - - This release contains one fix from 8.0.11. - - - - Migration to version 8.0.12 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - - - - - - Changes - - - - - Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and - functional indexes(Tom) - + + Add warning about the need to increase + max_fsm_relations and max_fsm_pages + during VACUUM (Ron Mayer) + - - - - - - - Release 8.0.11 - - - Release date - 2007-02-05 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.10, including - a security fix. - - - - Migration to version 8.0.11 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - - - - - - Changes - - - - - Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users - to read backend memory (Tom) - - - The vulnerabilities involve suppressing the normal check that a SQL - function returns the data type it's declared to, and changing the - data type of a table column (CVE-2007-0555, CVE-2007-0556). These - errors can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in - principle might be used to read database content that the user - should not be able to access. - + + Add temp_buffers configuration parameter to allow + users to determine the size of the local buffer area for + temporary table access (Tom) + - - Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail - due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) - + + Add session start time and client IP address to + pg_stat_activity (Magnus) + - - Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) - + + Adjust pg_stat views for bitmap scans (Tom) + + + The meanings of some of the fields have changed slightly. + - - Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences - over three bytes long (Tom) - + + Enhance pg_locks view (Tom) + - - - - - - - Release 8.0.10 - - - Release date - 2007-01-08 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.9. - - - - Migration to version 8.0.10 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - - - - - - Changes - - - - Improve handling of getaddrinfo() on AIX (Tom) + Log queries for client-side PREPARE and + EXECUTE (Simon) + + - This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector, - among other things. + Allow Kerberos name and user name case sensitivity to be + specified in postgresql.conf (Magnus) - - - Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in - VACUUM (Tom) - - - - - - Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a - gigabyte boundary by VACUUM (Tom) - - - - - - Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) - - - - Fix possible deadlock in Windows signal handling (Teodor) + Add configuration parameter krb_server_hostname so + that the server host name can be specified as part of service + principal (Todd Kover) + + + If not set, any service principal matching an entry in the + keytab can be used. This is new Kerberos matching behavior in + this release. - Fix error when constructing an ARRAY[] made up of multiple - empty elements (Tom) + Add log_line_prefix options for millisecond + timestamps (%m) and remote host (%h) (Ed + L.) - Fix ecpg memory leak during connection (Michael) + Add WAL logging for GiST indexes (Teodor, Oleg) + + + GiST indexes are now safe for crash and point-in-time recovery. - to_number() and to_char(numeric) - are now STABLE, not IMMUTABLE, for - new initdb installs (Tom) + Remove old *.backup files when we do + pg_stop_backup() (Bruce) - - This is because lc_numeric can potentially - change the output of these functions. + This prevents a large number of *.backup files from + existing in pg_xlog/. - Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + Add configuration parameters to control TCP/IP keep-alive + times for idle, interval, and count (Oliver Jowett) - This improves psql \d performance also. + These values can be changed to allow more rapid detection of + lost client connections. - Update timezone database + Add per-user and per-database connection limits (Petr Jelinek) - - This affects Australian and Canadian daylight-savings rules in - particular. + Using ALTER USER and ALTER DATABASE, + limits can now be enforced on the maximum number of sessions that + can concurrently connect as a specific user or to a specific database. + Setting the limit to zero disables user or database connections. - + + + Allow more than two gigabytes of shared memory and per-backend + work memory on 64-bit machines (Koichi Suzuki) + + - - + + + New system catalog pg_pltemplate allows overriding + obsolete procedural-language definitions in dump files (Tom) + + - - Release 8.0.9 + + - - Release date - 2006-10-16 - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.8. - + + Query Changes + - - Migration to version 8.0.9 + + + Add temporary views (Koju Iijima, Neil) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - + + + Fix HAVING without any aggregate functions or + GROUP BY so that the query returns a single group (Tom) + + + Previously, such a case would treat the HAVING + clause the same as a WHERE clause. This was not per spec. + + - + + + Add USING clause to allow additional tables to be + specified to DELETE (Euler Taveira de Oliveira, Neil) + + + In prior releases, there was no clear method for specifying + additional tables to be used for joins in a DELETE + statement. UPDATE already has a FROM + clause for this purpose. + + - - Changes + + + Add support for \x hex escapes in backend and ecpg + strings (Bruce) + + + This is just like the standard C \x escape syntax. + Octal escapes were already supported. + + - -Fix crash when referencing NEW row -values in rule WHERE expressions (Tom) -Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as -ANYARRAY -Fix mishandling of AFTER triggers when query contains a SQL -function returning multiple rows (Tom) -Fix ALTER TABLE ... TYPE to recheck -NOT NULL for USING clause (Tom) -Fix string_to_array() to handle overlapping - matches for the separator string -For example, string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx'). - -Fix corner cases in pattern matching for - psql's \d commands -Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree - (Teodor) -Numerous robustness fixes in ecpg (Joachim -Wieland) -Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror -Fix instability of statistics collection on Win32 (Tom, Andrew) -Fixes for AIX and -Intel compilers (Tom) - + + + Add BETWEEN SYMMETRIC query syntax (Pavel Stehule) + + + This feature allows BETWEEN comparisons without + requiring the first value to be less than the second. For + example, 2 BETWEEN [ASYMMETRIC] 3 AND 1 returns + false, while 2 BETWEEN SYMMETRIC 3 AND 1 returns + true. BETWEEN ASYMMETRIC was already supported. + + - - + + + Add NOWAIT option to SELECT ... FOR + UPDATE/SHARE (Hans-Juergen Schoenig) + + + While the statement_timeout configuration + parameter allows a query taking more than a certain amount of + time to be cancelled, the NOWAIT option allows a + query to be canceled as soon as a SELECT ... FOR + UPDATE/SHARE command cannot immediately acquire a row lock. + + + + - - Release 8.0.8 - - Release date - 2006-05-23 - + + Object Manipulation Changes + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.7, - including patches for extremely serious security issues. - + + + Track dependencies of shared objects (Alvaro) + + + PostgreSQL allows global tables + (users, databases, tablespaces) to reference information in + multiple databases. This addition adds dependency information + for global tables, so, for example, user ownership can be + tracked across databases, so a user who owns something in any + database can no longer be removed. Dependency tracking already + existed for database-local objects. + + - - Migration to version 8.0.8 + + + Allow limited ALTER OWNER commands to be performed + by the object owner (Stephen Frost) + + + Prior releases allowed only superusers to change object owners. + Now, ownership can be transferred if the user executing the command + owns the object and would be able to create it as the new owner + (that is, the user is a member of the new owning role and that role + has the CREATE permission that would be needed to create the object + afresh). + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - + + + Add ALTER object SET SCHEMA capability + for some object types (tables, functions, types) (Bernd Helmle) + + + This allows objects to be moved to different schemas. + + - - Full security against the SQL-injection attacks described in - CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314 might require changes in application - code. If you have applications that embed untrustworthy strings - into SQL commands, you should examine them as soon as possible to - ensure that they are using recommended escaping techniques. In - most cases, applications should be using subroutines provided by - libraries or drivers (such as libpq's - PQescapeStringConn()) to perform string escaping, - rather than relying on ad hoc code to do it. - - + + + Add ALTER TABLE ENABLE/DISABLE TRIGGER to + disable triggers (Satoshi Nagayasu) + + - - Changes + + - -Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte -characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom) -While PostgreSQL has been moving in this direction for -some time, the checks are now applied uniformly to all encodings and all -textual input, and are now always errors not merely warnings. This change -defends against SQL-injection attacks of the type described in CVE-2006-2313. - -Reject unsafe uses of \' in string literals -As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type -described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts '' and not -\' as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string -literals. By default, \' is rejected only when -client_encoding is set to a client-only encoding (SJIS, BIG5, GBK, -GB18030, or UHC), which is the scenario in which SQL injection is possible. -A new configuration parameter backslash_quote is available to -adjust this behavior when needed. Note that full security against -CVE-2006-2314 might require client-side changes; the purpose of -backslash_quote is in part to make it obvious that insecure -clients are insecure. - + + Utility Command Changes + -Modify libpq's string-escaping routines to be -aware of encoding considerations and -standard_conforming_strings -This fixes libpq-using applications for the security -issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314, and also future-proofs -them against the planned changeover to SQL-standard string literal syntax. -Applications that use multiple PostgreSQL connections -concurrently should migrate to PQescapeStringConn() and -PQescapeByteaConn() to ensure that escaping is done correctly -for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that -do string escaping by hand should be modified to rely on library -routines instead. - + + + Allow TRUNCATE to truncate multiple tables in a + single command (Alvaro) + + + Because of referential integrity checks, it is not allowed to + truncate a table that is part of a referential integrity + constraint. Using this new functionality, TRUNCATE + can be used to truncate such tables, if both tables involved in + a referential integrity constraint are truncated in a single + TRUNCATE command. + + -Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions -win1251_to_iso, alt_to_iso, -euc_tw_to_big5, euc_tw_to_mic, -mic_to_euc_tw were all broken to varying -extents. - + + + Properly process carriage returns and line feeds in + COPY CSV mode (Andrew) + + + In release 8.0, carriage returns and line feeds in CSV + COPY TO were processed in an inconsistent manner. (This was + documented on the TODO list.) + + -Clean up stray remaining uses of \' in strings -(Bruce, Jan) + + + Add COPY WITH CSV HEADER to allow a header line as + the first line in COPY (Andrew) + + + This allows handling of the common CSV usage of + placing the column names on the first line of the data file. For + COPY TO, the first line contains the column names, + and for COPY FROM, the first line is ignored. + + -Fix bug that sometimes caused OR'd index scans to -miss rows they should have returned + + + On Windows, display better sub-second precision in + EXPLAIN ANALYZE (Magnus) + + -Fix WAL replay for case where a btree index has been -truncated + + + Add trigger duration display to EXPLAIN ANALYZE + (Tom) + + + Prior releases included trigger execution time as part of the + total execution time, but did not show it separately. It is now + possible to see how much time is spent in each trigger. + + -Fix SIMILAR TO for patterns involving -| (Tom) + + + Add support for \x hex escapes in COPY + (Sergey Ten) + + + Previous releases only supported octal escapes. + + -Fix SELECT INTO and CREATE TABLE AS to -create tables in the default tablespace, not the base directory (Kris -Jurka) + + + Make SHOW ALL include variable descriptions + (Matthias Schmidt) + + + SHOW varname still only displays the variable's + value and does not include the description. + + -Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael -Fuhr) + + + Make initdb create a new standard + database called postgres, and convert utilities to + use postgres rather than template1 for + standard lookups (Dave) + + + In prior releases, template1 was used both as a + default connection for utilities like + createuser, and as a template for + new databases. This caused CREATE DATABASE to + sometimes fail, because a new database cannot be created if + anyone else is in the template database. With this change, the + default connection database is now postgres, + meaning it is much less likely someone will be using + template1 during CREATE DATABASE. + + -Fix for Bonjour on Intel Macs (Ashley Clark) + + + Create new reindexdb command-line + utility by moving /contrib/reindexdb into the + server (Euler Taveira de Oliveira) + + -Fix various minor memory leaks + + -Fix problem with password prompting on some Win32 systems -(Robert Kinberg) - - - + + Data Type and Function Changes + - - Release 8.0.7 + + + Add MAX() and MIN() aggregates for + array types (Koju Iijima) + + - - Release date - 2006-02-14 - + + + Fix to_date() and to_timestamp() to + behave reasonably when CC and YY fields + are both used (Karel Zak) + + + If the format specification contains CC and a year + specification is YYY or longer, ignore the + CC. If the year specification is YY or + shorter, interpret CC as the previous century. + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.6. - + + + Add md5(bytea) (Abhijit Menon-Sen) + + + md5(text) already existed. + + - - Migration to version 8.0.7 + + + Add support for numeric ^ numeric based on + power(numeric, numeric) + + + The function already existed, but there was no operator assigned + to it. + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release - notes for 8.0.6. - - + + + Fix NUMERIC modulus by properly truncating the quotient + during computation (Bruce) + + + In previous releases, modulus for large values sometimes + returned negative results due to rounding of the quotient. + + - - Changes + + + Add a function lastval() (Dennis Björklund) + + + lastval() is a simplified version of + currval(). It automatically determines the proper + sequence name based on the most recent nextval() or + setval() call performed by the current session. + + - + + + Add to_timestamp(DOUBLE PRECISION) (Michael Glaesemann) + + + Converts Unix seconds since 1970 to a TIMESTAMP WITH + TIMEZONE. + + -Fix potential crash in SET -SESSION AUTHORIZATION (CVE-2006-0553) -An unprivileged user could crash the server process, resulting in -momentary denial of service to other users, if the server has been compiled -with Asserts enabled (which is not the default). -Thanks to Akio Ishida for reporting this problem. - + + + Add pg_postmaster_start_time() function (Euler + Taveira de Oliveira, Matthias Schmidt) + + -Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted -rows (Tom) -Under rare circumstances a row inserted by the current command -could be seen as already valid, when it should not be. Repairs bug -created in 8.0.4, 7.4.9, and 7.3.11 releases. - + + + Allow the full use of time zone names in AT TIME + ZONE, not just the short list previously available (Magnus) + + + Previously, only a predefined list of time zone names were + supported by AT TIME ZONE. Now any supported time + zone name can be used, e.g.: + + SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AT TIME ZONE 'Europe/London'; + + In the above query, the time zone used is adjusted based on the + daylight saving time rules that were in effect on the supplied + date. + + -Fix race condition that could lead to file already -exists errors during pg_clog and pg_subtrans file creation -(Tom) + + + Add GREATEST() and LEAST() variadic + functions (Pavel Stehule) + + + These functions take a variable number of arguments and return + the greatest or least value among the arguments. + + -Fix cases that could lead to crashes if a cache-invalidation -message arrives at just the wrong time (Tom) + + + Add pg_column_size() (Mark Kirkwood) + + + This returns storage size of a column, which might be compressed. + + -Properly check DOMAIN constraints for -UNKNOWN parameters in prepared statements -(Neil) + + + Add regexp_replace() (Atsushi Ogawa) + + + This allows regular expression replacement, like sed. An optional + flag argument allows selection of global (replace all) and + case-insensitive modes. + + -Ensure ALTER COLUMN TYPE will process -FOREIGN KEY, UNIQUE, and PRIMARY KEY -constraints in the proper order (Nakano Yoshihisa) + + + Fix interval division and multiplication (Bruce) + + + Previous versions sometimes returned unjustified results, like + '4 months'::interval / 5 returning '1 mon + -6 days'. + + -Fixes to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema -references to custom operators or operator classes (Tom) + + + Fix roundoff behavior in timestamp, time, and interval output (Tom) + + + This fixes some cases in which the seconds field would be shown as + 60 instead of incrementing the higher-order fields. + + -Allow pg_restore to continue properly after a -COPY failure; formerly it tried to treat the remaining -COPY data as SQL commands (Stephen Frost) + + + Add a separate day field to type interval so a one day + interval can be distinguished from a 24 hour interval (Michael + Glaesemann) + + + Days that contain a daylight saving time adjustment are not 24 + hours long, but typically 23 or 25 hours. This change creates a + conceptual distinction between intervals of so many days + and intervals of so many hours. Adding + 1 day to a timestamp now gives the same local time on + the next day even if a daylight saving time adjustment occurs + between, whereas adding 24 hours will give a different + local time when this happens. For example, under US DST rules: + + '2005-04-03 00:00:00-05' + '1 day' = '2005-04-04 00:00:00-04' + '2005-04-03 00:00:00-05' + '24 hours' = '2005-04-04 01:00:00-04' + + + -Fix pg_ctl unregister crash -when the data directory is not specified (Magnus) + + + Add justify_days() and justify_hours() + (Michael Glaesemann) + + + These functions, respectively, adjust days to an appropriate + number of full months and days, and adjust hours to an + appropriate number of full days and hours. + + -Fix ecpg crash on AMD64 and PPC -(Neil) + + + Move /contrib/dbsize into the backend, and rename + some of the functions (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) + + + -Recover properly if error occurs during argument passing -in PL/python (Neil) + + + pg_tablespace_size() + + -Fix PL/perl's handling of locales on -Win32 to match the backend (Andrew) + + + pg_database_size() + + -Fix crash when log_min_messages is set to -DEBUG3 or above in postgresql.conf on Win32 -(Bruce) + + + pg_relation_size() + + -Fix pgxs -L library path -specification for Win32, Cygwin, OS X, AIX (Bruce) + + + pg_total_relation_size() + + -Check that SID is enabled while checking for Win32 admin -privileges (Magnus) + + + pg_size_pretty() + + -Properly reject out-of-range date inputs (Kris -Jurka) + + + + pg_total_relation_size() includes indexes and TOAST + tables. + + -Portability fix for testing presence of finite -and isinf during configure (Tom) + + + Add functions for read-only file access to the cluster directory + (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) + + + - + + + pg_stat_file() + + - - + + + pg_read_file() + + - - Release 8.0.6 + + + pg_ls_dir() + + - - Release date - 2006-01-09 - + + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.5. - + + + Add pg_reload_conf() to force reloading of the + configuration files (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) + + - - Migration to version 8.0.6 + + + Add pg_rotate_logfile() to force rotation of the + server log file (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.3, see the release - notes for 8.0.3. - Also, you might need to REINDEX indexes on textual - columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or - plperl issues described below. - - + + + Change pg_stat_* views to include TOAST tables (Tom) + + - - Changes + + - -Fix Windows code so that postmaster will continue rather -than exit if there is no more room in ShmemBackendArray (Magnus) -The previous behavior could lead to a denial-of-service situation if too -many connection requests arrive close together. This applies -only to the Windows port. + + Encoding and Locale Changes + -Fix bug introduced in 8.0 that could allow ReadBuffer -to return an already-used page as new, potentially causing loss of -recently-committed data (Tom) + + + Rename some encodings to be more consistent and to follow + international standards (Bruce) + + + -Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued -outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom) + + + UNICODE is now UTF8 + + -Fix character string comparison for locales that consider -different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom) -This might require REINDEX to fix existing indexes on -textual columns. + + + ALT is now WIN866 + + -Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup -to ensure that plperl won't change the locale later -This fixes a problem that occurred if the postmaster was -started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what -initdb had been told. Under these conditions, any use of -plperl was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need -REINDEX to fix existing indexes on -textual columns if this has happened to you. + + + WIN is now WIN1251 + + -Allow more flexible relocation of installation -directories (Tom) -Previous releases supported relocation only if all installation -directory paths were the same except for the last component. + + + TCVN is now WIN1258 + + -Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression -handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo) - + + -Various fixes for functions returning RECORDs -(Tom) + + The original names still work. + + -Fix bug in /contrib/pgcrypto gen_salt, -which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and -XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer) -Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected. + + + Add support for WIN1252 encoding (Roland Volkmann) + + -Fix /contrib/dblink to throw an error, -rather than crashing, when the number of columns specified is different from -what's actually returned by the query (Joe) + + + Add support for four-byte UTF8 characters (John + Hansen) + + + Previously only one, two, and three-byte UTF8 characters + were supported. This is particularly important for support for + some Chinese character sets. + + - + + + Allow direct conversion between EUC_JP and + SJIS to improve performance (Atsushi Ogawa) + + - - + + + Allow the UTF8 encoding to work on Windows (Magnus) + + + This is done by mapping UTF8 to the Windows-native UTF16 + implementation. + + - - Release 8.0.5 + + - - Release date - 2005-12-12 - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.4. - + + General Server-Side Language Changes + - - Migration to version 8.0.5 + + + Fix ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME (Sergey Yatskevich) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.3, see the release - notes for 8.0.3. - - + + + Allow function characteristics, like strictness and volatility, + to be modified via ALTER FUNCTION (Neil) + + - - Changes + + + Increase the maximum number of function arguments to 100 (Tom) + + - + + + Allow SQL and PL/PgSQL functions to use OUT and + INOUT parameters (Tom) + + + OUT is an alternate way for a function to return + values. Instead of using RETURN, values can be + returned by assigning to parameters declared as OUT or + INOUT. This is notationally simpler in some cases, + particularly so when multiple values need to be returned. + While returning multiple values from a function + was possible in previous releases, this greatly simplifies the + process. (The feature will be extended to other server-side + languages in future releases.) + + -Fix race condition in transaction log management -There was a narrow window in which an I/O operation could be initiated -for the wrong page, leading to an Assert failure or data -corruption. - + + + Move language handler functions into the pg_catalog schema + + + This makes it easier to drop the public schema if desired. + + -Fix bgwriter problems after recovering from errors -(Tom) - -The background writer was found to leak buffer pins after write errors. -While not fatal in itself, this might lead to mysterious blockages of -later VACUUM commands. - - + + + Add SPI_getnspname() to SPI (Neil) + + -Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message -when current transaction is already aborted + + -/contrib/ltree fixes (Teodor) + + PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language Changes + -AIX and HPUX compile fixes (Tom) + + + Overhaul the memory management of PL/PgSQL functions (Neil) + + + The parsetree of each function is now stored in a separate + memory context. This allows this memory to be easily reclaimed + when it is no longer needed. + + -Retry file reads and writes after Windows -NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES error (Qingqing Zhou) + + + Check function syntax at CREATE FUNCTION time, + rather than at runtime (Neil) + + + Previously, most syntax errors were reported only when the + function was executed. + + -Fix intermittent failure when log_line_prefix -includes %i + + + Allow OPEN to open non-SELECT queries + like EXPLAIN and SHOW (Tom) + + -Fix psql performance issue with long scripts -on Windows (Merlin Moncure) + + + No longer require functions to issue a RETURN + statement (Tom) + + + This is a byproduct of the newly added OUT and + INOUT functionality. RETURN can + be omitted when it is not needed to provide the function's + return value. + + -Fix missing updates of pg_group flat -file + + + Add support for an optional INTO clause to + PL/PgSQL's EXECUTE statement (Pavel Stehule, Neil) + + -Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins -This bug sometimes caused a bogus error RIGHT JOIN is -only supported with merge-joinable join conditions. + + + Make CREATE TABLE AS set ROW_COUNT (Tom) + + -Postpone timezone initialization until after -postmaster.pid is created -This avoids confusing startup scripts that expect the pid file to appear -quickly. + + + Define SQLSTATE and SQLERRM to return + the SQLSTATE and error message of the current + exception (Pavel Stehule, Neil) + + + These variables are only defined inside exception blocks. + + -Prevent core dump in pg_autovacuum when a -table has been dropped + + + Allow the parameters to the RAISE statement to be + expressions (Pavel Stehule, Neil) + + -Fix problems with whole-row references (foo.*) -to subquery results - + + + Add a loop CONTINUE statement (Pavel Stehule, Neil) + + - - + + + Allow block and loop labels (Pavel Stehule) + + - - Release 8.0.4 + + - - Release date - 2005-10-04 - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.3. - + + PL/Perl Server-Side Language Changes + - - Migration to version 8.0.4 + + + Allow large result sets to be returned efficiently (Abhijit + Menon-Sen) + + + This allows functions to use return_next() to avoid + building the entire result set in memory. + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.3, see the release - notes for 8.0.3. - - + + + Allow one-row-at-a-time retrieval of query results (Abhijit Menon-Sen) + + + This allows functions to use spi_query() and + spi_fetchrow() to avoid accumulating the entire + result set in memory. + + - - Changes + + + Force PL/Perl to handle strings as UTF8 if the + server encoding is UTF8 (David Kamholz) + + - -Fix error that allowed VACUUM to remove -ctid chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows -ctid links -This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare -circumstances. -Fix CHAR() to properly pad spaces to the specified -length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba) -In prior releases, the padding of CHAR() was incorrect -because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without -considering how many characters were stored. -Force a checkpoint before committing CREATE -DATABASE -This should fix recent reports of index is not a btree -failures when a crash occurs shortly after CREATE -DATABASE. -Fix the sense of the test for read-only transaction -in COPY -The code formerly prohibited COPY TO, where it should -prohibit COPY FROM. - -Handle consecutive embedded newlines in COPY -CSV-mode input -Fix date_trunc(week) for dates near year -end -Fix planning problem with outer-join ON clauses that reference -only the inner-side relation -Further fixes for x FULL JOIN y ON true corner -cases -Fix overenthusiastic optimization of x IN (SELECT -DISTINCT ...) and related cases -Fix mis-planning of queries with small LIMIT -values due to poorly thought out fuzzy cost -comparison -Make array_in and array_recv more -paranoid about validating their OID parameter -Fix missing rows in queries like UPDATE a=... WHERE -a... with GiST index on column a -Improve robustness of datetime parsing -Improve checking for partially-written WAL -pages -Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is -enabled -Improve MIPS and M68K spinlock code -Don't try to open more than max_files_per_process -files during postmaster startup -Various memory leakage fixes -Various portability improvements -Update timezone data files -Improve handling of DLL load failures on Windows -Improve random-number generation on Windows -Make psql -f filename return a nonzero exit code -when opening the file fails -Change pg_dump to handle inherited check -constraints more reliably -Fix password prompting in pg_restore on -Windows -Fix PL/PgSQL to handle var := var correctly when -the variable is of pass-by-reference type -Fix PL/Perl %_SHARED so it's actually -shared -Fix contrib/pg_autovacuum to allow sleep -intervals over 2000 sec -Update contrib/tsearch2 to use current Snowball -code + + + Add a validator function for PL/Perl (Andrew) + + + This allows syntax errors to be reported at definition time, + rather than execution time. + + + + + + Allow PL/Perl to return a Perl array when the function returns + an array type (Andrew) + + + This basically maps PostgreSQL arrays + to Perl arrays. + + + + + + Allow Perl nonfatal warnings to generate NOTICE + messages (Andrew) + + + + + + Allow Perl's strict mode to be enabled (Andrew) + + + + + + + + + <application>psql</> Changes + + + + + Add \set ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK to allow statements in + a transaction to error without affecting the rest of the + transaction (Greg Sabino Mullane) + + + This is basically implemented by wrapping every statement in a + sub-transaction. + + + + + + Add support for \x hex strings in + psql variables (Bruce) + + + Octal escapes were already supported. + + + + + + Add support for troff -ms output format (Roger + Leigh) + + + + + + Allow the history file location to be controlled by + HISTFILE (Andreas Seltenreich) + + + This allows configuration of per-database history storage. + + + + + + Prevent \x (expanded mode) from affecting + the output of \d tablename (Neil) + + + + + + Add + + This option was added because some operating systems do not have + simple command-line activity logging functionality. + + + + + + Make \d show the tablespaces of indexes (Qingqing + Zhou) + + + + + + Allow psql help (\h) to + make a best guess on the proper help information (Greg Sabino + Mullane) + + + This allows the user to just add \h to the front of + the syntax error query and get help on the supported syntax. + Previously any additional query text beyond the command name + had to be removed to use \h. + + + + + + Add \pset numericlocale to allow numbers to be + output in a locale-aware format (Eugen Nedelcu) + + + For example, using C locale 100000 would + be output as 100,000.0 while a European locale might + output this value as 100.000,0. + + + + + + Make startup banner show both server version number and + psql's version number, when they are different (Bruce) + + + Also, a warning will be shown if the server and psql + are from different major releases. + + + + + + + + + <application>pg_dump</> Changes + + + + + Add + + This allows just the objects in a specified schema to be restored. + + + + + + Allow pg_dump to dump large objects even in + text mode (Tom) + + + With this change, large objects are now always dumped; the former + + + + + + Allow pg_dump to dump a consistent snapshot of + large objects (Tom) + + + + + + Dump comments for large objects (Tom) + + + + + + Add + + This allows a database to be dumped in an encoding that is + different from the server's encoding. This is valuable when + transferring the dump to a machine with a different encoding. + + + + + + Rely on pg_pltemplate for procedural languages (Tom) + + + If the call handler for a procedural language is in the + pg_catalog schema, pg_dump does not + dump the handler. Instead, it dumps the language using just + CREATE LANGUAGE name, + relying on the pg_pltemplate catalog to provide + the language's creation parameters at load time. + + + + + + + + + <application>libpq</application> Changes + + + + + Add a PGPASSFILE environment variable to specify the + password file's filename (Andrew) + + + + + + Add lo_create(), that is similar to + lo_creat() but allows the OID of the large object + to be specified (Tom) + + + + + + Make libpq consistently return an error + to the client application on malloc() + failure (Neil) + + + + + + + + Source Code Changes + + + + + Fix pgxs to support building against a relocated + installation + + + + + + Add spinlock support for the Itanium processor using Intel + compiler (Vikram Kalsi) + + + + + + Add Kerberos 5 support for Windows (Magnus) + + + + + + Add Chinese FAQ (laser@pgsqldb.com) + + + + + + Rename Rendezvous to Bonjour to match OS/X feature renaming + (Bruce) + + + + + + Add support for fsync_writethrough on + Darwin (Chris Campbell) + + + + + + Streamline the passing of information within the server, the + optimizer, and the lock system (Tom) + + + + + + Allow pg_config to be compiled using MSVC (Andrew) + + + This is required to build DBD::Pg using MSVC. + + + + + + Remove support for Kerberos V4 (Magnus) + + + Kerberos 4 had security vulnerabilities and is no longer + maintained. + + + + + + Code cleanups (Coverity static analysis performed by + EnterpriseDB) + + + + + + Modify postgresql.conf to use documentation defaults + on/off rather than + true/false (Bruce) + + + + + + Enhance pg_config to be able to report more + build-time values (Tom) + + + + + + Allow libpq to be built thread-safe + on Windows (Dave Page) + + + + + + Allow IPv6 connections to be used on Windows (Andrew) + + + + + + Add Server Administration documentation about I/O subsystem + reliability (Bruce) + + + + + + Move private declarations from gist.h to + gist_private.h (Neil) + + + + In previous releases, gist.h contained both the + public GiST API (intended for use by authors of GiST index + implementations) as well as some private declarations used by + the implementation of GiST itself. The latter have been moved + to a separate file, gist_private.h. Most GiST + index implementations should be unaffected. + + + + + + Overhaul GiST memory management (Neil) + + + + GiST methods are now always invoked in a short-lived memory + context. Therefore, memory allocated via palloc() + will be reclaimed automatically, so GiST index implementations + do not need to manually release allocated memory via + pfree(). + + + + + + + + Contrib Changes + + + + + Add /contrib/pg_buffercache contrib module (Mark + Kirkwood) + + + This displays the contents of the buffer cache, for debugging and + performance tuning purposes. + + + + + + Remove /contrib/array because it is obsolete (Tom) + + + + + + Clean up the /contrib/lo module (Tom) + + + + + + Move /contrib/findoidjoins to + /src/tools (Tom) + + + + + + Remove the <<, >>, + &<, and &> operators from + /contrib/cube + + + These operators were not useful. + + + + + + Improve /contrib/btree_gist (Janko Richter) + + + + + + Improve /contrib/pgbench (Tomoaki Sato, Tatsuo) + + + There is now a facility for testing with SQL command scripts given + by the user, instead of only a hard-wired command sequence. + + + + + + Improve /contrib/pgcrypto (Marko Kreen) + + + + + + + Implementation of OpenPGP symmetric-key and public-key encryption + + + Both RSA and Elgamal public-key algorithms are supported. + + + + + + Stand alone build: include SHA256/384/512 hashes, Fortuna PRNG + + + + + + OpenSSL build: support 3DES, use internal AES with OpenSSL < 0.9.7 + + + + + + Take build parameters (OpenSSL, zlib) from configure result + + + There is no need to edit the Makefile anymore. + + + + + + Remove support for libmhash and libmcrypt + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.15 + + + Release date + 2008-01-07 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.14, + including fixes for significant security issues. + + + + This is the last 8.0.X release for which the PostgreSQL + community will produce binary packages for Windows. + Windows users are encouraged to move to 8.2.X or later, + since there are Windows-specific fixes in 8.2.X that + are impractical to back-port. 8.0.X will continue to + be supported on other platforms. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.15 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of + the user running VACUUM, ANALYZE, etc (Tom) + + + + Functions used in index expressions and partial-index + predicates are evaluated whenever a new table entry is made. It has + long been understood that this poses a risk of trojan-horse code + execution if one modifies a table owned by an untrustworthy user. + (Note that triggers, defaults, check constraints, etc. pose the + same type of risk.) But functions in indexes pose extra danger + because they will be executed by routine maintenance operations + such as VACUUM FULL, which are commonly performed + automatically under a superuser account. For example, a nefarious user + can execute code with superuser privileges by setting up a + trojan-horse index definition and waiting for the next routine vacuum. + The fix arranges for standard maintenance operations + (including VACUUM, ANALYZE, REINDEX, + and CLUSTER) to execute as the table owner rather than + the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already + used for SECURITY DEFINER functions. To prevent bypassing + this security measure, execution of SET SESSION + AUTHORIZATION and SET ROLE is now forbidden within a + SECURITY DEFINER context. (CVE-2007-6600) + + + + + + Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry) + + + + Suitably crafted regular-expression patterns could cause crashes, + infinite or near-infinite looping, and/or massive memory consumption, + all of which pose denial-of-service hazards for applications that + accept regex search patterns from untrustworthy sources. + (CVE-2007-4769, CVE-2007-4772, CVE-2007-6067) + + + + + + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + + + + The fix that appeared for this in 8.0.14 was incomplete, as it plugged + the hole for only some dblink functions. (CVE-2007-6601, + CVE-2007-3278) + + + + + + Update time zone data files to tzdata release 2007k + (in particular, recent Argentina changes) (Tom) + + + + + + Fix planner failure in some cases of WHERE false AND var IN + (SELECT ...) (Tom) + + + + + + Preserve the tablespace of indexes that are + rebuilt by ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN TYPE (Tom) + + + + + + Make archive recovery always start a new WAL timeline, rather than only + when a recovery stop time was used (Simon) + + + + This avoids a corner-case risk of trying to overwrite an existing + archived copy of the last WAL segment, and seems simpler and cleaner + than the original definition. + + + + + + Make VACUUM not use all of maintenance_work_mem + when the table is too small for it to be useful (Alvaro) + + + + + + Fix potential crash in translate() when using a multibyte + database encoding (Tom) + + + + + + Fix PL/Perl to cope when platform's Perl defines type bool + as int rather than char (Tom) + + + + While this could theoretically happen anywhere, no standard build of + Perl did things this way ... until Mac OS X 10.5. + + + + + + Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro) + + + + + + Fix pg_dump to correctly handle inheritance child tables + that have default expressions different from their parent's (Tom) + + + + + + ecpg parser fixes (Michael) + + + + + + Make contrib/tablefunc's crosstab() handle + NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe) + + + + + + Fix tsvector and tsquery output routines to + escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce) + + + + + + Fix crash of to_tsvector() on huge input strings (Teodor) + + + + + + Require a specific version of Autoconf to be used + when re-generating the configure script (Peter) + + + + This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made + to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of + Autoconf and PostgreSQL versions. + You can remove the version check if you really want to use a + different Autoconf version, but it's + your responsibility whether the result works or not. + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.14 + + + Release date + 2007-09-17 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.13. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.14 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and + then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM + on the same table (Tom) + + + + + + Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + + + + + + Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) + + + + + + Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using + the syslogger process (Andrew) + + + + + + Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out + of memory (Tom) + + + + + + Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom) + + + + + + Prevent CLUSTER from failing + due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) + + + + + + Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom) + + + + + + Windows socket improvements (Magnus) + + + + + + Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows + because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom) + + + + + + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.13 + + + Release date + 2007-04-23 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.12, + including a security fix. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.13 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within + search_path, and disable searching it for functions + and operators (Tom) + + + This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a + truly secure value of search_path. Without it, + an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code + with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). + See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. + + + + + + /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) + + + + + + Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles + UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) + + + + + + Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 8.0.10) + (Tom) + + + + + + Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom) + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.12 + + + Release date + 2007-02-07 + + + + This release contains one fix from 8.0.11. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.12 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and + functional indexes(Tom) + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.11 + + + Release date + 2007-02-05 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.10, including + a security fix. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.11 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users + to read backend memory (Tom) + + + The vulnerabilities involve suppressing the normal check that a SQL + function returns the data type it's declared to, and changing the + data type of a table column (CVE-2007-0555, CVE-2007-0556). These + errors can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in + principle might be used to read database content that the user + should not be able to access. + + + + + + Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail + due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) + + + + + + Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) + + + + + + Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences + over three bytes long (Tom) + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.10 + + + Release date + 2007-01-08 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.9. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.10 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Improve handling of getaddrinfo() on AIX (Tom) + + + + This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector, + among other things. + + + + + + Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in + VACUUM (Tom) + + + + + + Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a + gigabyte boundary by VACUUM (Tom) + + + + + + Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) + + + + + + Fix possible deadlock in Windows signal handling (Teodor) + + + + + + Fix error when constructing an ARRAY[] made up of multiple + empty elements (Tom) + + + + + + Fix ecpg memory leak during connection (Michael) + + + + + + to_number() and to_char(numeric) + are now STABLE, not IMMUTABLE, for + new initdb installs (Tom) + + + + This is because lc_numeric can potentially + change the output of these functions. + + + + + + Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + + + + This improves psql \d performance also. + + + + + + Update timezone database + + + + This affects Australian and Canadian daylight-savings rules in + particular. + + + + + + + + + + Release 8.0.9 + + + Release date + 2006-10-16 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.8. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.9 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + + + Changes + + +Fix crash when referencing NEW row +values in rule WHERE expressions (Tom) +Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as +ANYARRAY +Fix mishandling of AFTER triggers when query contains a SQL +function returning multiple rows (Tom) +Fix ALTER TABLE ... TYPE to recheck +NOT NULL for USING clause (Tom) +Fix string_to_array() to handle overlapping + matches for the separator string +For example, string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx'). + +Fix corner cases in pattern matching for + psql's \d commands +Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree + (Teodor) +Numerous robustness fixes in ecpg (Joachim +Wieland) +Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror +Fix instability of statistics collection on Win32 (Tom, Andrew) +Fixes for AIX and +Intel compilers (Tom) - - + + + + + Release 8.0.8 + + + Release date + 2006-05-23 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.7, + including patches for extremely serious security issues. + + + + Migration to Version 8.0.8 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + + + Full security against the SQL-injection attacks described in + CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314 might require changes in application + code. If you have applications that embed untrustworthy strings + into SQL commands, you should examine them as soon as possible to + ensure that they are using recommended escaping techniques. In + most cases, applications should be using subroutines provided by + libraries or drivers (such as libpq's + PQescapeStringConn()) to perform string escaping, + rather than relying on ad hoc code to do it. + + + + + Changes + + +Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte +characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom) +While PostgreSQL has been moving in this direction for +some time, the checks are now applied uniformly to all encodings and all +textual input, and are now always errors not merely warnings. This change +defends against SQL-injection attacks of the type described in CVE-2006-2313. + + +Reject unsafe uses of \' in string literals +As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type +described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts '' and not +\' as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string +literals. By default, \' is rejected only when +client_encoding is set to a client-only encoding (SJIS, BIG5, GBK, +GB18030, or UHC), which is the scenario in which SQL injection is possible. +A new configuration parameter backslash_quote is available to +adjust this behavior when needed. Note that full security against +CVE-2006-2314 might require client-side changes; the purpose of +backslash_quote is in part to make it obvious that insecure +clients are insecure. + - - Release 8.0.3 +Modify libpq's string-escaping routines to be +aware of encoding considerations and +standard_conforming_strings +This fixes libpq-using applications for the security +issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314, and also future-proofs +them against the planned changeover to SQL-standard string literal syntax. +Applications that use multiple PostgreSQL connections +concurrently should migrate to PQescapeStringConn() and +PQescapeByteaConn() to ensure that escaping is done correctly +for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that +do string escaping by hand should be modified to rely on library +routines instead. + - - Release date - 2005-05-09 - +Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions +win1251_to_iso, alt_to_iso, +euc_tw_to_big5, euc_tw_to_mic, +mic_to_euc_tw were all broken to varying +extents. + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.2, including several - security-related issues. - +Clean up stray remaining uses of \' in strings +(Bruce, Jan) - - Migration to version 8.0.3 +Fix bug that sometimes caused OR'd index scans to +miss rows they should have returned - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, - it is one possible way of handling two significant security problems - that have been found in the initial contents of 8.0.X system - catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 8.0.3's initdb will - automatically correct these problems. - +Fix WAL replay for case where a btree index has been +truncated - - The larger security problem is that the built-in character set encoding - conversion functions can be invoked from SQL commands by unprivileged - users, but the functions were not designed for such use and are not - secure against malicious choices of arguments. The fix involves changing - the declared parameter list of these functions so that they can no longer - be invoked from SQL commands. (This does not affect their normal use - by the encoding conversion machinery.) - +Fix SIMILAR TO for patterns involving +| (Tom) - - The lesser problem is that the contrib/tsearch2 module - creates several functions that are improperly declared to return - internal when they do not accept internal arguments. - This breaks type safety for all functions using internal - arguments. - +Fix SELECT INTO and CREATE TABLE AS to +create tables in the default tablespace, not the base directory (Kris +Jurka) - - It is strongly recommended that all installations repair these errors, - either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedure given - below. The errors at least allow unprivileged database users to crash - their server process, and might allow unprivileged users to gain the - privileges of a database superuser. - +Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael +Fuhr) - - If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the same manual repair - procedures shown in the 7.4.8 release - notes. - - +Fix for Bonjour on Intel Macs (Ashley Clark) - - Changes +Fix various minor memory leaks - -Change encoding function signature to prevent -misuse -Change contrib/tsearch2 to avoid unsafe use of -INTERNAL function results -Guard against incorrect second parameter to -record_out -Repair ancient race condition that allowed a transaction to be -seen as committed for some purposes (eg SELECT FOR UPDATE) slightly sooner -than for other purposes -This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent -data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications. -Repair race condition between relation extension and -VACUUM -This could theoretically have caused loss of a page's worth of -freshly-inserted data, although the scenario seems of very low probability. -There are no known cases of it having caused more than an Assert failure. - -Fix comparisons of TIME WITH TIME ZONE values - -The comparison code was wrong in the case where the ---enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. -NOTE: if you have an index on a TIME WITH TIME ZONE column, -it will need to be REINDEXed after installing this update, because -the fix corrects the sort order of column values. - -Fix EXTRACT(EPOCH) for -TIME WITH TIME ZONE values -Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in -INTERVAL values - -This error only occurred when the ---enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. - -Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing % -correctly (Neil) -Still more 64-bit fixes for -contrib/intagg -Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning -RECORD -Prevent crash on COALESCE(NULL,NULL) -Fix Borland makefile for libpq -Fix contrib/btree_gist for timetz type -(Teodor) -Make pg_ctl check the PID found in -postmaster.pid to see if it is still a live -process -Fix pg_dump/pg_restore problems caused -by addition of dump timestamps -Fix interaction between materializing holdable cursors and -firing deferred triggers during transaction commit -Fix memory leak in SQL functions returning pass-by-reference -data types +Fix problem with password prompting on some Win32 systems +(Robert Kinberg) - - + + - - Release 8.0.2 + + Release 8.0.7 - - Release date - 2005-04-07 - + + Release date + 2006-02-14 + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.1. - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.6. + - - Migration to version 8.0.2 + + Migration to Version 8.0.7 - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.*. - This release updates the major version number of the - PostgreSQL libraries, so it might be - necessary to re-link some user applications if they cannot - find the properly-numbered shared library. - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.6, see the release + notes for 8.0.6. + + - - Changes + + Changes -Increment the major version number of all interface - libraries (Bruce) - - This should have been done in 8.0.0. It is required so 7.4.X versions - of PostgreSQL client applications, like psql, - can be used on the same machine as 8.0.X applications. This might require - re-linking user applications that use these libraries. - -Add Windows-only wal_sync_method setting of - - - This setting causes PostgreSQL to write through - any disk-drive write cache when writing to WAL. - This behavior was formerly called - -Enable the wal_sync_method setting of - - - Because the default is no longer - -New cache management algorithm 2Q replaces - ARC (Tom) - - This was done to avoid a pending US patent on ARC. The - 2Q code might be a few percentage points slower than - ARC for some work loads. A better cache management algorithm - will appear in 8.1. - -Planner adjustments to improve behavior on freshly-created -tables (Tom) -Allow plpgsql to assign to an element of an array that is -initially NULL (Tom) - - Formerly the array would remain NULL, but now it becomes a - single-element array. The main SQL engine was changed to handle - UPDATE of a null array value this way in 8.0, but the similar - case in plpgsql was overlooked. - - -Convert \r\n and \r to \n -in plpython function bodies (Michael Fuhr) - - This prevents syntax errors when plpython code is written on a Windows or - Mac client. - - -Allow SPI cursors to handle utility commands that return rows, -such as EXPLAIN (Tom) -Fix CLUSTER failure after ALTER TABLE - SET WITHOUT OIDS (Tom) -Reduce memory usage of ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN - (Neil) -Fix ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME (Tom) -Document the Windows-only register and -unregister options of pg_ctl (Magnus) -Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by -statistics collector - - This is expected to resolve reports of pg_autovacuum - not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough — it was not being - told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during - backend exit. - -Change the Windows default for configuration parameter - log_destination to - - By default, a server running on Windows will now send log output to the - Windows event logger rather than standard error. - -Make Kerberos authentication work on Windows (Magnus) -Allow ALTER DATABASE RENAME by superusers - who aren't flagged as having CREATEDB privilege (Tom) -Modify WAL log entries for CREATE and -DROP DATABASE to not specify absolute paths (Tom) - This allows point-in-time recovery on a different machine with possibly - different database location. Note that CREATE TABLESPACE still - poses a hazard in such situations. - -Fix crash from a backend exiting with an open transaction - that created a table and opened a cursor on it (Tom) -Fix array_map() so it can call PL functions - (Tom) -Several contrib/tsearch2 and -contrib/btree_gist fixes (Teodor) - -Fix crash of some contrib/pgcrypto - functions on some platforms (Marko Kreen) -Fix contrib/intagg for 64-bit platforms - (Tom) -Fix ecpg bugs in parsing of CREATE statement - (Michael) -Work around gcc bug on powerpc and amd64 causing problems in - ecpg (Christof Petig) -Do not use locale-aware versions of upper(), - lower(), and initcap() when the locale is - C (Bruce) - - This allows these functions to work on platforms that generate errors - for non-7-bit data when the locale is C. + +Fix potential crash in SET +SESSION AUTHORIZATION (CVE-2006-0553) +An unprivileged user could crash the server process, resulting in +momentary denial of service to other users, if the server has been compiled +with Asserts enabled (which is not the default). +Thanks to Akio Ishida for reporting this problem. -Fix quote_ident() to quote names that match keywords (Tom) -Fix to_date() to behave reasonably when - CC and YY fields are both used (Karel) -Prevent to_char(interval) from failing - when given a zero-month interval (Tom) -Fix wrong week returned by date_trunc('week') -(Bruce) - - date_trunc('week') - returned the wrong year for the first few days of January in some years. + +Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted +rows (Tom) +Under rare circumstances a row inserted by the current command +could be seen as already valid, when it should not be. Repairs bug +created in 8.0.4, 7.4.9, and 7.3.11 releases. -Use the correct default mask length for class D - addresses in INET data types (Tom) - - - +Fix race condition that could lead to file already +exists errors during pg_clog and pg_subtrans file creation +(Tom) - - Release 8.0.1 +Fix cases that could lead to crashes if a cache-invalidation +message arrives at just the wrong time (Tom) - - Release date - 2005-01-31 - +Properly check DOMAIN constraints for +UNKNOWN parameters in prepared statements +(Neil) - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.0, including several - security-related issues. - +Ensure ALTER COLUMN TYPE will process +FOREIGN KEY, UNIQUE, and PRIMARY KEY +constraints in the proper order (Nakano Yoshihisa) - - Migration to version 8.0.1 +Fixes to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema +references to custom operators or operator classes (Tom) - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.0. - - +Allow pg_restore to continue properly after a +COPY failure; formerly it tried to treat the remaining +COPY data as SQL commands (Stephen Frost) + +Fix pg_ctl unregister crash +when the data directory is not specified (Magnus) + +Fix ecpg crash on AMD64 and PPC +(Neil) + +Recover properly if error occurs during argument passing +in PL/python (Neil) + +Fix PL/perl's handling of locales on +Win32 to match the backend (Andrew) + +Fix crash when log_min_messages is set to +DEBUG3 or above in postgresql.conf on Win32 +(Bruce) - - Changes +Fix pgxs -L library path +specification for Win32, Cygwin, OS X, AIX (Bruce) - -Disallow LOAD to non-superusers - -On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a -shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen), -LOAD can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code. -Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this. -Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to -execute the specified transition functions - -This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE -permission on a function. -Fix security and 64-bit issues in -contrib/intagg -Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris +Check that SID is enabled while checking for Win32 admin +privileges (Magnus) + +Properly reject out-of-range date inputs (Kris Jurka) -Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too -many parameters (Neil) -Make ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN enforce domain -constraints in all cases -Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins - -The result of the join was mistakenly supposed to be sorted the same as the -left input. This could not only deliver mis-sorted output to the user, but -in case of nested merge joins could give outright wrong answers. - -Improve planning of grouped aggregate queries -ROLLBACK TO savepoint -closes cursors created since the savepoint -Fix inadequate backend stack size on Windows -Avoid SHGetSpecialFolderPath() on Windows -(Magnus) -Fix some problems in running pg_autovacuum as a Windows -service (Dave Page) -Multiple minor bug fixes in -pg_dump/pg_restore -Fix ecpg segfault with named structs used in -typedefs (Michael) - - - +Portability fix for testing presence of finite +and isinf during configure (Tom) - - Release 8.0 + - - Release date - 2005-01-19 - + + - - Overview + + Release 8.0.6 - - Major changes in this release: - + + Release date + 2006-01-09 + - - - - Microsoft Windows Native Server - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.5. + - - - This is the first PostgreSQL release - to run natively on Microsoft Windows as - a server. It can run as a Windows service. This - release supports NT-based Windows releases like - Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP, and - Windows 2003. Older releases like - Windows 95, Windows 98, and - Windows ME are not supported because these operating - systems do not have the infrastructure to support - PostgreSQL. A separate installer - project has been created to ease installation on - Windows — see . - + + Migration to Version 8.0.6 - - Although tested throughout our release cycle, the Windows port - does not have the benefit of years of use in production - environments that PostgreSQL has on - Unix platforms. Therefore it should be treated with the same - level of caution as you would a new product. - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.3, see the release + notes for 8.0.3. + Also, you might need to REINDEX indexes on textual + columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or + plperl issues described below. + + - - Previous releases required the Unix emulation toolkit - Cygwin in order to run the server on Windows - operating systems. PostgreSQL has - supported native clients on Windows for many years. - - - + + Changes - - - Savepoints - + - - - Savepoints allow specific parts of a transaction to be aborted - without affecting the remainder of the transaction. Prior - releases had no such capability; there was no way to recover - from a statement failure within a transaction except by - aborting the whole transaction. This feature is valuable for - application writers who require error recovery within a - complex transaction. - - - +Fix Windows code so that postmaster will continue rather +than exit if there is no more room in ShmemBackendArray (Magnus) +The previous behavior could lead to a denial-of-service situation if too +many connection requests arrive close together. This applies +only to the Windows port. - - - Point-In-Time Recovery - +Fix bug introduced in 8.0 that could allow ReadBuffer +to return an already-used page as new, potentially causing loss of +recently-committed data (Tom) - - - In previous releases there was no way to recover from disk - drive failure except to restore from a previous backup or use - a standby replication server. Point-in-time recovery allows - continuous backup of the server. You can recover either to - the point of failure or to some transaction in the past. - - - +Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued +outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom) - - - Tablespaces - +Fix character string comparison for locales that consider +different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom) +This might require REINDEX to fix existing indexes on +textual columns. - - - Tablespaces allow administrators to select different file systems - for storage of individual tables, indexes, and databases. - This improves performance and control over disk space - usage. Prior releases used initlocation and - manual symlink management for such tasks. - - - +Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup +to ensure that plperl won't change the locale later +This fixes a problem that occurred if the postmaster was +started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what +initdb had been told. Under these conditions, any use of +plperl was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need +REINDEX to fix existing indexes on +textual columns if this has happened to you. - - - Improved Buffer Management, CHECKPOINT, - VACUUM - +Allow more flexible relocation of installation +directories (Tom) +Previous releases supported relocation only if all installation +directory paths were the same except for the last component. - - - This release has a more intelligent buffer replacement strategy, - which will make better use of available shared buffers and - improve performance. The performance impact of vacuum and - checkpoints is also lessened. - - - +Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression +handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo) + - - - Change Column Types - +Various fixes for functions returning RECORDs +(Tom) - - - A column's data type can now be changed with ALTER - TABLE. - - - +Fix bug in /contrib/pgcrypto gen_salt, +which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and +XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer) +Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected. - - - New Perl Server-Side Language - +Fix /contrib/dblink to throw an error, +rather than crashing, when the number of columns specified is different from +what's actually returned by the query (Joe) - - - A new version of the plperl server-side language now - supports a persistent shared storage area, triggers, returning records - and arrays of records, and SPI calls to access the database. - - - + - - - Comma-separated-value (CSV) support in COPY - + + - - - COPY can now read and write - comma-separated-value files. It has the flexibility to - interpret nonstandard quoting and separation characters too. - - - + + Release 8.0.5 - - + + Release date + 2005-12-12 + - - Migration to version 8.0 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.4. + - - A dump/restore using pg_dump is - required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous - release. - + + Migration to Version 8.0.5 - - Observe the following incompatibilities: - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.3, see the release + notes for 8.0.3. + + - + + Changes - - - In - + - - - Functions declared - +Fix race condition in transaction log management +There was a narrow window in which an I/O operation could be initiated +for the wrong page, leading to an Assert failure or data +corruption. + - - - Nondeferred - +Fix bgwriter problems after recovering from errors +(Tom) + +The background writer was found to leak buffer pins after write errors. +While not fatal in itself, this might lead to mysterious blockages of +later VACUUM commands. + + - - - Server configuration parameters virtual_host and - tcpip_socket have been replaced with a more general - parameter listen_addresses. Also, the server now listens on - localhost by default, which eliminates the need for the - -i postmaster switch in many scenarios. - - +Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message +when current transaction is already aborted - - - Server configuration parameters SortMem and - VacuumMem have been renamed to work_mem - and maintenance_work_mem to better reflect their - use. The original names are still supported in - SET and SHOW. - - +/contrib/ltree fixes (Teodor) - - - Server configuration parameters log_pid, - log_timestamp, and log_source_port have been - replaced with a more general parameter log_line_prefix. - - +AIX and HPUX compile fixes (Tom) - - - Server configuration parameter syslog has been - replaced with a more logical log_destination variable to - control the log output destination. - - +Retry file reads and writes after Windows +NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES error (Qingqing Zhou) - - - Server configuration parameter log_statement has been - changed so it can selectively log just database modification or - data definition statements. Server configuration parameter - log_duration now prints only when log_statement - prints the query. - - +Fix intermittent failure when log_line_prefix +includes %i - - - Server configuration parameter max_expr_depth parameter has - been replaced with max_stack_depth which measures the - physical stack size rather than the expression nesting depth. This - helps prevent session termination due to stack overflow caused by - recursive functions. - - +Fix psql performance issue with long scripts +on Windows (Merlin Moncure) - - - The length() function no longer counts trailing spaces in - CHAR(n) values. - - +Fix missing updates of pg_group flat +file - - - Casting an integer to BIT(N) selects the rightmost N bits of the - integer, not the leftmost N bits as before. - - +Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins +This bug sometimes caused a bogus error RIGHT JOIN is +only supported with merge-joinable join conditions. - - - Updating an element or slice of a NULL array value now produces - a nonnull array result, namely an array containing - just the assigned-to positions. - - +Postpone timezone initialization until after +postmaster.pid is created +This avoids confusing startup scripts that expect the pid file to appear +quickly. - - - Syntax checking of array input values has been tightened up - considerably. Junk that was previously allowed in odd places with - odd results now causes an error. Empty-string element values - must now be written as "", rather than writing nothing. - Also changed behavior with respect to whitespace surrounding - array elements: trailing whitespace is now ignored, for symmetry - with leading whitespace (which has always been ignored). - - +Prevent core dump in pg_autovacuum when a +table has been dropped - - - Overflow in integer arithmetic operations is now detected and - reported as an error. - - +Fix problems with whole-row references (foo.*) +to subquery results + - - - The arithmetic operators associated with the single-byte - "char" data type have been removed. - - + + - - - The extract() function (also called - date_part) now returns the proper year for BC dates. - It previously returned one less than the correct year. The - function now also returns the proper values for millennium and - century. - - + + Release 8.0.4 - - - CIDR values now must have their nonmasked bits be zero. - For example, we no longer allow - 204.248.199.1/31 as a CIDR value. Such - values should never have been accepted by - PostgreSQL and will now be rejected. - - + + Release date + 2005-10-04 + - - - EXECUTE now returns a completion tag that - matches the executed statement. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.3. + - - - psql's \copy command now reads or - writes to the query's stdin/stdout, rather than - psql's stdin/stdout. The previous - behavior can be accessed via new - - + + Migration to Version 8.0.4 - - - The JDBC client interface has been removed from the core - distribution, and is now hosted at . - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.0.3, see the release + notes for 8.0.3. + + - - - The Tcl client interface has also been removed. There are several - Tcl interfaces now hosted at . - - + + Changes - - - The server now uses its own time zone database, rather than the - one supplied by the operating system. This will provide consistent - behavior across all platforms. In most cases, there should be - little noticeable difference in time zone behavior, except that - the time zone names used by SET/SHOW - TimeZone might be different from what your platform provides. - - + +Fix error that allowed VACUUM to remove +ctid chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows +ctid links +This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare +circumstances. +Fix CHAR() to properly pad spaces to the specified +length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba) +In prior releases, the padding of CHAR() was incorrect +because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without +considering how many characters were stored. +Force a checkpoint before committing CREATE +DATABASE +This should fix recent reports of index is not a btree +failures when a crash occurs shortly after CREATE +DATABASE. +Fix the sense of the test for read-only transaction +in COPY +The code formerly prohibited COPY TO, where it should +prohibit COPY FROM. + +Handle consecutive embedded newlines in COPY +CSV-mode input +Fix date_trunc(week) for dates near year +end +Fix planning problem with outer-join ON clauses that reference +only the inner-side relation +Further fixes for x FULL JOIN y ON true corner +cases +Fix overenthusiastic optimization of x IN (SELECT +DISTINCT ...) and related cases +Fix mis-planning of queries with small LIMIT +values due to poorly thought out fuzzy cost +comparison +Make array_in and array_recv more +paranoid about validating their OID parameter +Fix missing rows in queries like UPDATE a=... WHERE +a... with GiST index on column a +Improve robustness of datetime parsing +Improve checking for partially-written WAL +pages +Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is +enabled +Improve MIPS and M68K spinlock code +Don't try to open more than max_files_per_process +files during postmaster startup +Various memory leakage fixes +Various portability improvements +Update timezone data files +Improve handling of DLL load failures on Windows +Improve random-number generation on Windows +Make psql -f filename return a nonzero exit code +when opening the file fails +Change pg_dump to handle inherited check +constraints more reliably +Fix password prompting in pg_restore on +Windows +Fix PL/PgSQL to handle var := var correctly when +the variable is of pass-by-reference type +Fix PL/Perl %_SHARED so it's actually +shared +Fix contrib/pg_autovacuum to allow sleep +intervals over 2000 sec +Update contrib/tsearch2 to use current Snowball +code + - - - Configure's threading option no longer requires - users to run tests or edit configuration files; threading options - are now detected automatically. - - + + - - - Now that tablespaces have been implemented, - initlocation has been removed. - - + + Release 8.0.3 - - - The API for user-defined GiST indexes has been changed. The - Union and PickSplit methods are now passed a pointer to a - special GistEntryVector structure, - rather than a bytea. - - + + Release date + 2005-05-09 + - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.2, including several + security-related issues. + - Deprecated Features + Migration to Version 8.0.3 - Some aspects of PostgreSQL's behavior - have been determined to be suboptimal. For the sake of backward - compatibility these have not been removed in 8.0, but they are - considered deprecated and will be removed in the next major - release. - - - - - - The 8.1 release will remove the to_char() function - for intervals. - - + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.X. However, + it is one possible way of handling two significant security problems + that have been found in the initial contents of 8.0.X system + catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 8.0.3's initdb will + automatically correct these problems. + - - - The server now warns of empty strings passed to - oid/float4/float8 data - types, but continues to interpret them as zeroes as before. - In the next major release, empty strings will be considered - invalid input for these data types. - - + + The larger security problem is that the built-in character set encoding + conversion functions can be invoked from SQL commands by unprivileged + users, but the functions were not designed for such use and are not + secure against malicious choices of arguments. The fix involves changing + the declared parameter list of these functions so that they can no longer + be invoked from SQL commands. (This does not affect their normal use + by the encoding conversion machinery.) + - - - By default, tables in PostgreSQL 8.0 - and earlier are created with OIDs. In the next release, - this will not be the case: to create a table - that contains OIDs, the - + + The lesser problem is that the contrib/tsearch2 module + creates several functions that are improperly declared to return + internal when they do not accept internal arguments. + This breaks type safety for all functions using internal + arguments. + - - + + It is strongly recommended that all installations repair these errors, + either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedure given + below. The errors at least allow unprivileged database users to crash + their server process, and might allow unprivileged users to gain the + privileges of a database superuser. + - - Changes + + If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the same manual repair + procedures shown in the 7.4.8 release + notes. + + - - Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between - release 8.0 and the previous major release. - + + Changes - - Performance Improvements - + +Change encoding function signature to prevent +misuse +Change contrib/tsearch2 to avoid unsafe use of +INTERNAL function results +Guard against incorrect second parameter to +record_out +Repair ancient race condition that allowed a transaction to be +seen as committed for some purposes (eg SELECT FOR UPDATE) slightly sooner +than for other purposes +This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent +data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications. +Repair race condition between relation extension and +VACUUM +This could theoretically have caused loss of a page's worth of +freshly-inserted data, although the scenario seems of very low probability. +There are no known cases of it having caused more than an Assert failure. + +Fix comparisons of TIME WITH TIME ZONE values + +The comparison code was wrong in the case where the +--enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. +NOTE: if you have an index on a TIME WITH TIME ZONE column, +it will need to be REINDEXed after installing this update, because +the fix corrects the sort order of column values. + +Fix EXTRACT(EPOCH) for +TIME WITH TIME ZONE values +Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in +INTERVAL values + +This error only occurred when the +--enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. + +Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing % +correctly (Neil) +Still more 64-bit fixes for +contrib/intagg +Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning +RECORD +Prevent crash on COALESCE(NULL,NULL) +Fix Borland makefile for libpq +Fix contrib/btree_gist for timetz type +(Teodor) +Make pg_ctl check the PID found in +postmaster.pid to see if it is still a live +process +Fix pg_dump/pg_restore problems caused +by addition of dump timestamps +Fix interaction between materializing holdable cursors and +firing deferred triggers during transaction commit +Fix memory leak in SQL functions returning pass-by-reference +data types + - - - Support cross-data-type index usage (Tom) - - - Before this change, many queries would not use an index if the data - types did not match exactly. This improvement makes index usage more - intuitive and consistent. - - + + - - - New buffer replacement strategy that improves caching (Jan) - - - Prior releases used a least-recently-used (LRU) cache to keep - recently referenced pages in memory. The LRU algorithm - did not consider the number of times a specific cache entry was - accessed, so large table scans could force out useful cache pages. - The new cache algorithm uses four separate lists to track most - recently used and most frequently used cache pages and dynamically - optimize their replacement based on the work load. This should - lead to much more efficient use of the shared buffer cache. - Administrators who have tested shared buffer sizes in the past - should retest with this new cache replacement policy. - - + + Release 8.0.2 - - - Add subprocess to write dirty buffers periodically to reduce - checkpoint writes (Jan) - - - In previous releases, the checkpoint process, which runs every few - minutes, would write all dirty buffers to the operating system's - buffer cache then flush all dirty operating system buffers to - disk. This resulted in a periodic spike in disk usage that often - hurt performance. The new code uses a background writer to trickle - disk writes at a steady pace so checkpoints have far fewer dirty - pages to write to disk. Also, the new code does not issue a global - sync() call, but instead fsync()s just - the files written since the last checkpoint. This should improve - performance and minimize degradation during checkpoints. - - + + Release date + 2005-04-07 + - - - Add ability to prolong vacuum to reduce performance impact (Jan) - - - On busy systems, VACUUM performs many I/O - requests which can hurt performance for other users. This - release allows you to slow down VACUUM to - reduce its impact on other users, though this increases the - total duration of VACUUM. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.1. + - - - Improve B-tree index performance for duplicate keys (Dmitry Tkach, Tom) - - - This improves the way indexes are scanned when many duplicate - values exist in the index. - - + + Migration to Version 8.0.2 - - - Use dynamically-generated table size estimates while planning (Tom) - - - Formerly the planner estimated table sizes using the values seen - by the last VACUUM or ANALYZE, - both as to physical table size (number of pages) and number of rows. - Now, the current physical table size is obtained from the kernel, - and the number of rows is estimated by multiplying the table size - by the row density (rows per page) seen by the last - VACUUM or ANALYZE. This should - produce more reliable estimates in cases where the table size has - changed significantly since the last housekeeping command. - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.*. + This release updates the major version number of the + PostgreSQL libraries, so it might be + necessary to re-link some user applications if they cannot + find the properly-numbered shared library. + + - - - Improved index usage with OR clauses (Tom) - - - This allows the optimizer to use indexes in statements with many OR - clauses that would not have been indexed in the past. It can also use - multi-column indexes where the first column is specified and the second - column is part of an OR clause. - - + + Changes - - - Improve matching of partial index clauses (Tom) - - - The server is now smarter about using partial indexes in queries - involving complex - + +Increment the major version number of all interface +libraries (Bruce) + +This should have been done in 8.0.0. It is required so 7.4.X versions +of PostgreSQL client applications, like psql, +can be used on the same machine as 8.0.X applications. This might require +re-linking user applications that use these libraries. + +Add Windows-only wal_sync_method setting of + + +This setting causes PostgreSQL to write through +any disk-drive write cache when writing to WAL. +This behavior was formerly called + +Enable the wal_sync_method setting of + + +Because the default is no longer + +New cache management algorithm 2Q replaces +ARC (Tom) + +This was done to avoid a pending US patent on ARC. The +2Q code might be a few percentage points slower than +ARC for some work loads. A better cache management algorithm +will appear in 8.1. + +Planner adjustments to improve behavior on freshly-created +tables (Tom) +Allow plpgsql to assign to an element of an array that is +initially NULL (Tom) + +Formerly the array would remain NULL, but now it becomes a +single-element array. The main SQL engine was changed to handle +UPDATE of a null array value this way in 8.0, but the similar +case in plpgsql was overlooked. + + +Convert \r\n and \r to \n +in plpython function bodies (Michael Fuhr) + + This prevents syntax errors when plpython code is written on a Windows or + Mac client. + + +Allow SPI cursors to handle utility commands that return rows, +such as EXPLAIN (Tom) +Fix CLUSTER failure after ALTER TABLE +SET WITHOUT OIDS (Tom) +Reduce memory usage of ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN +(Neil) +Fix ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME (Tom) +Document the Windows-only register and +unregister options of pg_ctl (Magnus) +Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by +statistics collector + +This is expected to resolve reports of pg_autovacuum +not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough — it was not being +told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during +backend exit. + +Change the Windows default for configuration parameter +log_destination to + +By default, a server running on Windows will now send log output to the +Windows event logger rather than standard error. + +Make Kerberos authentication work on Windows (Magnus) +Allow ALTER DATABASE RENAME by superusers +who aren't flagged as having CREATEDB privilege (Tom) +Modify WAL log entries for CREATE and +DROP DATABASE to not specify absolute paths (Tom) +This allows point-in-time recovery on a different machine with possibly +different database location. Note that CREATE TABLESPACE still +poses a hazard in such situations. + +Fix crash from a backend exiting with an open transaction +that created a table and opened a cursor on it (Tom) +Fix array_map() so it can call PL functions +(Tom) +Several contrib/tsearch2 and +contrib/btree_gist fixes (Teodor) + +Fix crash of some contrib/pgcrypto +functions on some platforms (Marko Kreen) +Fix contrib/intagg for 64-bit platforms +(Tom) +Fix ecpg bugs in parsing of CREATE statement +(Michael) +Work around gcc bug on powerpc and amd64 causing problems in +ecpg (Christof Petig) +Do not use locale-aware versions of upper(), +lower(), and initcap() when the locale is +C (Bruce) + + This allows these functions to work on platforms that generate errors + for non-7-bit data when the locale is C. + +Fix quote_ident() to quote names that match keywords (Tom) +Fix to_date() to behave reasonably when +CC and YY fields are both used (Karel) +Prevent to_char(interval) from failing +when given a zero-month interval (Tom) +Fix wrong week returned by date_trunc('week') +(Bruce) + +date_trunc('week') +returned the wrong year for the first few days of January in some years. + +Use the correct default mask length for class D +addresses in INET data types (Tom) + - - - Improve performance of the GEQO optimizer (Tom) - - - The GEQO optimizer is used to plan queries involving many tables (by - default, twelve or more). This release speeds up the way queries are - analyzed to decrease time spent in optimization. - - + + - - - Miscellaneous optimizer improvements - - - There is not room here to list all the minor improvements made, but - numerous special cases work better than in prior releases. - - + + Release 8.0.1 - - - Improve lookup speed for C functions (Tom) - - - This release uses a hash table to lookup information for dynamically - loaded C functions. This improves their speed so they perform nearly as - quickly as functions that are built into the server executable. - - + + Release date + 2005-01-31 + - - - Add type-specific ANALYZE statistics - capability (Mark Cave-Ayland) - - - This feature allows more flexibility in generating statistics - for nonstandard data types. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.0, including several + security-related issues. + - - - ANALYZE now collects statistics for - expression indexes (Tom) - - - Expression indexes (also called functional indexes) allow users to - index not just columns but the results of expressions and function - calls. With this release, the optimizer can gather and use statistics - about the contents of expression indexes. This will greatly improve - the quality of planning for queries in which an expression index is - relevant. - - + + Migration to Version 8.0.1 - - - New two-stage sampling method for ANALYZE - (Manfred Koizar) - - - This gives better statistics when the density of valid rows is very - different in different regions of a table. - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.0. + + - - - Speed up TRUNCATE (Tom) - - - This buys back some of the performance loss observed in 7.4, while still - keeping TRUNCATE transaction-safe. - - + + Changes - - + +Disallow LOAD to non-superusers + +On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a +shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen), +LOAD can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code. +Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this. +Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to +execute the specified transition functions + +This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE +permission on a function. +Fix security and 64-bit issues in +contrib/intagg +Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris +Jurka) +Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too +many parameters (Neil) +Make ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN enforce domain +constraints in all cases +Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins + +The result of the join was mistakenly supposed to be sorted the same as the +left input. This could not only deliver mis-sorted output to the user, but +in case of nested merge joins could give outright wrong answers. + +Improve planning of grouped aggregate queries +ROLLBACK TO savepoint +closes cursors created since the savepoint +Fix inadequate backend stack size on Windows +Avoid SHGetSpecialFolderPath() on Windows +(Magnus) +Fix some problems in running pg_autovacuum as a Windows +service (Dave Page) +Multiple minor bug fixes in +pg_dump/pg_restore +Fix ecpg segfault with named structs used in +typedefs (Michael) + + + - - Server Changes - + + Release 8.0 - - - Add WAL file archiving and point-in-time recovery (Simon Riggs) - - + + Release date + 2005-01-19 + - - - Add tablespaces so admins can control disk layout (Gavin) - - + + Overview - - - Add a built-in log rotation program (Andreas Pflug) - - - It is now possible to log server messages conveniently without - relying on either syslog or an external log - rotation program. - - + + Major changes in this release: + - - - Add new read-only server configuration parameters to show server - compile-time settings: block_size, - integer_datetimes, max_function_args, - max_identifier_length, max_index_keys (Joe) - - + + + + Microsoft Windows Native Server + - - - Make quoting of sameuser, samegroup, and - all remove special meaning of these terms in - pg_hba.conf (Andrew) - - + + + This is the first PostgreSQL release + to run natively on Microsoft Windows as + a server. It can run as a Windows service. This + release supports NT-based Windows releases like + Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP, and + Windows 2003. Older releases like + Windows 95, Windows 98, and + Windows ME are not supported because these operating + systems do not have the infrastructure to support + PostgreSQL. A separate installer + project has been created to ease installation on + Windows — see . + - - - Use clearer IPv6 name ::1/128 for - localhost in default pg_hba.conf (Andrew) - - + + Although tested throughout our release cycle, the Windows port + does not have the benefit of years of use in production + environments that PostgreSQL has on + Unix platforms. Therefore it should be treated with the same + level of caution as you would a new product. + - - - Use CIDR format in pg_hba.conf examples (Andrew) - - + + Previous releases required the Unix emulation toolkit + Cygwin in order to run the server on Windows + operating systems. PostgreSQL has + supported native clients on Windows for many years. + + + - - - Rename server configuration parameters SortMem and - VacuumMem to work_mem and - maintenance_work_mem (Old names still supported) (Tom) - - - This change was made to clarify that bulk operations such as index and - foreign key creation use maintenance_work_mem, while - work_mem is for workspaces used during query execution. - - + + + Savepoints + - - - Allow logging of session disconnections using server configuration - log_disconnections (Andrew) - - + + + Savepoints allow specific parts of a transaction to be aborted + without affecting the remainder of the transaction. Prior + releases had no such capability; there was no way to recover + from a statement failure within a transaction except by + aborting the whole transaction. This feature is valuable for + application writers who require error recovery within a + complex transaction. + + + - - - Add new server configuration parameter log_line_prefix to - allow control of information emitted in each log line (Andrew) - - - Available information includes user name, database name, remote IP - address, and session start time. - - + + + Point-In-Time Recovery + - - - Remove server configuration parameters log_pid, - log_timestamp, log_source_port; functionality - superseded by log_line_prefix (Andrew) - - + + + In previous releases there was no way to recover from disk + drive failure except to restore from a previous backup or use + a standby replication server. Point-in-time recovery allows + continuous backup of the server. You can recover either to + the point of failure or to some transaction in the past. + + + - - - Replace the virtual_host and tcpip_socket - parameters with a unified listen_addresses parameter - (Andrew, Tom) - - - virtual_host could only specify a single IP address to - listen on. listen_addresses allows multiple addresses - to be specified. - - + + + Tablespaces + - - - Listen on localhost by default, which eliminates the need for the - - - Listening on localhost (127.0.0.1) opens no new - security holes but allows configurations like Windows and JDBC, - which do not support local sockets, to work without special - adjustments. - - + + + Tablespaces allow administrators to select different file systems + for storage of individual tables, indexes, and databases. + This improves performance and control over disk space + usage. Prior releases used initlocation and + manual symlink management for such tasks. + + + - - - Remove syslog server configuration parameter, and add more - logical log_destination variable to control log output - location (Magnus) - - + + + Improved Buffer Management, CHECKPOINT, + VACUUM + - - - Change server configuration parameter log_statement to take - values all, mod, ddl, or - none to select which queries are logged (Bruce) - - - This allows administrators to log only data definition changes or - only data modification statements. - - + + + This release has a more intelligent buffer replacement strategy, + which will make better use of available shared buffers and + improve performance. The performance impact of vacuum and + checkpoints is also lessened. + + + - - - Some logging-related configuration parameters could formerly be adjusted - by ordinary users, but only in the more verbose direction. - They are now treated more strictly: only superusers can set them. - However, a superuser can use ALTER USER to provide per-user - settings of these values for non-superusers. Also, it is now possible - for superusers to set values of superuser-only configuration parameters - via PGOPTIONS. - - + + + Change Column Types + - - - Allow configuration files to be placed outside the data directory (mlw) - - - By default, configuration files are kept in the cluster's top directory. - With this addition, configuration files can be placed outside the - data directory, easing administration. - - + + + A column's data type can now be changed with ALTER + TABLE. + + + - - - Plan prepared queries only when first executed so constants can be - used for statistics (Oliver Jowett) - - - Prepared statements plan queries once and execute them many - times. While prepared queries avoid the overhead of re-planning - on each use, the quality of the plan suffers from not knowing the exact - parameters to be used in the query. In this release, planning of - unnamed prepared statements is delayed until the first execution, - and the actual parameter values of that execution are used as - optimization hints. This allows use of out-of-line parameter passing - without incurring a performance penalty. - - + + + New Perl Server-Side Language + - - - Allow DECLARE CURSOR to take parameters - (Oliver Jowett) - - - It is now useful to issue DECLARE CURSOR in a - Parse message with parameters. The parameter values - sent at Bind time will be substituted into the - execution of the cursor's query. - - + + + A new version of the plperl server-side language now + supports a persistent shared storage area, triggers, returning records + and arrays of records, and SPI calls to access the database. + + + - - - Fix hash joins and aggregates of inet and - cidr data types (Tom) - - - Release 7.4 handled hashing of mixed inet and - cidr values incorrectly. (This bug did not exist - in prior releases because they wouldn't try to hash either - data type.) - - + + + Comma-separated-value (CSV) support in COPY + - - - Make log_duration print only when log_statement - prints the query (Ed L.) - - + + + COPY can now read and write + comma-separated-value files. It has the flexibility to + interpret nonstandard quoting and separation characters too. + + + - - + + + + Migration to Version 8.0 - - Query Changes - + + A dump/restore using pg_dump is + required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous + release. + - - - Add savepoints (nested transactions) (Alvaro) - - + + Observe the following incompatibilities: + - - - Unsupported isolation levels are now accepted and promoted to the - nearest supported level (Peter) - - - The SQL specification states that if a database doesn't support a - specific isolation level, it should use the next more restrictive level. - This change complies with that recommendation. - - + - - - Allow BEGIN WORK to specify transaction - isolation levels like START TRANSACTION does - (Bruce) - - + + + In + - - - Fix table permission checking for cases in which rules generate - a query type different from the originally submitted query (Tom) - - + + + Functions declared + - - - Implement dollar quoting to simplify single-quote usage (Andrew, Tom, - David Fetter) - - - In previous releases, because single quotes had to be used to - quote a function's body, the use of single quotes inside the - function text required use of two single quotes or other error-prone - notations. With this release we add the ability to use "dollar - quoting" to quote a block of text. The ability to use different - quoting delimiters at different nesting levels greatly simplifies - the task of quoting correctly, especially in complex functions. - Dollar quoting can be used anywhere quoted text is needed. - - + + + Nondeferred + - - - Make CASE val WHEN compval1 THEN ... evaluate val only once (Tom) - - - - + + + Server configuration parameters virtual_host and + tcpip_socket have been replaced with a more general + parameter listen_addresses. Also, the server now listens on + localhost by default, which eliminates the need for the + -i postmaster switch in many scenarios. + + - - - Test - - Fixes improper failure of cases such as SELECT SUM(win)/SUM(lose) - ... GROUP BY ... HAVING SUM(lose) > 0. This should work but formerly - could fail with divide-by-zero. - - + + + Server configuration parameters SortMem and + VacuumMem have been renamed to work_mem + and maintenance_work_mem to better reflect their + use. The original names are still supported in + SET and SHOW. + + - - - Replace max_expr_depth parameter with - max_stack_depth parameter, measured in kilobytes of stack - size (Tom) - - - This gives us a fairly bulletproof defense against crashing due to - runaway recursive functions. Instead of measuring the depth of expression - nesting, we now directly measure the size of the execution stack. - - + + + Server configuration parameters log_pid, + log_timestamp, and log_source_port have been + replaced with a more general parameter log_line_prefix. + + - - - Allow arbitrary row expressions (Tom) - - - This release allows SQL expressions to contain arbitrary composite - types, that is, row values. It also allows functions to more easily - take rows as arguments and return row values. - - + + + Server configuration parameter syslog has been + replaced with a more logical log_destination variable to + control the log output destination. + + - - - Allow - + + + Server configuration parameter log_statement has been + changed so it can selectively log just database modification or + data definition statements. Server configuration parameter + log_duration now prints only when log_statement + prints the query. + + - - - Avoid locale-specific case conversion of basic ASCII letters in - identifiers and keywords (Tom) - - - This solves the Turkish problem with mangling of words - containing I and i. Folding of characters - outside the 7-bit-ASCII set is still locale-aware. - - + + + Server configuration parameter max_expr_depth parameter has + been replaced with max_stack_depth which measures the + physical stack size rather than the expression nesting depth. This + helps prevent session termination due to stack overflow caused by + recursive functions. + + - - - Improve syntax error reporting (Fabien, Tom) - - - Syntax error reports are more useful than before. - - + + + The length() function no longer counts trailing spaces in + CHAR(n) values. + + - - - Change EXECUTE to return a completion tag - matching the executed statement (Kris Jurka) - - - Previous releases return an EXECUTE tag for - any EXECUTE call. In this release, the tag - returned will reflect the command executed. - - + + + Casting an integer to BIT(N) selects the rightmost N bits of the + integer, not the leftmost N bits as before. + + - - - Avoid emitting - - Such a clause makes no logical sense, but in some cases the rule - decompiler formerly produced this syntax. - - + + + Updating an element or slice of a NULL array value now produces + a nonnull array result, namely an array containing + just the assigned-to positions. + + - - + + + Syntax checking of array input values has been tightened up + considerably. Junk that was previously allowed in odd places with + odd results now causes an error. Empty-string element values + must now be written as "", rather than writing nothing. + Also changed behavior with respect to whitespace surrounding + array elements: trailing whitespace is now ignored, for symmetry + with leading whitespace (which has always been ignored). + + + + + Overflow in integer arithmetic operations is now detected and + reported as an error. + + - - Object Manipulation Changes - + + + The arithmetic operators associated with the single-byte + "char" data type have been removed. + + - - - Add COMMENT ON for casts, conversions, languages, - operator classes, and large objects (Christopher) - - + + + The extract() function (also called + date_part) now returns the proper year for BC dates. + It previously returned one less than the correct year. The + function now also returns the proper values for millennium and + century. + + - - - Add new server configuration parameter default_with_oids to - control whether tables are created with OIDs by default (Neil) - - - This allows administrators to control whether CREATE - TABLE commands create tables with or without OID - columns by default. (Note: the current factory default setting for - default_with_oids is TRUE, but the default - will become FALSE in future releases.) - - + + + CIDR values now must have their nonmasked bits be zero. + For example, we no longer allow + 204.248.199.1/31 as a CIDR value. Such + values should never have been accepted by + PostgreSQL and will now be rejected. + + - - - Add - + + + EXECUTE now returns a completion tag that + matches the executed statement. + + - - - Allow ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN to drop an OID - column (ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS still works) - (Tom) - - + + + psql's \copy command now reads or + writes to the query's stdin/stdout, rather than + psql's stdin/stdout. The previous + behavior can be accessed via new + + - - - Allow composite types as table columns (Tom) - - + + + The JDBC client interface has been removed from the core + distribution, and is now hosted at . + + - - - Allow ALTER ... ADD COLUMN with defaults and - - - It is now possible for - + + + The Tcl client interface has also been removed. There are several + Tcl interfaces now hosted at . + + - - - Add ALTER COLUMN TYPE to change column's type (Rod) - - - It is now possible to alter a column's data type without dropping - and re-adding the column. - - + + + The server now uses its own time zone database, rather than the + one supplied by the operating system. This will provide consistent + behavior across all platforms. In most cases, there should be + little noticeable difference in time zone behavior, except that + the time zone names used by SET/SHOW + TimeZone might be different from what your platform provides. + + - - - Allow multiple ALTER actions in a single ALTER - TABLE command (Rod) - - - This is particularly useful for ALTER commands that - rewrite the table (which include - + + + Configure's threading option no longer requires + users to run tests or edit configuration files; threading options + are now detected automatically. + + - - - Allow ALTER TABLE to add SERIAL - columns (Tom) - - - This falls out from the new capability of specifying defaults for new - columns. - - + + + Now that tablespaces have been implemented, + initlocation has been removed. + + - - - Allow changing the owners of aggregates, conversions, databases, - functions, operators, operator classes, schemas, types, and tablespaces - (Christopher, Euler Taveira de Oliveira) - - - Previously this required modifying the system tables directly. - - + + + The API for user-defined GiST indexes has been changed. The + Union and PickSplit methods are now passed a pointer to a + special GistEntryVector structure, + rather than a bytea. + + - - - Allow temporary object creation to be limited to - + + - - - Add - - Prior to this release, there was no way to clear an auto-cluster - specification except to modify the system tables. - - + + Deprecated Features - - - Constraint/Index/SERIAL names are now - table_column_type - with numbers appended to guarantee uniqueness within the schema - (Tom) - - - The SQL specification states that such names should be unique - within a schema. - - + + Some aspects of PostgreSQL's behavior + have been determined to be suboptimal. For the sake of backward + compatibility these have not been removed in 8.0, but they are + considered deprecated and will be removed in the next major + release. + - - - Add pg_get_serial_sequence() to return a - SERIAL column's sequence name (Christopher) - - - This allows automated scripts to reliably find the SERIAL - sequence name. - - + + + + The 8.1 release will remove the to_char() function + for intervals. + + - - - Warn when primary/foreign key data type mismatch requires costly lookup - - + + + The server now warns of empty strings passed to + oid/float4/float8 data + types, but continues to interpret them as zeroes as before. + In the next major release, empty strings will be considered + invalid input for these data types. + + - - - New ALTER INDEX command to allow moving of indexes - between tablespaces (Gavin) - - + + + By default, tables in PostgreSQL 8.0 + and earlier are created with OIDs. In the next release, + this will not be the case: to create a table + that contains OIDs, the + - - - Make ALTER TABLE OWNER change dependent sequence - ownership too (Alvaro) - - + + + + Changes - - + + Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between + release 8.0 and the previous major release. + + + Performance Improvements + - - Utility Command Changes - + + + Support cross-data-type index usage (Tom) + + + Before this change, many queries would not use an index if the data + types did not match exactly. This improvement makes index usage more + intuitive and consistent. + + - - - Allow CREATE SCHEMA to create triggers, - indexes, and sequences (Neil) - - + + + New buffer replacement strategy that improves caching (Jan) + + + Prior releases used a least-recently-used (LRU) cache to keep + recently referenced pages in memory. The LRU algorithm + did not consider the number of times a specific cache entry was + accessed, so large table scans could force out useful cache pages. + The new cache algorithm uses four separate lists to track most + recently used and most frequently used cache pages and dynamically + optimize their replacement based on the work load. This should + lead to much more efficient use of the shared buffer cache. + Administrators who have tested shared buffer sizes in the past + should retest with this new cache replacement policy. + + - - - Add - - This allows - + + + Add subprocess to write dirty buffers periodically to reduce + checkpoint writes (Jan) + + + In previous releases, the checkpoint process, which runs every few + minutes, would write all dirty buffers to the operating system's + buffer cache then flush all dirty operating system buffers to + disk. This resulted in a periodic spike in disk usage that often + hurt performance. The new code uses a background writer to trickle + disk writes at a steady pace so checkpoints have far fewer dirty + pages to write to disk. Also, the new code does not issue a global + sync() call, but instead fsync()s just + the files written since the last checkpoint. This should improve + performance and minimize degradation during checkpoints. + + - - - Add - - This allows the LOCK command to fail if it - would have to wait for the requested lock. - - + + + Add ability to prolong vacuum to reduce performance impact (Jan) + + + On busy systems, VACUUM performs many I/O + requests which can hurt performance for other users. This + release allows you to slow down VACUUM to + reduce its impact on other users, though this increases the + total duration of VACUUM. + + - - - Allow COPY to read and write - comma-separated-value (CSV) files (Andrew, Bruce) - - + + + Improve B-tree index performance for duplicate keys (Dmitry Tkach, Tom) + + + This improves the way indexes are scanned when many duplicate + values exist in the index. + + - - - Generate error if the COPY delimiter and NULL - string conflict (Bruce) - - + + + Use dynamically-generated table size estimates while planning (Tom) + + + Formerly the planner estimated table sizes using the values seen + by the last VACUUM or ANALYZE, + both as to physical table size (number of pages) and number of rows. + Now, the current physical table size is obtained from the kernel, + and the number of rows is estimated by multiplying the table size + by the row density (rows per page) seen by the last + VACUUM or ANALYZE. This should + produce more reliable estimates in cases where the table size has + changed significantly since the last housekeeping command. + + - - - GRANT/REVOKE behavior - follows the SQL spec more closely - - + + + Improved index usage with OR clauses (Tom) + + + This allows the optimizer to use indexes in statements with many OR + clauses that would not have been indexed in the past. It can also use + multi-column indexes where the first column is specified and the second + column is part of an OR clause. + + - - - Avoid locking conflict between CREATE INDEX - and CHECKPOINT (Tom) - - - In 7.3 and 7.4, a long-running B-tree index build could block concurrent - CHECKPOINTs from completing, thereby causing WAL bloat because the - WAL log could not be recycled. - - + + + Improve matching of partial index clauses (Tom) + + + The server is now smarter about using partial indexes in queries + involving complex + - - - Database-wide ANALYZE does not hold locks - across tables (Tom) - - - This reduces the potential for deadlocks against other backends - that want exclusive locks on tables. To get the benefit of this - change, do not execute database-wide ANALYZE - inside a transaction block (BEGIN block); it - must be able to commit and start a new transaction for each - table. - - + + + Improve performance of the GEQO optimizer (Tom) + + + The GEQO optimizer is used to plan queries involving many tables (by + default, twelve or more). This release speeds up the way queries are + analyzed to decrease time spent in optimization. + + - - - REINDEX does not exclusively lock the index's - parent table anymore - - - The index itself is still exclusively locked, but readers of the - table can continue if they are not using the particular index - being rebuilt. - - + + + Miscellaneous optimizer improvements + + + There is not room here to list all the minor improvements made, but + numerous special cases work better than in prior releases. + + - - - Erase MD5 user passwords when a user is renamed (Bruce) - - - PostgreSQL uses the user name as salt - when encrypting passwords via MD5. When a user's name is changed, - the salt will no longer match the stored MD5 password, so the - stored password becomes useless. In this release a notice is - generated and the password is cleared. A new password must then - be assigned if the user is to be able to log in with a password. - - + + + Improve lookup speed for C functions (Tom) + + + This release uses a hash table to lookup information for dynamically + loaded C functions. This improves their speed so they perform nearly as + quickly as functions that are built into the server executable. + + - - - New pg_ctl - - Windows does not have a kill command to send signals to - backends so this capability was added to pg_ctl. - - + + + Add type-specific ANALYZE statistics + capability (Mark Cave-Ayland) + + + This feature allows more flexibility in generating statistics + for nonstandard data types. + + - - - Information schema improvements - - + + + ANALYZE now collects statistics for + expression indexes (Tom) + + + Expression indexes (also called functional indexes) allow users to + index not just columns but the results of expressions and function + calls. With this release, the optimizer can gather and use statistics + about the contents of expression indexes. This will greatly improve + the quality of planning for queries in which an expression index is + relevant. + + - - - Add - + + + New two-stage sampling method for ANALYZE + (Manfred Koizar) + + + This gives better statistics when the density of valid rows is very + different in different regions of a table. + + - - - Detect locale/encoding mismatch in - initdb (Peter) - - + + + Speed up TRUNCATE (Tom) + + + This buys back some of the performance loss observed in 7.4, while still + keeping TRUNCATE transaction-safe. + + - - - Add - + + - - + + Server Changes + - - Data Type and Function Changes - + + + Add WAL file archiving and point-in-time recovery (Simon Riggs) + + - - - More complete support for composite types (row types) (Tom) - - - Composite values can be used in many places where only scalar values - worked before. - - + + + Add tablespaces so admins can control disk layout (Gavin) + + - - - Reject nonrectangular array values as erroneous (Joe) - - - Formerly, array_in would silently build a - surprising result. - - + + + Add a built-in log rotation program (Andreas Pflug) + + + It is now possible to log server messages conveniently without + relying on either syslog or an external log + rotation program. + + - - - Overflow in integer arithmetic operations is now detected (Tom) - - + + + Add new read-only server configuration parameters to show server + compile-time settings: block_size, + integer_datetimes, max_function_args, + max_identifier_length, max_index_keys (Joe) + + - - - The arithmetic operators associated with the single-byte - "char" data type have been removed. - - - Formerly, the parser would select these operators in many situations - where an unable to select an operator error would be more - appropriate, such as null * null. If you actually want - to do arithmetic on a "char" column, you can cast it to - integer explicitly. - - + + + Make quoting of sameuser, samegroup, and + all remove special meaning of these terms in + pg_hba.conf (Andrew) + + - - - Syntax checking of array input values considerably tightened up (Joe) - - - Junk that was previously allowed in odd places with odd results - now causes an ERROR, for example, non-whitespace - after the closing right brace. - - + + + Use clearer IPv6 name ::1/128 for + localhost in default pg_hba.conf (Andrew) + + - - - Empty-string array element values must now be written as - "", rather than writing nothing (Joe) - - - Formerly, both ways of writing an empty-string element value were - allowed, but now a quoted empty string is required. The case where - nothing at all appears will probably be considered to be a NULL - element value in some future release. - - + + + Use CIDR format in pg_hba.conf examples (Andrew) + + - - - Array element trailing whitespace is now ignored (Joe) - - - Formerly leading whitespace was ignored, but trailing whitespace - between an element value and the delimiter or right brace was - significant. Now trailing whitespace is also ignored. - - + + + Rename server configuration parameters SortMem and + VacuumMem to work_mem and + maintenance_work_mem (Old names still supported) (Tom) + + + This change was made to clarify that bulk operations such as index and + foreign key creation use maintenance_work_mem, while + work_mem is for workspaces used during query execution. + + - - - Emit array values with explicit array bounds when lower bound is not one - (Joe) - - + + + Allow logging of session disconnections using server configuration + log_disconnections (Andrew) + + - - - Accept YYYY-monthname-DD as a date string (Tom) - - + + + Add new server configuration parameter log_line_prefix to + allow control of information emitted in each log line (Andrew) + + + Available information includes user name, database name, remote IP + address, and session start time. + + - - - Make netmask and hostmask functions - return maximum-length mask length (Tom) - - + + + Remove server configuration parameters log_pid, + log_timestamp, log_source_port; functionality + superseded by log_line_prefix (Andrew) + + - - - Change factorial function to return numeric (Gavin) - - - Returning numeric allows the factorial function to - work for a wider range of input values. - - + + + Replace the virtual_host and tcpip_socket + parameters with a unified listen_addresses parameter + (Andrew, Tom) + + + virtual_host could only specify a single IP address to + listen on. listen_addresses allows multiple addresses + to be specified. + + - - - to_char/to_date() date conversion - improvements (Kurt Roeckx, Fabien Coelho) - - + + + Listen on localhost by default, which eliminates the need for the + + + Listening on localhost (127.0.0.1) opens no new + security holes but allows configurations like Windows and JDBC, + which do not support local sockets, to work without special + adjustments. + + - - - Make length() disregard trailing spaces in - CHAR(n) (Gavin) - - - This change was made to improve consistency: trailing spaces are - semantically insignificant in CHAR(n) data, so they - should not be counted by length(). - - + + + Remove syslog server configuration parameter, and add more + logical log_destination variable to control log output + location (Magnus) + + - - - Warn about empty string being passed to - OID/float4/float8 data types (Neil) - - - 8.1 will throw an error instead. - - + + + Change server configuration parameter log_statement to take + values all, mod, ddl, or + none to select which queries are logged (Bruce) + + + This allows administrators to log only data definition changes or + only data modification statements. + + - - - Allow leading or trailing whitespace in - int2/int4/int8/float4/float8 - input routines - (Neil) - - + + + Some logging-related configuration parameters could formerly be adjusted + by ordinary users, but only in the more verbose direction. + They are now treated more strictly: only superusers can set them. + However, a superuser can use ALTER USER to provide per-user + settings of these values for non-superusers. Also, it is now possible + for superusers to set values of superuser-only configuration parameters + via PGOPTIONS. + + - - - Better support for IEEE Infinity and NaN - values in float4/float8 (Neil) - - - These should now work on all platforms that support IEEE-compliant - floating point arithmetic. - - + + + Allow configuration files to be placed outside the data directory (mlw) + + + By default, configuration files are kept in the cluster's top directory. + With this addition, configuration files can be placed outside the + data directory, easing administration. + + - - - Add - + + + Plan prepared queries only when first executed so constants can be + used for statistics (Oliver Jowett) + + + Prepared statements plan queries once and execute them many + times. While prepared queries avoid the overhead of re-planning + on each use, the quality of the plan suffers from not knowing the exact + parameters to be used in the query. In this release, planning of + unnamed prepared statements is delayed until the first execution, + and the actual parameter values of that execution are used as + optimization hints. This allows use of out-of-line parameter passing + without incurring a performance penalty. + + - - - Fix to_char for 1 BC - (previously it returned 1 AD) (Bruce) - - + + + Allow DECLARE CURSOR to take parameters + (Oliver Jowett) + + + It is now useful to issue DECLARE CURSOR in a + Parse message with parameters. The parameter values + sent at Bind time will be substituted into the + execution of the cursor's query. + + - - - Fix date_part(year) for BC dates (previously it - returned one less than the correct year) (Bruce) - - + + + Fix hash joins and aggregates of inet and + cidr data types (Tom) + + + Release 7.4 handled hashing of mixed inet and + cidr values incorrectly. (This bug did not exist + in prior releases because they wouldn't try to hash either + data type.) + + - - - Fix date_part() to return the proper millennium and - century (Fabien Coelho) - - - In previous versions, the century and millennium results had a wrong - number and started in the wrong year, as compared to standard - reckoning of such things. - - + + + Make log_duration print only when log_statement + prints the query (Ed L.) + + - - - Add ceiling() as an alias for ceil(), - and power() as an alias for pow() for - standards compliance (Neil) - - + + - - - Change ln(), log(), - power(), and sqrt() to emit the correct - SQLSTATE error codes for certain error conditions, as - specified by SQL:2003 (Neil) - - - - - Add width_bucket() function as defined by SQL:2003 (Neil) - - + + Query Changes + - - - Add generate_series() functions to simplify working - with numeric sets (Joe) - - + + + Add savepoints (nested transactions) (Alvaro) + + - - - Fix upper/lower/initcap() functions to work with - multibyte encodings (Tom) - - + + + Unsupported isolation levels are now accepted and promoted to the + nearest supported level (Peter) + + + The SQL specification states that if a database doesn't support a + specific isolation level, it should use the next more restrictive level. + This change complies with that recommendation. + + - - - Add boolean and bitwise integer - + + + Allow BEGIN WORK to specify transaction + isolation levels like START TRANSACTION does + (Bruce) + + - - - New session information functions to return network addresses for client - and server (Sean Chittenden) - - + + + Fix table permission checking for cases in which rules generate + a query type different from the originally submitted query (Tom) + + - - - Add function to determine the area of a closed path (Sean Chittenden) - - + + + Implement dollar quoting to simplify single-quote usage (Andrew, Tom, + David Fetter) + + + In previous releases, because single quotes had to be used to + quote a function's body, the use of single quotes inside the + function text required use of two single quotes or other error-prone + notations. With this release we add the ability to use "dollar + quoting" to quote a block of text. The ability to use different + quoting delimiters at different nesting levels greatly simplifies + the task of quoting correctly, especially in complex functions. + Dollar quoting can be used anywhere quoted text is needed. + + - - - Add function to send cancel request to other backends (Magnus) - - + + + Make CASE val WHEN compval1 THEN ... evaluate val only once (Tom) + + + + - - - Add interval plus datetime operators (Tom) - - - The reverse ordering, datetime plus interval, - was already supported, but both are required by the SQL standard. - - + + + Test + + Fixes improper failure of cases such as SELECT SUM(win)/SUM(lose) + ... GROUP BY ... HAVING SUM(lose) > 0. This should work but formerly + could fail with divide-by-zero. + + - - - Casting an integer to BIT(N) selects the rightmost N bits - of the integer - (Tom) - - - In prior releases, the leftmost N bits were selected, but this was - deemed unhelpful, not to mention inconsistent with casting from bit - to int. - - + + + Replace max_expr_depth parameter with + max_stack_depth parameter, measured in kilobytes of stack + size (Tom) + + + This gives us a fairly bulletproof defense against crashing due to + runaway recursive functions. Instead of measuring the depth of expression + nesting, we now directly measure the size of the execution stack. + + - - - Require CIDR values to have all nonmasked bits be zero - (Kevin Brintnall) - - + + + Allow arbitrary row expressions (Tom) + + + This release allows SQL expressions to contain arbitrary composite + types, that is, row values. It also allows functions to more easily + take rows as arguments and return row values. + + - - + + + Allow + + + + Avoid locale-specific case conversion of basic ASCII letters in + identifiers and keywords (Tom) + + + This solves the Turkish problem with mangling of words + containing I and i. Folding of characters + outside the 7-bit-ASCII set is still locale-aware. + + - - Server-Side Language Changes - + + + Improve syntax error reporting (Fabien, Tom) + + + Syntax error reports are more useful than before. + + - - - In READ COMMITTED serialization mode, volatile functions - now see the results of concurrent transactions committed up to the - beginning of each statement within the function, rather than up to the - beginning of the interactive command that called the function. - - + + + Change EXECUTE to return a completion tag + matching the executed statement (Kris Jurka) + + + Previous releases return an EXECUTE tag for + any EXECUTE call. In this release, the tag + returned will reflect the command executed. + + - - - Functions declared STABLE or IMMUTABLE always - use the snapshot of the calling query, and therefore do not see the - effects of actions taken after the calling query starts, whether in - their own transaction or other transactions. Such a function must be - read-only, too, meaning that it cannot use any SQL commands other than - SELECT. There is a considerable performance gain from - declaring a function STABLE or IMMUTABLE - rather than VOLATILE. - - + + + Avoid emitting + + Such a clause makes no logical sense, but in some cases the rule + decompiler formerly produced this syntax. + + - - - Nondeferred - + + - - - Allow function parameters to be declared with names (Dennis Björklund) - - - This allows better documentation of functions. Whether the names - actually do anything depends on the specific function language - being used. - - - - - Allow PL/pgSQL parameter names to be referenced in the function (Dennis Björklund) - - - This basically creates an automatic alias for each named parameter. - - + + Object Manipulation Changes + - - - Do minimal syntax checking of PL/pgSQL functions at creation time (Tom) - - - This allows us to catch simple syntax errors sooner. - - + + + Add COMMENT ON for casts, conversions, languages, + operator classes, and large objects (Christopher) + + - - - More support for composite types (row and record variables) in PL/pgSQL - - - For example, it now works to pass a rowtype variable to another function - as a single variable. - - + + + Add new server configuration parameter default_with_oids to + control whether tables are created with OIDs by default (Neil) + + + This allows administrators to control whether CREATE + TABLE commands create tables with or without OID + columns by default. (Note: the current factory default setting for + default_with_oids is TRUE, but the default + will become FALSE in future releases.) + + - - - Default values for PL/pgSQL variables can now reference previously - declared variables - - + + + Add + - - - Improve parsing of PL/pgSQL FOR loops (Tom) - - - Parsing is now driven by presence of ".." rather than - data type of - + + + Allow ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN to drop an OID + column (ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS still works) + (Tom) + + - - - Major overhaul of PL/Perl server-side language (Command Prompt, Andrew Dunstan) - - + + + Allow composite types as table columns (Tom) + + - - - In PL/Tcl, SPI commands are now run in subtransactions. If an error - occurs, the subtransaction is cleaned up and the error is reported - as an ordinary Tcl error, which can be trapped with catch. - Formerly, it was not possible to catch such errors. - - + + + Allow ALTER ... ADD COLUMN with defaults and + + + It is now possible for + + + + + Add ALTER COLUMN TYPE to change column's type (Rod) + + + It is now possible to alter a column's data type without dropping + and re-adding the column. + + - - - Accept ELSEIF in PL/pgSQL (Neil) - - - Previously PL/pgSQL only allowed ELSIF, but many people - are accustomed to spelling this keyword ELSEIF. - - + + + Allow multiple ALTER actions in a single ALTER + TABLE command (Rod) + + + This is particularly useful for ALTER commands that + rewrite the table (which include + - - + + + Allow ALTER TABLE to add SERIAL + columns (Tom) + + + This falls out from the new capability of specifying defaults for new + columns. + + + + + Allow changing the owners of aggregates, conversions, databases, + functions, operators, operator classes, schemas, types, and tablespaces + (Christopher, Euler Taveira de Oliveira) + + + Previously this required modifying the system tables directly. + + - - <application>psql</> Changes - + + + Allow temporary object creation to be limited to + - - - Improve psql information display about database - objects (Christopher) - - + + + Add + + Prior to this release, there was no way to clear an auto-cluster + specification except to modify the system tables. + + - - - Allow psql to display group membership in - \du and \dg (Markus Bertheau) - - + + + Constraint/Index/SERIAL names are now + table_column_type + with numbers appended to guarantee uniqueness within the schema + (Tom) + + + The SQL specification states that such names should be unique + within a schema. + + - - - Prevent psql \dn from showing - temporary schemas (Bruce) - - + + + Add pg_get_serial_sequence() to return a + SERIAL column's sequence name (Christopher) + + + This allows automated scripts to reliably find the SERIAL + sequence name. + + - - - Allow psql to handle tilde user expansion for file - names (Zach Irmen) - - + + + Warn when primary/foreign key data type mismatch requires costly lookup + + - - - Allow psql to display fancy prompts, including - color, via readline (Reece Hart, Chet Ramey) - - + + + New ALTER INDEX command to allow moving of indexes + between tablespaces (Gavin) + + - - - Make psql \copy match COPY command syntax - fully (Tom) - - + + + Make ALTER TABLE OWNER change dependent sequence + ownership too (Alvaro) + + - - - Show the location of syntax errors (Fabien Coelho, Tom) - - - - - Add CLUSTER information to psql - \d display - (Bruce) - - + + - - - Change psql \copy stdin/stdout to read - from command input/output (Bruce) - - - - - Add - + + Utility Command Changes + - - - Add global psql configuration file, psqlrc.sample - (Bruce) - - - This allows a central file where global psql startup commands can - be stored. - - + + + Allow CREATE SCHEMA to create triggers, + indexes, and sequences (Neil) + + - - - Have psql \d+ indicate if the table - has an OID column (Neil) - - + + + Add + + This allows + - - - On Windows, use binary mode in psql when reading files so control-Z - is not seen as end-of-file - - + + + Add + + This allows the LOCK command to fail if it + would have to wait for the requested lock. + + - - - Have \dn+ show permissions and description for schemas (Dennis - Björklund) - - + + + Allow COPY to read and write + comma-separated-value (CSV) files (Andrew, Bruce) + + - - - Improve tab completion support (Stefan Kaltenbrunn, Greg Sabino Mullane) - - + + + Generate error if the COPY delimiter and NULL + string conflict (Bruce) + + - - - Allow boolean settings to be set using upper or lower case (Michael Paesold) - - + + + GRANT/REVOKE behavior + follows the SQL spec more closely + + - - + + + Avoid locking conflict between CREATE INDEX + and CHECKPOINT (Tom) + + + In 7.3 and 7.4, a long-running B-tree index build could block concurrent + CHECKPOINTs from completing, thereby causing WAL bloat because the + WAL log could not be recycled. + + + + + Database-wide ANALYZE does not hold locks + across tables (Tom) + + + This reduces the potential for deadlocks against other backends + that want exclusive locks on tables. To get the benefit of this + change, do not execute database-wide ANALYZE + inside a transaction block (BEGIN block); it + must be able to commit and start a new transaction for each + table. + + - - <application>pg_dump</> Changes - + + + REINDEX does not exclusively lock the index's + parent table anymore + + + The index itself is still exclusively locked, but readers of the + table can continue if they are not using the particular index + being rebuilt. + + - - - Use dependency information to improve the reliability of - pg_dump (Tom) - - - This should solve the longstanding problems with related objects - sometimes being dumped in the wrong order. - - + + + Erase MD5 user passwords when a user is renamed (Bruce) + + + PostgreSQL uses the user name as salt + when encrypting passwords via MD5. When a user's name is changed, + the salt will no longer match the stored MD5 password, so the + stored password becomes useless. In this release a notice is + generated and the password is cleared. A new password must then + be assigned if the user is to be able to log in with a password. + + - - - Have pg_dump output objects in alphabetical order if possible (Tom) - - - This should make it easier to identify changes between - dump files. - - + + + New pg_ctl + + Windows does not have a kill command to send signals to + backends so this capability was added to pg_ctl. + + - - - Allow pg_restore to ignore some SQL errors (Fabien Coelho) - - - This makes pg_restore's behavior similar to the - results of feeding a pg_dump output script to - psql. In most cases, ignoring errors and plowing - ahead is the most useful thing to do. Also added was a pg_restore - option to give the old behavior of exiting on an error. - - + + + Information schema improvements + + - - - pg_restore - + + + Add + - - - New begin/end markers in pg_dump text output (Bruce) - - + + + Detect locale/encoding mismatch in + initdb (Peter) + + - - - Add start/stop times for - pg_dump/pg_dumpall in verbose mode - (Bruce) - - + + + Add + - - - Allow most pg_dump options in - pg_dumpall (Christopher) - - + + - - - Have pg_dump use ALTER OWNER rather - than SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION by default - (Christopher) - - - - + + Data Type and Function Changes + + + + More complete support for composite types (row types) (Tom) + + + Composite values can be used in many places where only scalar values + worked before. + + - - libpq Changes - + + + Reject nonrectangular array values as erroneous (Joe) + + + Formerly, array_in would silently build a + surprising result. + + - Make libpq's - Add PQmbdsplen() which returns the display length - of a character (Tatsuo) + The arithmetic operators associated with the single-byte + "char" data type have been removed. - - - - Add thread locking to SSL and - Kerberos connections (Manfred Spraul) + Formerly, the parser would select these operators in many situations + where an unable to select an operator error would be more + appropriate, such as null * null. If you actually want + to do arithmetic on a "char" column, you can cast it to + integer explicitly. - + - Allow PQoidValue(), PQcmdTuples(), and - PQoidStatus() to work on EXECUTE - commands (Neil) + Syntax checking of array input values considerably tightened up (Joe) - - - - - Add PQserverVersion() to provide more convenient - access to the server version number (Greg Sabino Mullane) + + Junk that was previously allowed in odd places with odd results + now causes an ERROR, for example, non-whitespace + after the closing right brace. - + - + - Add PQprepare/PQsendPrepared() functions to support - preparing statements without necessarily specifying the data types - of their parameters (Abhijit Menon-Sen) + Empty-string array element values must now be written as + "", rather than writing nothing (Joe) - + + Formerly, both ways of writing an empty-string element value were + allowed, but now a quoted empty string is required. The case where + nothing at all appears will probably be considered to be a NULL + element value in some future release. + + - + - Many ECPG improvements, including SET DESCRIPTOR (Michael) + Array element trailing whitespace is now ignored (Joe) - + + Formerly leading whitespace was ignored, but trailing whitespace + between an element value and the delimiter or right brace was + significant. Now trailing whitespace is also ignored. + + - - + + + Emit array values with explicit array bounds when lower bound is not one + (Joe) + + + + + Accept YYYY-monthname-DD as a date string (Tom) + + - - Source Code Changes - + + + Make netmask and hostmask functions + return maximum-length mask length (Tom) + + - - - Allow the database server to run natively on Windows (Claudio, Magnus, Andrew) - - + + + Change factorial function to return numeric (Gavin) + + + Returning numeric allows the factorial function to + work for a wider range of input values. + + - - - Shell script commands converted to C versions for Windows support (Andrew) - - + + + to_char/to_date() date conversion + improvements (Kurt Roeckx, Fabien Coelho) + + - - - Create an extension makefile framework (Fabien Coelho, Peter) - - - This simplifies the task of building extensions outside the original - source tree. - - + + + Make length() disregard trailing spaces in + CHAR(n) (Gavin) + + + This change was made to improve consistency: trailing spaces are + semantically insignificant in CHAR(n) data, so they + should not be counted by length(). + + - - - Support relocatable installations (Bruce) - - - Directory paths for installed files (such as the - /share directory) are now computed relative to the - actual location of the executables, so that an installation tree - can be moved to another place without reconfiguring and - rebuilding. - - + + + Warn about empty string being passed to + OID/float4/float8 data types (Neil) + + + 8.1 will throw an error instead. + + - - - Use - + + + Allow leading or trailing whitespace in + int2/int4/int8/float4/float8 + input routines + (Neil) + + - - - Add - + + + Better support for IEEE Infinity and NaN + values in float4/float8 (Neil) + + + These should now work on all platforms that support IEEE-compliant + floating point arithmetic. + + - - - Upgrade to DocBook V4.2 SGML (Peter) - - + + + Add + - - - New PostgreSQL CVS tag (Marc) - - - This was done to make it easier for organizations to manage their - own copies of the PostgreSQL - CVS repository. File version stamps from the master - repository will not get munged by checking into or out of a copied - repository. - - + + + Fix to_char for 1 BC + (previously it returned 1 AD) (Bruce) + + - - - Clarify locking code (Manfred Koizar) - - + + + Fix date_part(year) for BC dates (previously it + returned one less than the correct year) (Bruce) + + + + + + Fix date_part() to return the proper millennium and + century (Fabien Coelho) + + + In previous versions, the century and millennium results had a wrong + number and started in the wrong year, as compared to standard + reckoning of such things. + + + + + + Add ceiling() as an alias for ceil(), + and power() as an alias for pow() for + standards compliance (Neil) + + + + + + Change ln(), log(), + power(), and sqrt() to emit the correct + SQLSTATE error codes for certain error conditions, as + specified by SQL:2003 (Neil) + + + + + + Add width_bucket() function as defined by SQL:2003 (Neil) + + + + + + Add generate_series() functions to simplify working + with numeric sets (Joe) + + + + + + Fix upper/lower/initcap() functions to work with + multibyte encodings (Tom) + + + + + + Add boolean and bitwise integer + + + + + New session information functions to return network addresses for client + and server (Sean Chittenden) + + + + + + Add function to determine the area of a closed path (Sean Chittenden) + + + + + + Add function to send cancel request to other backends (Magnus) + + + + + + Add interval plus datetime operators (Tom) + + + The reverse ordering, datetime plus interval, + was already supported, but both are required by the SQL standard. + + + + + + Casting an integer to BIT(N) selects the rightmost N bits + of the integer + (Tom) + + + In prior releases, the leftmost N bits were selected, but this was + deemed unhelpful, not to mention inconsistent with casting from bit + to int. + + + + + + Require CIDR values to have all nonmasked bits be zero + (Kevin Brintnall) + + + + + + + + + Server-Side Language Changes + + + + + In READ COMMITTED serialization mode, volatile functions + now see the results of concurrent transactions committed up to the + beginning of each statement within the function, rather than up to the + beginning of the interactive command that called the function. + + + + + + Functions declared STABLE or IMMUTABLE always + use the snapshot of the calling query, and therefore do not see the + effects of actions taken after the calling query starts, whether in + their own transaction or other transactions. Such a function must be + read-only, too, meaning that it cannot use any SQL commands other than + SELECT. There is a considerable performance gain from + declaring a function STABLE or IMMUTABLE + rather than VOLATILE. + + + + + + Nondeferred + + + + + Allow function parameters to be declared with names (Dennis Björklund) + + + This allows better documentation of functions. Whether the names + actually do anything depends on the specific function language + being used. + + + + + + Allow PL/pgSQL parameter names to be referenced in the function (Dennis Björklund) + + + This basically creates an automatic alias for each named parameter. + + + + + + Do minimal syntax checking of PL/pgSQL functions at creation time (Tom) + + + This allows us to catch simple syntax errors sooner. + + - - - Buffer manager cleanup (Neil) - - + + + More support for composite types (row and record variables) in PL/pgSQL + + + For example, it now works to pass a rowtype variable to another function + as a single variable. + + - - - Decouple platform tests from CPU spinlock code (Bruce, Tom) - - + + + Default values for PL/pgSQL variables can now reference previously + declared variables + + - - - Add inlined test-and-set code on PA-RISC for gcc - (ViSolve, Tom) - - + + + Improve parsing of PL/pgSQL FOR loops (Tom) + + + Parsing is now driven by presence of ".." rather than + data type of + - - - Improve i386 spinlock code (Manfred Spraul) - - + + + Major overhaul of PL/Perl server-side language (Command Prompt, Andrew Dunstan) + + - - - Clean up spinlock assembly code to avoid warnings from newer - gcc releases (Tom) - - + + + In PL/Tcl, SPI commands are now run in subtransactions. If an error + occurs, the subtransaction is cleaned up and the error is reported + as an ordinary Tcl error, which can be trapped with catch. + Formerly, it was not possible to catch such errors. + + - - - Remove JDBC from source tree; now a separate project - - + + + Accept ELSEIF in PL/pgSQL (Neil) + + + Previously PL/pgSQL only allowed ELSIF, but many people + are accustomed to spelling this keyword ELSEIF. + + - - - Remove the libpgtcl client interface; now a separate project - - + + - - - More accurately estimate memory and file descriptor usage (Tom) - - - - - Improvements to the Mac OS X startup scripts (Ray A.) - - + + <application>psql</> Changes + - - - New fsync() test program (Bruce) - - + + + Improve psql information display about database + objects (Christopher) + + - - - Major documentation improvements (Neil, Peter) - - + + + Allow psql to display group membership in + \du and \dg (Markus Bertheau) + + - - - Remove pg_encoding; not needed - anymore - - + + + Prevent psql \dn from showing + temporary schemas (Bruce) + + - - - Remove pg_id; not needed anymore - - + + + Allow psql to handle tilde user expansion for file + names (Zach Irmen) + + - - - Remove initlocation; not needed - anymore - - + + + Allow psql to display fancy prompts, including + color, via readline (Reece Hart, Chet Ramey) + + - - - Auto-detect thread flags (no more manual testing) (Bruce) - - + + + Make psql \copy match COPY command syntax + fully (Tom) + + - - - Use Olson's public domain timezone library (Magnus) - - + + + Show the location of syntax errors (Fabien Coelho, Tom) + + - - - With threading enabled, use thread flags on Unixware for - backend executables too (Bruce) - - - Unixware cannot mix threaded and nonthreaded object files in the - same executable, so everything must be compiled as threaded. - - + + + Add CLUSTER information to psql + \d display + (Bruce) + + - - - psql now uses a flex-generated - lexical analyzer to process command strings - - + + + Change psql \copy stdin/stdout to read + from command input/output (Bruce) + + - - - Reimplement the linked list data structure used throughout the - backend (Neil) - - - This improves performance by allowing list append and length - operations to be more efficient. - - + + + Add + - - - Allow dynamically loaded modules to create their own server configuration - parameters (Thomas Hallgren) - - + + + Add global psql configuration file, psqlrc.sample + (Bruce) + + + This allows a central file where global psql startup commands can + be stored. + + - - - New Brazilian version of FAQ (Euler Taveira de Oliveira) - - + + + Have psql \d+ indicate if the table + has an OID column (Neil) + + - - - Add French FAQ (Guillaume Lelarge) - - + + + On Windows, use binary mode in psql when reading files so control-Z + is not seen as end-of-file + + - - - New pgevent for Windows logging - - + + + Have \dn+ show permissions and description for schemas (Dennis + Björklund) + + - - - Make libpq and ECPG build as proper shared libraries on OS X (Tom) - - + + + Improve tab completion support (Stefan Kaltenbrunn, Greg Sabino Mullane) + + - - + + + Allow boolean settings to be set using upper or lower case (Michael Paesold) + + + + - - Contrib Changes - - - - Overhaul of contrib/dblink (Joe) - - + + <application>pg_dump</> Changes + - - - contrib/dbmirror improvements (Steven Singer) - - + + + Use dependency information to improve the reliability of + pg_dump (Tom) + + + This should solve the longstanding problems with related objects + sometimes being dumped in the wrong order. + + - - - New contrib/xml2 (John Gray, Torchbox) - - + + + Have pg_dump output objects in alphabetical order if possible (Tom) + + + This should make it easier to identify changes between + dump files. + + - - - Updated contrib/mysql - - + + + Allow pg_restore to ignore some SQL errors (Fabien Coelho) + + + This makes pg_restore's behavior similar to the + results of feeding a pg_dump output script to + psql. In most cases, ignoring errors and plowing + ahead is the most useful thing to do. Also added was a pg_restore + option to give the old behavior of exiting on an error. + + - - - New version of contrib/btree_gist (Teodor) - - + + + pg_restore + - - - New contrib/trgm, trigram matching for - PostgreSQL (Teodor) - - + + + New begin/end markers in pg_dump text output (Bruce) + + - - - Many contrib/tsearch2 improvements (Teodor) - - + + + Add start/stop times for + pg_dump/pg_dumpall in verbose mode + (Bruce) + + - - - Add double metaphone to contrib/fuzzystrmatch (Andrew) - - + + + Allow most pg_dump options in + pg_dumpall (Christopher) + + - - - Allow contrib/pg_autovacuum to run as a Windows service (Dave Page) - - + + + Have pg_dump use ALTER OWNER rather + than SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION by default + (Christopher) + + - - - Add functions to contrib/dbsize (Andreas Pflug) - - + + - - - Removed contrib/pg_logger: obsoleted by integrated logging - subprocess - - - - - Removed contrib/rserv: obsoleted by various separate projects - - + + libpq Changes + - - + + + Make libpq's + - - + + + Add PQmbdsplen() which returns the display length + of a character (Tatsuo) + + - - Release 7.4.18 + + + Add thread locking to SSL and + Kerberos connections (Manfred Spraul) + + - - Release date - 2007-09-17 - + + + Allow PQoidValue(), PQcmdTuples(), and + PQoidStatus() to work on EXECUTE + commands (Neil) + + - - This release contains fixes from 7.4.17. - + + + Add PQserverVersion() to provide more convenient + access to the server version number (Greg Sabino Mullane) + + - - Migration to version 7.4.18 + + + Add PQprepare/PQsendPrepared() functions to support + preparing statements without necessarily specifying the data types + of their parameters (Abhijit Menon-Sen) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. - + + + Many ECPG improvements, including SET DESCRIPTOR (Michael) + + - + + - - Changes + + Source Code Changes - Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and - then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM - on the same table (Tom) + Allow the database server to run natively on Windows (Claudio, Magnus, Andrew) - Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + Shell script commands converted to C versions for Windows support (Andrew) - Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) + Create an extension makefile framework (Fabien Coelho, Peter) + + + This simplifies the task of building extensions outside the original + source tree. - Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out - of memory (Tom) + Support relocatable installations (Bruce) + + + Directory paths for installed files (such as the + /share directory) are now computed relative to the + actual location of the executables, so that an installation tree + can be moved to another place without reconfiguring and + rebuilding. - Prevent CLUSTER from failing - due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) + Use - Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only - password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + Add - - - - - - - Release 7.4.17 - - - Release date - 2007-04-23 - - - - This release contains fixes from 7.4.16, - including a security fix. - - - - Migration to version 7.4.17 + + + Upgrade to DocBook V4.2 SGML (Peter) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. - + + + New PostgreSQL CVS tag (Marc) + + + This was done to make it easier for organizations to manage their + own copies of the PostgreSQL + CVS repository. File version stamps from the master + repository will not get munged by checking into or out of a copied + repository. + + - + + + Clarify locking code (Manfred Koizar) + + - - Changes + + + Buffer manager cleanup (Neil) + + - + + + Decouple platform tests from CPU spinlock code (Bruce, Tom) + + - - Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within - search_path, and disable searching it for functions - and operators (Tom) - - - This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a - truly secure value of search_path. Without it, - an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code - with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). - See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. - + + Add inlined test-and-set code on PA-RISC for gcc + (ViSolve, Tom) + - - /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) - + + Improve i386 spinlock code (Manfred Spraul) + - - Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles - UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) - + + Clean up spinlock assembly code to avoid warnings from newer + gcc releases (Tom) + - - Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 7.4.15) - (Tom) - + + Remove JDBC from source tree; now a separate project + - + + + Remove the libpgtcl client interface; now a separate project + + - - - - - Release 7.4.16 + + + More accurately estimate memory and file descriptor usage (Tom) + + - - Release date - 2007-02-05 - + + + Improvements to the Mac OS X startup scripts (Ray A.) + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.15, including - a security fix. - + + + New fsync() test program (Bruce) + + - - Migration to version 7.4.16 + + + Major documentation improvements (Neil, Peter) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. - + + + Remove pg_encoding; not needed + anymore + + - + + + Remove pg_id; not needed anymore + + - - Changes + + + Remove initlocation; not needed + anymore + + - + + + Auto-detect thread flags (no more manual testing) (Bruce) + + - - Remove security vulnerability that allowed connected users - to read backend memory (Tom) - - - The vulnerability involves suppressing the normal check that a SQL - function returns the data type it's declared to, or changing the - data type of a table column used in a SQL function (CVE-2007-0555). - This error can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in - principle might be used to read database content that the user - should not be able to access. - + + Use Olson's public domain timezone library (Magnus) + - - Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail - due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) - + + With threading enabled, use thread flags on Unixware for + backend executables too (Bruce) + + + Unixware cannot mix threaded and nonthreaded object files in the + same executable, so everything must be compiled as threaded. + - - Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) - + + psql now uses a flex-generated + lexical analyzer to process command strings + - - Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences - over three bytes long (Tom) - + + Reimplement the linked list data structure used throughout the + backend (Neil) + + + This improves performance by allowing list append and length + operations to be more efficient. + - + + + Allow dynamically loaded modules to create their own server configuration + parameters (Thomas Hallgren) + + - - + + + New Brazilian version of FAQ (Euler Taveira de Oliveira) + + - - Release 7.4.15 + + + Add French FAQ (Guillaume Lelarge) + + - - Release date - 2007-01-08 - + + + New pgevent for Windows logging + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.14. - + + + Make libpq and ECPG build as proper shared libraries on OS X (Tom) + + - - Migration to version 7.4.15 + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. - - + + Contrib Changes + - - Changes + + + Overhaul of contrib/dblink (Joe) + + - + + + contrib/dbmirror improvements (Steven Singer) + + - Improve handling of getaddrinfo() on AIX (Tom) + New contrib/xml2 (John Gray, Torchbox) + + - This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector, - among other things. + Updated contrib/mysql - - - Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in - VACUUM (Tom) - - + + + New version of contrib/btree_gist (Teodor) + + - - - Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) - - + + + New contrib/trgm, trigram matching for + PostgreSQL (Teodor) + + + + + + Many contrib/tsearch2 improvements (Teodor) + + - Fix error when constructing an ARRAY[] made up of multiple - empty elements (Tom) + Add double metaphone to contrib/fuzzystrmatch (Andrew) - to_number() and to_char(numeric) - are now STABLE, not IMMUTABLE, for - new initdb installs (Tom) + Allow contrib/pg_autovacuum to run as a Windows service (Dave Page) + + - This is because lc_numeric can potentially - change the output of these functions. + Add functions to contrib/dbsize (Andreas Pflug) - Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + Removed contrib/pg_logger: obsoleted by integrated logging + subprocess + + - This improves psql \d performance also. + Removed contrib/rserv: obsoleted by various separate projects + - - + + - - Release 7.4.14 + + Release 7.4.19 - - Release date - 2006-10-16 - + + Release date + 2008-01-07 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.18, + including fixes for significant security issues. + + + + Migration to Version 7.4.19 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.13. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. - - Migration to version 7.4.14 + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. - + + Changes - + - - Changes + + + Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of + the user running VACUUM, ANALYZE, etc (Tom) + + + + Functions used in index expressions and partial-index + predicates are evaluated whenever a new table entry is made. It has + long been understood that this poses a risk of trojan-horse code + execution if one modifies a table owned by an untrustworthy user. + (Note that triggers, defaults, check constraints, etc. pose the + same type of risk.) But functions in indexes pose extra danger + because they will be executed by routine maintenance operations + such as VACUUM FULL, which are commonly performed + automatically under a superuser account. For example, a nefarious user + can execute code with superuser privileges by setting up a + trojan-horse index definition and waiting for the next routine vacuum. + The fix arranges for standard maintenance operations + (including VACUUM, ANALYZE, REINDEX, + and CLUSTER) to execute as the table owner rather than + the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already + used for SECURITY DEFINER functions. To prevent bypassing + this security measure, execution of SET SESSION + AUTHORIZATION and SET ROLE is now forbidden within a + SECURITY DEFINER context. (CVE-2007-6600) + + - -Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as -ANYARRAY -Fix string_to_array() to handle overlapping - matches for the separator string -For example, string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx'). - -Fix corner cases in pattern matching for - psql's \d commands -Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree - (Teodor) -Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror -Adjust regression tests for recent changes in US DST laws - - + + + Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry) + - - + + Suitably crafted regular-expression patterns could cause crashes, + infinite or near-infinite looping, and/or massive memory consumption, + all of which pose denial-of-service hazards for applications that + accept regex search patterns from untrustworthy sources. + (CVE-2007-4769, CVE-2007-4772, CVE-2007-6067) + + - - Release 7.4.13 + + + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + - - Release date - 2006-05-23 - + + The fix that appeared for this in 7.4.18 was incomplete, as it plugged + the hole for only some dblink functions. (CVE-2007-6601, + CVE-2007-3278) + + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.12, - including patches for extremely serious security issues. - + + + Fix planner failure in some cases of WHERE false AND var IN + (SELECT ...) (Tom) + + - - Migration to version 7.4.13 + + + Fix potential crash in translate() when using a multibyte + database encoding (Tom) + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. - + + + Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro) + + - - Full security against the SQL-injection attacks described in - CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314 might require changes in application - code. If you have applications that embed untrustworthy strings - into SQL commands, you should examine them as soon as possible to - ensure that they are using recommended escaping techniques. In - most cases, applications should be using subroutines provided by - libraries or drivers (such as libpq's - PQescapeStringConn()) to perform string escaping, - rather than relying on ad hoc code to do it. - - + + + ecpg parser fixes (Michael) + + - - Changes + + + Make contrib/tablefunc's crosstab() handle + NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe) + + - -Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte -characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom) -While PostgreSQL has been moving in this direction for -some time, the checks are now applied uniformly to all encodings and all -textual input, and are now always errors not merely warnings. This change -defends against SQL-injection attacks of the type described in CVE-2006-2313. - + + + Fix tsvector and tsquery output routines to + escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce) + + -Reject unsafe uses of \' in string literals -As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type -described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts '' and not -\' as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string -literals. By default, \' is rejected only when -client_encoding is set to a client-only encoding (SJIS, BIG5, GBK, -GB18030, or UHC), which is the scenario in which SQL injection is possible. -A new configuration parameter backslash_quote is available to -adjust this behavior when needed. Note that full security against -CVE-2006-2314 might require client-side changes; the purpose of -backslash_quote is in part to make it obvious that insecure -clients are insecure. - + + + Fix crash of to_tsvector() on huge input strings (Teodor) + + -Modify libpq's string-escaping routines to be -aware of encoding considerations and -standard_conforming_strings -This fixes libpq-using applications for the security -issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314, and also future-proofs -them against the planned changeover to SQL-standard string literal syntax. -Applications that use multiple PostgreSQL connections -concurrently should migrate to PQescapeStringConn() and -PQescapeByteaConn() to ensure that escaping is done correctly -for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that -do string escaping by hand should be modified to rely on library -routines instead. - + + + Require a specific version of Autoconf to be used + when re-generating the configure script (Peter) + -Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions -win1251_to_iso, alt_to_iso, -euc_tw_to_big5, euc_tw_to_mic, -mic_to_euc_tw were all broken to varying -extents. - + + This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made + to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of + Autoconf and PostgreSQL versions. + You can remove the version check if you really want to use a + different Autoconf version, but it's + your responsibility whether the result works or not. + + -Clean up stray remaining uses of \' in strings -(Bruce, Jan) + -Fix bug that sometimes caused OR'd index scans to -miss rows they should have returned + + -Fix WAL replay for case where a btree index has been -truncated + + Release 7.4.18 -Fix SIMILAR TO for patterns involving -| (Tom) + + Release date + 2007-09-17 + -Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael -Fuhr) + + This release contains fixes from 7.4.17. + -Fix for Bonjour on Intel Macs (Ashley Clark) + + Migration to Version 7.4.18 -Fix various minor memory leaks - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. + + + + + + Changes + + + + + + Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and + then aborts close to the end of a concurrent VACUUM + on the same table (Tom) + + + + + + Make CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL work properly (Tom) + + + + + + Fix excessive logging of SSL error messages (Tom) + + + + + + Fix crash when log_min_error_statement logging runs out + of memory (Tom) + + + + + + Prevent CLUSTER from failing + due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro) + + + + + + Require non-superusers who use /contrib/dblink to use only + password authentication, as a security measure (Joe) + + + + + + + + + + Release 7.4.17 - - + + Release date + 2007-04-23 + - - Release 7.4.12 + + This release contains fixes from 7.4.16, + including a security fix. + - - Release date - 2006-02-14 - + + Migration to Version 7.4.17 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.11. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. - - Migration to version 7.4.12 + + + + Changes + + + - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release - notes for 7.4.11. + Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within + search_path, and disable searching it for functions + and operators (Tom) - + + This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a + truly secure value of search_path. Without it, + an unprivileged SQL user can use temporary objects to execute code + with the privileges of the security-definer function (CVE-2007-2138). + See CREATE FUNCTION for more information. + + - - Changes + + + /contrib/tsearch2 crash fixes (Teodor) + + - + + + Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how VACUUM FULL handles + UPDATE chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee) + + -Fix potential crash in SET -SESSION AUTHORIZATION (CVE-2006-0553) -An unprivileged user could crash the server process, resulting in -momentary denial of service to other users, if the server has been compiled -with Asserts enabled (which is not the default). -Thanks to Akio Ishida for reporting this problem. - + + + Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 7.4.15) + (Tom) + + -Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted -rows (Tom) -Under rare circumstances a row inserted by the current command -could be seen as already valid, when it should not be. Repairs bug -created in 7.4.9 and 7.3.11 releases. - + -Fix race condition that could lead to file already -exists errors during pg_clog file creation -(Tom) + + -Properly check DOMAIN constraints for -UNKNOWN parameters in prepared statements -(Neil) + + Release 7.4.16 -Fix to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema -references to custom operators (Tom) + + Release date + 2007-02-05 + -Portability fix for testing presence of finite -and isinf during configure (Tom) + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.15, including + a security fix. + - + + Migration to Version 7.4.16 - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. + - - Release 7.4.11 + - - Release date - 2006-01-09 - + + Changes - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.10. - + - - Migration to version 7.4.11 + + + Remove security vulnerability that allowed connected users + to read backend memory (Tom) + + + The vulnerability involves suppressing the normal check that a SQL + function returns the data type it's declared to, or changing the + data type of a table column used in a SQL function (CVE-2007-0555). + This error can easily be exploited to cause a backend crash, and in + principle might be used to read database content that the user + should not be able to access. + + + - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.8, see the release - notes for 7.4.8. - Also, you might need to REINDEX indexes on textual - columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or - plperl issues described below. + Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail + due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas) - + - - Changes + + + Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by UNION (Tom) + + - + + + Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences + over three bytes long (Tom) + + -Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued -outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom) + -Fix character string comparison for locales that consider -different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom) -This might require REINDEX to fix existing indexes on -textual columns. + + -Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup -to ensure that plperl won't change the locale later -This fixes a problem that occurred if the postmaster was -started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what -initdb had been told. Under these conditions, any use of -plperl was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need -REINDEX to fix existing indexes on -textual columns if this has happened to you. + + Release 7.4.15 -Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression -handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo) - + + Release date + 2007-01-08 + -Fix bug in /contrib/pgcrypto gen_salt, -which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and -XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer) -Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected. + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.14. + -Fix /contrib/dblink to throw an error, -rather than crashing, when the number of columns specified is different from -what's actually returned by the query (Joe) + + Migration to Version 7.4.15 - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. + - - + - - Release 7.4.10 + + Changes - - Release date - 2005-12-12 - + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.9. - + + + Improve handling of getaddrinfo() on AIX (Tom) + - - Migration to version 7.4.10 + + This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector, + among other things. + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.8, see the release - notes for 7.4.8. - - + + + Fix failed to re-find parent key errors in + VACUUM (Tom) + + - - Changes + + + Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom) + + - + + + Fix error when constructing an ARRAY[] made up of multiple + empty elements (Tom) + + -Fix race condition in transaction log management -There was a narrow window in which an I/O operation could be initiated -for the wrong page, leading to an Assert failure or data -corruption. - + + + to_number() and to_char(numeric) + are now STABLE, not IMMUTABLE, for + new initdb installs (Tom) + -Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message -when current transaction is already aborted + + This is because lc_numeric can potentially + change the output of these functions. + + -/contrib/ltree fixes (Teodor) + + + Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom) + -AIX and HPUX compile fixes (Tom) + + This improves psql \d performance also. + + -Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins -This bug sometimes caused a bogus error RIGHT JOIN is -only supported with merge-joinable join conditions. + -Prevent core dump in pg_autovacuum when a -table has been dropped - + + - - + + Release 7.4.14 + + + Release date + 2006-10-16 + - - Release 7.4.9 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.13. + - - Release date - 2005-10-04 - + + Migration to Version 7.4.14 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.8. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. - - Migration to version 7.4.9 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.8, see the release - notes for 7.4.8. - - + - - Changes + + Changes -Fix error that allowed VACUUM to remove -ctid chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows -ctid links -This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare -circumstances. -Fix CHAR() to properly pad spaces to the specified -length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba) -In prior releases, the padding of CHAR() was incorrect -because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without -considering how many characters were stored. -Fix the sense of the test for read-only transaction -in COPY -The code formerly prohibited COPY TO, where it should -prohibit COPY FROM. - -Fix planning problem with outer-join ON clauses that reference -only the inner-side relation -Further fixes for x FULL JOIN y ON true corner -cases -Make array_in and array_recv more -paranoid about validating their OID parameter -Fix missing rows in queries like UPDATE a=... WHERE -a... with GiST index on column a -Improve robustness of datetime parsing -Improve checking for partially-written WAL -pages -Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is -enabled -Don't try to open more than max_files_per_process -files during postmaster startup -Various memory leakage fixes -Various portability improvements -Fix PL/PgSQL to handle var := var correctly when -the variable is of pass-by-reference type -Update contrib/tsearch2 to use current Snowball -code +Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as +ANYARRAY +Fix string_to_array() to handle overlapping + matches for the separator string +For example, string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx'). + +Fix corner cases in pattern matching for + psql's \d commands +Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree + (Teodor) +Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror +Adjust regression tests for recent changes in US DST laws + - - + + - - Release 7.4.8 + + Release 7.4.13 - - Release date - 2005-05-09 - + + Release date + 2006-05-23 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.12, + including patches for extremely serious security issues. + + + + Migration to Version 7.4.13 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.7, including several - security-related issues. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. - - Migration to version 7.4.8 + + Full security against the SQL-injection attacks described in + CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314 might require changes in application + code. If you have applications that embed untrustworthy strings + into SQL commands, you should examine them as soon as possible to + ensure that they are using recommended escaping techniques. In + most cases, applications should be using subroutines provided by + libraries or drivers (such as libpq's + PQescapeStringConn()) to perform string escaping, + rather than relying on ad hoc code to do it. + + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - it is one possible way of handling two significant security problems - that have been found in the initial contents of 7.4.X system - catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 7.4.8's initdb will - automatically correct these problems. - + + Changes - - The larger security problem is that the built-in character set encoding - conversion functions can be invoked from SQL commands by unprivileged - users, but the functions were not designed for such use and are not - secure against malicious choices of arguments. The fix involves changing - the declared parameter list of these functions so that they can no longer - be invoked from SQL commands. (This does not affect their normal use - by the encoding conversion machinery.) - + +Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte +characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom) +While PostgreSQL has been moving in this direction for +some time, the checks are now applied uniformly to all encodings and all +textual input, and are now always errors not merely warnings. This change +defends against SQL-injection attacks of the type described in CVE-2006-2313. + - - The lesser problem is that the contrib/tsearch2 module - creates several functions that are misdeclared to return - internal when they do not accept internal arguments. - This breaks type safety for all functions using internal - arguments. - +Reject unsafe uses of \' in string literals +As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type +described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts '' and not +\' as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string +literals. By default, \' is rejected only when +client_encoding is set to a client-only encoding (SJIS, BIG5, GBK, +GB18030, or UHC), which is the scenario in which SQL injection is possible. +A new configuration parameter backslash_quote is available to +adjust this behavior when needed. Note that full security against +CVE-2006-2314 might require client-side changes; the purpose of +backslash_quote is in part to make it obvious that insecure +clients are insecure. + - - It is strongly recommended that all installations repair these errors, - either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedures given - below. The errors at least allow unprivileged database users to crash - their server process, and might allow unprivileged users to gain the - privileges of a database superuser. - +Modify libpq's string-escaping routines to be +aware of encoding considerations and +standard_conforming_strings +This fixes libpq-using applications for the security +issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314, and also future-proofs +them against the planned changeover to SQL-standard string literal syntax. +Applications that use multiple PostgreSQL connections +concurrently should migrate to PQescapeStringConn() and +PQescapeByteaConn() to ensure that escaping is done correctly +for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that +do string escaping by hand should be modified to rely on library +routines instead. + - - If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the following procedures instead. - As the database superuser, do: +Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions +win1251_to_iso, alt_to_iso, +euc_tw_to_big5, euc_tw_to_mic, +mic_to_euc_tw were all broken to varying +extents. + - -BEGIN; -UPDATE pg_proc SET proargtypes[3] = 'internal'::regtype -WHERE pronamespace = 11 AND pronargs = 5 - AND proargtypes[2] = 'cstring'::regtype; --- The command should report having updated 90 rows; --- if not, rollback and investigate instead of committing! -COMMIT; - +Clean up stray remaining uses of \' in strings +(Bruce, Jan) - Next, if you have installed contrib/tsearch2, do: +Fix bug that sometimes caused OR'd index scans to +miss rows they should have returned - -BEGIN; -UPDATE pg_proc SET proargtypes[0] = 'internal'::regtype -WHERE oid IN ( - 'dex_init(text)'::regprocedure, - 'snb_en_init(text)'::regprocedure, - 'snb_ru_init(text)'::regprocedure, - 'spell_init(text)'::regprocedure, - 'syn_init(text)'::regprocedure -); --- The command should report having updated 5 rows; --- if not, rollback and investigate instead of committing! -COMMIT; - +Fix WAL replay for case where a btree index has been +truncated - If this command fails with a message like function - "dex_init(text)" does not exist, then either tsearch2 - is not installed in this database, or you already did the update. - +Fix SIMILAR TO for patterns involving +| (Tom) - - The above procedures must be carried out in each database - of an installation, including template1, and ideally - including template0 as well. If you do not fix the - template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain - the same errors. template1 can be fixed in the same way - as any other database, but fixing template0 requires - additional steps. First, from any database issue: - -UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = true WHERE datname = 'template0'; - - Next connect to template0 and perform the above repair - procedures. Finally, do: - --- re-freeze template0: -VACUUM FREEZE; --- and protect it against future alterations: -UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false WHERE datname = 'template0'; - - - +Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael +Fuhr) - - Changes +Fix for Bonjour on Intel Macs (Ashley Clark) - -Change encoding function signature to prevent -misuse -Change contrib/tsearch2 to avoid unsafe use of -INTERNAL function results -Repair ancient race condition that allowed a transaction to be -seen as committed for some purposes (eg SELECT FOR UPDATE) slightly sooner -than for other purposes -This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent -data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications. -Repair race condition between relation extension and -VACUUM -This could theoretically have caused loss of a page's worth of -freshly-inserted data, although the scenario seems of very low probability. -There are no known cases of it having caused more than an Assert failure. - -Fix comparisons of TIME WITH TIME ZONE values - -The comparison code was wrong in the case where the ---enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. -NOTE: if you have an index on a TIME WITH TIME ZONE column, -it will need to be REINDEXed after installing this update, because -the fix corrects the sort order of column values. - -Fix EXTRACT(EPOCH) for -TIME WITH TIME ZONE values -Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in -INTERVAL values - -This error only occurred when the ---enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. - -Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by -statistics collector - - This is expected to resolve reports of pg_autovacuum - not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough — it was not being - told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during - backend exit. - -Additional buffer overrun checks in plpgsql -(Neil) -Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing % -correctly (Neil) -Fix contrib/pgcrypto for newer OpenSSL builds -(Marko Kreen) -Still more 64-bit fixes for -contrib/intagg -Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning -RECORD -Prevent to_char(interval) from dumping core for -month-related formats -Prevent crash on COALESCE(NULL,NULL) -Fix array_map to call PL functions correctly -Fix permission checking in ALTER DATABASE RENAME -Fix ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME -Make RemoveFromWaitQueue clean up after itself - -This fixes a lock management error that would only be visible if a transaction -was kicked out of a wait for a lock (typically by query cancel) and then the -holder of the lock released it within a very narrow window. - -Fix problem with untyped parameter appearing in -INSERT ... SELECT -Fix CLUSTER failure after -ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS +Fix various minor memory leaks - - + + - - Release 7.4.7 + + Release 7.4.12 - - Release date - 2005-01-31 - + + Release date + 2006-02-14 + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.6, including several - security-related issues. - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.11. + - - Migration to version 7.4.7 + + Migration to Version 7.4.12 - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.11, see the release + notes for 7.4.11. + + - - Changes + + Changes -Disallow LOAD to non-superusers - -On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a -shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen), -LOAD can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code. -Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this. -Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to -execute the specified transition functions - -This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE -permission on a function. -Fix security and 64-bit issues in -contrib/intagg -Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris -Jurka) -Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too -many parameters (Neil) -Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins - -The result of the join was mistakenly supposed to be sorted the same as the -left input. This could not only deliver mis-sorted output to the user, but -in case of nested merge joins could give outright wrong answers. - -Fix plperl for quote marks in tuple fields -Fix display of negative intervals in SQL and GERMAN -datestyles -Make age(timestamptz) do calculation in local timezone not -GMT - - - +Fix potential crash in SET +SESSION AUTHORIZATION (CVE-2006-0553) +An unprivileged user could crash the server process, resulting in +momentary denial of service to other users, if the server has been compiled +with Asserts enabled (which is not the default). +Thanks to Akio Ishida for reporting this problem. + - - Release 7.4.6 +Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted +rows (Tom) +Under rare circumstances a row inserted by the current command +could be seen as already valid, when it should not be. Repairs bug +created in 7.4.9 and 7.3.11 releases. + - - Release date - 2004-10-22 - +Fix race condition that could lead to file already +exists errors during pg_clog file creation +(Tom) - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.5. - +Properly check DOMAIN constraints for +UNKNOWN parameters in prepared statements +(Neil) +Fix to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema +references to custom operators (Tom) - - Migration to version 7.4.6 +Portability fix for testing presence of finite +and isinf during configure (Tom) - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. - - + - - Changes + + - -Repair possible failure to update hint bits on disk - -Under rare circumstances this oversight could lead to -could not access transaction status failures, which qualifies -it as a potential-data-loss bug. - -Ensure that hashed outer join does not miss tuples - -Very large left joins using a hash join plan could fail to output unmatched -left-side rows given just the right data distribution. - -Disallow running pg_ctl as root - -This is to guard against any possible security issues. - -Avoid using temp files in /tmp in make_oidjoins_check - -This has been reported as a security issue, though it's hardly worthy of -concern since there is no reason for non-developers to use this script anyway. - -Prevent forced backend shutdown from re-emitting prior command -result - -In rare cases, a client might think that its last command had succeeded when -it really had been aborted by forced database shutdown. - -Repair bug in pg_stat_get_backend_idset - -This could lead to misbehavior in some of the system-statistics views. - -Fix small memory leak in postmaster -Fix expected both swapped tables to have TOAST -tables bug - -This could arise in cases such as CLUSTER after ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN. - -Prevent pg_ctl restart from adding -D multiple times -Fix problem with NULL values in GiST indexes -:: is no longer interpreted as a variable in an -ECPG prepare statement - + + Release 7.4.11 - - + + Release date + 2006-01-09 + - - Release 7.4.5 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.10. + - - Release date - 2004-08-18 - + + Migration to Version 7.4.11 - This release contains one serious bug fix over 7.4.4. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.8, see the release + notes for 7.4.8. + Also, you might need to REINDEX indexes on textual + columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or + plperl issues described below. + + + Changes - - Migration to version 7.4.5 + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. - - +Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued +outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom) - - Changes +Fix character string comparison for locales that consider +different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom) +This might require REINDEX to fix existing indexes on +textual columns. - -Repair possible crash during concurrent B-tree index insertions - -This patch fixes a rare case in which concurrent insertions into a B-tree index -could result in a server panic. No permanent damage would result, but it's -still worth a re-release. The bug does not exist in pre-7.4 releases. +Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup +to ensure that plperl won't change the locale later +This fixes a problem that occurred if the postmaster was +started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what +initdb had been told. Under these conditions, any use of +plperl was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need +REINDEX to fix existing indexes on +textual columns if this has happened to you. + +Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression +handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo) + +Fix bug in /contrib/pgcrypto gen_salt, +which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and +XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer) +Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected. + +Fix /contrib/dblink to throw an error, +rather than crashing, when the number of columns specified is different from +what's actually returned by the query (Joe) + - - + + - - Release 7.4.4 + + Release 7.4.10 - - Release date - 2004-08-16 - + + Release date + 2005-12-12 + + + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.9. + + + + Migration to Version 7.4.10 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.3. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.8, see the release + notes for 7.4.8. + + + Changes - - Migration to version 7.4.4 + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. - - +Fix race condition in transaction log management +There was a narrow window in which an I/O operation could be initiated +for the wrong page, leading to an Assert failure or data +corruption. + - - Changes +Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message +when current transaction is already aborted - -Prevent possible loss of committed transactions during crash - -Due to insufficient interlocking between transaction commit and checkpointing, -it was possible for transactions committed just before the most recent -checkpoint to be lost, in whole or in part, following a database crash and -restart. This is a serious bug that has existed -since PostgreSQL 7.1. - -Check HAVING restriction before evaluating result list of an -aggregate plan -Avoid crash when session's current user ID is deleted -Fix hashed crosstab for zero-rows case (Joe) -Force cache update after renaming a column in a foreign key -Pretty-print UNION queries correctly -Make psql handle \r\n newlines properly in COPY IN -pg_dump handled ACLs with grant options incorrectly -Fix thread support for OS X and Solaris -Updated JDBC driver (build 215) with various fixes -ECPG fixes -Translation updates (various contributors) - +/contrib/ltree fixes (Teodor) - - +AIX and HPUX compile fixes (Tom) - - Release 7.4.3 +Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins +This bug sometimes caused a bogus error RIGHT JOIN is +only supported with merge-joinable join conditions. - - Release date - 2004-06-14 - +Prevent core dump in pg_autovacuum when a +table has been dropped + - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.2. - + + + + Release 7.4.9 - - Migration to version 7.4.3 + + Release date + 2005-10-04 + - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.8. + - - Changes + + Migration to Version 7.4.9 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.4.8, see the release + notes for 7.4.8. + + + + + Changes -Fix temporary memory leak when using non-hashed aggregates (Tom) -ECPG fixes, including some for Informix compatibility (Michael) -Fixes for compiling with thread-safety, particularly Solaris (Bruce) -Fix error in COPY IN termination when using the old network protocol (ljb) -Several important fixes in pg_autovacuum, including fixes for -large tables, unsigned oids, stability, temp tables, and debug mode -(Matthew T. O'Connor) -Fix problem with reading tar-format dumps on NetBSD and BSD/OS (Bruce) -Several JDBC fixes -Fix ALTER SEQUENCE RESTART where last_value equals the restart value (Tom) -Repair failure to recalculate nested sub-selects (Tom) -Fix problems with non-constant expressions in LIMIT/OFFSET -Support FULL JOIN with no join clause, such as X FULL JOIN Y ON TRUE (Tom) -Fix another zero-column table bug (Tom) -Improve handling of non-qualified identifiers in GROUP BY clauses in sub-selects (Tom) - -Select-list aliases within the sub-select will now take precedence over -names from outer query levels. - -Do not generate NATURAL CROSS JOIN when decompiling rules (Tom) -Add checks for invalid field length in binary COPY (Tom) - - This fixes a difficult-to-exploit security hole. +Fix error that allowed VACUUM to remove +ctid chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows +ctid links +This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare +circumstances. +Fix CHAR() to properly pad spaces to the specified +length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba) +In prior releases, the padding of CHAR() was incorrect +because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without +considering how many characters were stored. +Fix the sense of the test for read-only transaction +in COPY +The code formerly prohibited COPY TO, where it should +prohibit COPY FROM. -Avoid locking conflict between ANALYZE and LISTEN/NOTIFY -Numerous translation updates (various contributors) +Fix planning problem with outer-join ON clauses that reference +only the inner-side relation +Further fixes for x FULL JOIN y ON true corner +cases +Make array_in and array_recv more +paranoid about validating their OID parameter +Fix missing rows in queries like UPDATE a=... WHERE +a... with GiST index on column a +Improve robustness of datetime parsing +Improve checking for partially-written WAL +pages +Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is +enabled +Don't try to open more than max_files_per_process +files during postmaster startup +Various memory leakage fixes +Various portability improvements +Fix PL/PgSQL to handle var := var correctly when +the variable is of pass-by-reference type +Update contrib/tsearch2 to use current Snowball +code - - + + + + + Release 7.4.8 + + + Release date + 2005-05-09 + - - Release 7.4.2 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.7, including several + security-related issues. + - - Release date - 2004-03-08 - + + Migration to Version 7.4.8 - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.1. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + it is one possible way of handling two significant security problems + that have been found in the initial contents of 7.4.X system + catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 7.4.8's initdb will + automatically correct these problems. + + The larger security problem is that the built-in character set encoding + conversion functions can be invoked from SQL commands by unprivileged + users, but the functions were not designed for such use and are not + secure against malicious choices of arguments. The fix involves changing + the declared parameter list of these functions so that they can no longer + be invoked from SQL commands. (This does not affect their normal use + by the encoding conversion machinery.) + - - Migration to version 7.4.2 - - - A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, - it might be advisable as the easiest method of incorporating fixes for - two errors that have been found in the initial contents of 7.4.X system - catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 7.4.2's initdb will - automatically correct these problems. - - - - The more severe of the two errors is that data type anyarray - has the wrong alignment label; this is a problem because the - pg_statistic system catalog uses anyarray - columns. The mislabeling can cause planner misestimations and even - crashes when planning queries that involve WHERE clauses on - double-aligned columns (such as float8 and timestamp). - It is strongly recommended that all installations repair this error, - either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedure given - below. - + + The lesser problem is that the contrib/tsearch2 module + creates several functions that are misdeclared to return + internal when they do not accept internal arguments. + This breaks type safety for all functions using internal + arguments. + - - The lesser error is that the system view pg_settings - ought to be marked as having public update access, to allow - UPDATE pg_settings to be used as a substitute for - SET. This can also be fixed either by initdb or manually, - but it is not necessary to fix unless you want to use UPDATE - pg_settings. - + + It is strongly recommended that all installations repair these errors, + either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedures given + below. The errors at least allow unprivileged database users to crash + their server process, and might allow unprivileged users to gain the + privileges of a database superuser. + - - If you wish not to do an initdb, the following procedure will work - for fixing pg_statistic. As the database superuser, - do: + + If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the following procedures instead. + As the database superuser, do: --- clear out old data in pg_statistic: -DELETE FROM pg_statistic; -VACUUM pg_statistic; --- this should update 1 row: -UPDATE pg_type SET typalign = 'd' WHERE oid = 2277; --- this should update 6 rows: -UPDATE pg_attribute SET attalign = 'd' WHERE atttypid = 2277; --- --- At this point you MUST start a fresh backend to avoid a crash! --- --- repopulate pg_statistic: -ANALYZE; +BEGIN; +UPDATE pg_proc SET proargtypes[3] = 'internal'::regtype +WHERE pronamespace = 11 AND pronargs = 5 + AND proargtypes[2] = 'cstring'::regtype; +-- The command should report having updated 90 rows; +-- if not, rollback and investigate instead of committing! +COMMIT; - This can be done in a live database, but beware that all backends - running in the altered database must be restarted before it is safe to - repopulate pg_statistic. - + Next, if you have installed contrib/tsearch2, do: - - To repair the pg_settings error, simply do: -GRANT SELECT, UPDATE ON pg_settings TO PUBLIC; +BEGIN; +UPDATE pg_proc SET proargtypes[0] = 'internal'::regtype +WHERE oid IN ( + 'dex_init(text)'::regprocedure, + 'snb_en_init(text)'::regprocedure, + 'snb_ru_init(text)'::regprocedure, + 'spell_init(text)'::regprocedure, + 'syn_init(text)'::regprocedure +); +-- The command should report having updated 5 rows; +-- if not, rollback and investigate instead of committing! +COMMIT; - - - The above procedures must be carried out in each database - of an installation, including template1, and ideally - including template0 as well. If you do not fix the - template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain - the same errors. template1 can be fixed in the same way - as any other database, but fixing template0 requires - additional steps. First, from any database issue: + If this command fails with a message like function + "dex_init(text)" does not exist, then either tsearch2 + is not installed in this database, or you already did the update. + + + + The above procedures must be carried out in each database + of an installation, including template1, and ideally + including template0 as well. If you do not fix the + template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain + the same errors. template1 can be fixed in the same way + as any other database, but fixing template0 requires + additional steps. First, from any database issue: UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = true WHERE datname = 'template0'; - Next connect to template0 and perform the above repair - procedures. Finally, do: + Next connect to template0 and perform the above repair + procedures. Finally, do: -- re-freeze template0: VACUUM FREEZE; -- and protect it against future alterations: UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false WHERE datname = 'template0'; - - - - - Changes + + - - Release 7.4.2 incorporates all the fixes included in release 7.3.6, - plus the following fixes: - + + Changes -Fix pg_statistics alignment bug that could crash optimizer -See above for details about this problem. -Allow non-super users to update pg_settings -Fix several optimizer bugs, most of which led to -variable not found in subplan target lists errors -Avoid out-of-memory failure during startup of large multiple -index scan -Fix multibyte problem that could lead to out of -memory error during COPY IN -Fix problems with SELECT INTO / CREATE -TABLE AS from tables without OIDs -Fix problems with alter_table regression test -during parallel testing -Fix problems with hitting open file limit, especially on OS X (Tom) -Partial fix for Turkish-locale issues -initdb will succeed now in Turkish locale, but there are still some -inconveniences associated with the i/I problem. -Make pg_dump set client encoding on restore -Other minor pg_dump fixes -Allow ecpg to again use C keywords as column names (Michael) -Added ecpg WHENEVER NOT_FOUND to -SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE (Michael) -Fix ecpg crash for queries calling set-returning functions (Michael) -Various other ecpg fixes (Michael) -Fixes for Borland compiler -Thread build improvements (Bruce) -Various other build fixes -Various JDBC fixes +Change encoding function signature to prevent +misuse +Change contrib/tsearch2 to avoid unsafe use of +INTERNAL function results +Repair ancient race condition that allowed a transaction to be +seen as committed for some purposes (eg SELECT FOR UPDATE) slightly sooner +than for other purposes +This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent +data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications. +Repair race condition between relation extension and +VACUUM +This could theoretically have caused loss of a page's worth of +freshly-inserted data, although the scenario seems of very low probability. +There are no known cases of it having caused more than an Assert failure. + +Fix comparisons of TIME WITH TIME ZONE values + +The comparison code was wrong in the case where the +--enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. +NOTE: if you have an index on a TIME WITH TIME ZONE column, +it will need to be REINDEXed after installing this update, because +the fix corrects the sort order of column values. + +Fix EXTRACT(EPOCH) for +TIME WITH TIME ZONE values +Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in +INTERVAL values + +This error only occurred when the +--enable-integer-datetimes configuration switch had been used. + +Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by +statistics collector + +This is expected to resolve reports of pg_autovacuum +not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough — it was not being +told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during +backend exit. + +Additional buffer overrun checks in plpgsql +(Neil) +Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing % +correctly (Neil) +Fix contrib/pgcrypto for newer OpenSSL builds +(Marko Kreen) +Still more 64-bit fixes for +contrib/intagg +Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning +RECORD +Prevent to_char(interval) from dumping core for +month-related formats +Prevent crash on COALESCE(NULL,NULL) +Fix array_map to call PL functions correctly +Fix permission checking in ALTER DATABASE RENAME +Fix ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME +Make RemoveFromWaitQueue clean up after itself + +This fixes a lock management error that would only be visible if a transaction +was kicked out of a wait for a lock (typically by query cancel) and then the +holder of the lock released it within a very narrow window. + +Fix problem with untyped parameter appearing in +INSERT ... SELECT +Fix CLUSTER failure after +ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS - - - - - Release 7.4.1 - - - Release date - 2003-12-22 - - - - This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4. - + + + + Release 7.4.7 - - Migration to version 7.4.1 + + Release date + 2005-01-31 + - - A dump/restore is not required for those - running 7.4. - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.6, including several + security-related issues. + - - If you want to install the fixes in the information schema - you need to reload it into the database. - This is either accomplished by initializing a new cluster - by running initdb, or by running the following - sequence of SQL commands in each database (ideally including - template1) as a superuser in - psql, after installing the new release: - -DROP SCHEMA information_schema CASCADE; -\i /usr/local/pgsql/share/information_schema.sql - - Substitute your installation path in the second command. - + + Migration to Version 7.4.7 - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. + + - - Changes + + Changes -Fixed bug in CREATE SCHEMA parsing in ECPG (Michael) -Fix compile error when and are used together (Peter) -Fix for subqueries that used hash joins (Tom) - - Certain subqueries that used hash joins would crash because of - improperly shared structures. - -Fix free space map compaction bug (Tom) - - This fixes a bug where compaction of the free space map could lead - to a database server shutdown. - - -Fix for Borland compiler build of libpq (Bruce) -Fix netmask() and hostmask() to return the maximum-length masklen (Tom) - - Fix these functions to return values consistent with pre-7.4 - releases. - - -Several contrib/pg_autovacuum fixes - - Fixes include improper variable initialization, missing vacuum after - TRUNCATE, and duration computation overflow for long vacuums. - - -Allow compile of contrib/cube under Cygwin (Jason Tishler) -Fix Solaris use of password file when no passwords are defined (Tom) - - Fix crash on Solaris caused by use of any type of password - authentication when no passwords were defined. - - -JDBC fix for thread problems, other fixes -Fix for bytea index lookups (Joe) -Fix information schema for bit data types (Peter) -Force zero_damaged_pages to be on during recovery from WAL -Prevent some obscure cases of variable not in subplan target lists -Make PQescapeBytea and byteaout consistent with each other (Joe) -Escape bytea output for bytes > 0x7e(Joe) +Disallow LOAD to non-superusers - If different client encodings are used for bytea output and input, it - is possible for bytea values to be corrupted by the differing - encodings. This fix escapes all bytes that might be affected. - - -Added missing SPI_finish() calls to dblink's get_tuple_of_interest() (Joe) -New Czech FAQ -Fix information schema view constraint_column_usage for foreign keys (Peter) -ECPG fixes (Michael) -Fix bug with multiple IN subqueries and joins in the subqueries (Tom) -Allow COUNT('x') to work (Tom) -Install ECPG include files for Informix compatibility into separate directory (Peter) +On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a +shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen), +LOAD can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code. +Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this. +Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to +execute the specified transition functions - Some names of ECPG include files for Informix compatibility conflicted with operating system include files. - By installing them in their own directory, name conflicts have been reduced. - - -Fix SSL memory leak (Neil) +This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE +permission on a function. +Fix security and 64-bit issues in +contrib/intagg +Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris +Jurka) +Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too +many parameters (Neil) +Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins - This release fixes a bug in 7.4 where SSL didn't free all memory it allocated. - - -Prevent pg_service.conf from using service name as default dbname (Bruce) -Fix local ident authentication on FreeBSD (Tom) +The result of the join was mistakenly supposed to be sorted the same as the +left input. This could not only deliver mis-sorted output to the user, but +in case of nested merge joins could give outright wrong answers. + +Fix plperl for quote marks in tuple fields +Fix display of negative intervals in SQL and GERMAN +datestyles +Make age(timestamptz) do calculation in local timezone not +GMT - - Release 7.4 + + Release 7.4.6 - Release date - 2003-11-17 + Release date + 2004-10-22 + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.5. + + + - Overview + Migration to Version 7.4.6 - Major changes in this release: + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. + - - - - IN / NOT IN subqueries are - now much more efficient - - - - - In previous releases, IN/NOT - IN subqueries were joined to the upper query by - sequentially scanning the subquery looking for a match. The - 7.4 code uses the same sophisticated techniques used by - ordinary joins and so is much faster. An - IN will now usually be as fast as or faster - than an equivalent EXISTS subquery; this - reverses the conventional wisdom that applied to previous - releases. - - - + + Changes - - - Improved GROUP BY processing by using hash buckets - + +Repair possible failure to update hint bits on disk + +Under rare circumstances this oversight could lead to +could not access transaction status failures, which qualifies +it as a potential-data-loss bug. + +Ensure that hashed outer join does not miss tuples + +Very large left joins using a hash join plan could fail to output unmatched +left-side rows given just the right data distribution. + +Disallow running pg_ctl as root + +This is to guard against any possible security issues. + +Avoid using temp files in /tmp in make_oidjoins_check + +This has been reported as a security issue, though it's hardly worthy of +concern since there is no reason for non-developers to use this script anyway. + +Prevent forced backend shutdown from re-emitting prior command +result + +In rare cases, a client might think that its last command had succeeded when +it really had been aborted by forced database shutdown. + +Repair bug in pg_stat_get_backend_idset + +This could lead to misbehavior in some of the system-statistics views. + +Fix small memory leak in postmaster +Fix expected both swapped tables to have TOAST +tables bug + +This could arise in cases such as CLUSTER after ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN. + +Prevent pg_ctl restart from adding -D multiple times +Fix problem with NULL values in GiST indexes +:: is no longer interpreted as a variable in an +ECPG prepare statement + - - - In previous releases, rows to be grouped had to be sorted - first. The 7.4 code can do GROUP BY - without sorting, by accumulating results into a hash table - with one entry per group. It will still use the sort - technique, however, if the hash table is estimated to be too - large to fit in sort_mem. - - - + + - - - New multikey hash join capability - + + Release 7.4.5 - - - In previous releases, hash joins could only occur on single - keys. This release allows multicolumn hash joins. - - - + + Release date + 2004-08-18 + - - - Queries using the explicit JOIN syntax are - now better optimized - + + This release contains one serious bug fix over 7.4.4. + - - - Prior releases evaluated queries using the explicit - JOIN syntax only in the order implied by - the syntax. 7.4 allows full optimization of these queries, - meaning the optimizer considers all possible join orderings - and chooses the most efficient. Outer joins, however, must - still follow the declared ordering. - - - - - - Faster and more powerful regular expression code - + + Migration to Version 7.4.5 - - - The entire regular expression module has been replaced with a - new version by Henry Spencer, originally written for Tcl. The - code greatly improves performance and supports several flavors - of regular expressions. - - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. + + - - - Function-inlining for simple SQL functions - + + Changes - - - Simple SQL functions can now be inlined by including their SQL - in the main query. This improves performance by eliminating - per-call overhead. That means simple SQL functions now - behave like macros. - - - + +Repair possible crash during concurrent B-tree index insertions + +This patch fixes a rare case in which concurrent insertions into a B-tree index +could result in a server panic. No permanent damage would result, but it's +still worth a re-release. The bug does not exist in pre-7.4 releases. + + - - - Full support for IPv6 connections and IPv6 address data types - + + - - - Previous releases allowed only IPv4 connections, and the IP - data types only supported IPv4 addresses. This release adds - full IPv6 support in both of these areas. - - - + + Release 7.4.4 - - - Major improvements in SSL performance and reliability - + + Release date + 2004-08-16 + - - - Several people very familiar with the SSL API have overhauled - our SSL code to improve SSL key negotiation and error - recovery. - - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.3. + - - - Make free space map efficiently reuse empty index pages, - and other free space management improvements - - - - In previous releases, B-tree index pages that were left empty - because of deleted rows could only be reused by rows with - index values similar to the rows originally indexed on that - page. In 7.4, VACUUM records empty index - pages and allows them to be reused for any future index rows. - - - + + Migration to Version 7.4.4 - - - SQL-standard information schema - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. + + - - - The information schema provides a standardized and stable way - to access information about the schema objects defined in a - database. - - - + + Changes - - - Cursors conform more closely to the SQL standard - + +Prevent possible loss of committed transactions during crash + +Due to insufficient interlocking between transaction commit and checkpointing, +it was possible for transactions committed just before the most recent +checkpoint to be lost, in whole or in part, following a database crash and +restart. This is a serious bug that has existed +since PostgreSQL 7.1. + +Check HAVING restriction before evaluating result list of an +aggregate plan +Avoid crash when session's current user ID is deleted +Fix hashed crosstab for zero-rows case (Joe) +Force cache update after renaming a column in a foreign key +Pretty-print UNION queries correctly +Make psql handle \r\n newlines properly in COPY IN +pg_dump handled ACLs with grant options incorrectly +Fix thread support for OS X and Solaris +Updated JDBC driver (build 215) with various fixes +ECPG fixes +Translation updates (various contributors) + - - - The commands FETCH and - MOVE have been overhauled to conform more - closely to the SQL standard. - - - + + - - - Cursors can exist outside transactions - + + Release 7.4.3 - - - These cursors are also called holdable cursors. - - - + + Release date + 2004-06-14 + - - - New client-to-server protocol - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.2. + - - - The new protocol adds error codes, more status information, - faster startup, better support for binary data transmission, - parameter values separated from SQL commands, prepared - statements available at the protocol level, and cleaner - recovery from COPY failures. The older - protocol is still supported by both server and clients. - - - - - - libpq and - ECPG applications are now fully - thread-safe - + + Migration to Version 7.4.3 - - - While previous libpq releases - already supported threads, this release improves thread safety - by fixing some non-thread-safe code that was used during - database connection startup. The configure - option must be used to - enable this feature. - - - + + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. + + - - - New version of full-text indexing - + + Changes - - - A new full-text indexing suite is available in - contrib/tsearch2. - - - + +Fix temporary memory leak when using non-hashed aggregates (Tom) +ECPG fixes, including some for Informix compatibility (Michael) +Fixes for compiling with thread-safety, particularly Solaris (Bruce) +Fix error in COPY IN termination when using the old network protocol (ljb) +Several important fixes in pg_autovacuum, including fixes for +large tables, unsigned oids, stability, temp tables, and debug mode +(Matthew T. O'Connor) +Fix problem with reading tar-format dumps on NetBSD and BSD/OS (Bruce) +Several JDBC fixes +Fix ALTER SEQUENCE RESTART where last_value equals the restart value (Tom) +Repair failure to recalculate nested sub-selects (Tom) +Fix problems with non-constant expressions in LIMIT/OFFSET +Support FULL JOIN with no join clause, such as X FULL JOIN Y ON TRUE (Tom) +Fix another zero-column table bug (Tom) +Improve handling of non-qualified identifiers in GROUP BY clauses in sub-selects (Tom) + +Select-list aliases within the sub-select will now take precedence over +names from outer query levels. + +Do not generate NATURAL CROSS JOIN when decompiling rules (Tom) +Add checks for invalid field length in binary COPY (Tom) + + This fixes a difficult-to-exploit security hole. + +Avoid locking conflict between ANALYZE and LISTEN/NOTIFY +Numerous translation updates (various contributors) + - - - New autovacuum tool - + + - - - The new autovacuum tool in - contrib/autovacuum monitors the database - statistics tables for - INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE - activity and automatically vacuums tables when needed. - - - + + Release 7.4.2 - - - Array handling has been improved and moved into the server core - + + Release date + 2004-03-08 + - - - Many array limitations have been removed, and arrays behave - more like fully-supported data types. - - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.1. + - - - Migration to version 7.4 + Migration to Version 7.4.2 - A dump/restore using pg_dump is - required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous - release. + A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X. However, + it might be advisable as the easiest method of incorporating fixes for + two errors that have been found in the initial contents of 7.4.X system + catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 7.4.2's initdb will + automatically correct these problems. - Observe the following incompatibilities: + The more severe of the two errors is that data type anyarray + has the wrong alignment label; this is a problem because the + pg_statistic system catalog uses anyarray + columns. The mislabeling can cause planner misestimations and even + crashes when planning queries that involve WHERE clauses on + double-aligned columns (such as float8 and timestamp). + It is strongly recommended that all installations repair this error, + either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedure given + below. - - - - The server-side autocommit setting was removed and - reimplemented in client applications and languages. - Server-side autocommit was causing too many problems with - languages and applications that wanted to control their own - autocommit behavior, so autocommit was removed from the server - and added to individual client APIs as appropriate. - - + + The lesser error is that the system view pg_settings + ought to be marked as having public update access, to allow + UPDATE pg_settings to be used as a substitute for + SET. This can also be fixed either by initdb or manually, + but it is not necessary to fix unless you want to use UPDATE + pg_settings. + - - - Error message wording has changed substantially in this - release. Significant effort was invested to make the messages - more consistent and user-oriented. If your applications try to - detect different error conditions by parsing the error message, - you are strongly encouraged to use the new error code facility instead. - - + + If you wish not to do an initdb, the following procedure will work + for fixing pg_statistic. As the database superuser, + do: - - - Inner joins using the explicit JOIN syntax - might behave differently because they are now better - optimized. - - + +-- clear out old data in pg_statistic: +DELETE FROM pg_statistic; +VACUUM pg_statistic; +-- this should update 1 row: +UPDATE pg_type SET typalign = 'd' WHERE oid = 2277; +-- this should update 6 rows: +UPDATE pg_attribute SET attalign = 'd' WHERE atttypid = 2277; +-- +-- At this point you MUST start a fresh backend to avoid a crash! +-- +-- repopulate pg_statistic: +ANALYZE; + - - - A number of server configuration parameters have been renamed - for clarity, primarily those related to - logging. - - + This can be done in a live database, but beware that all backends + running in the altered database must be restarted before it is safe to + repopulate pg_statistic. + - - - FETCH 0 or MOVE 0 now - does nothing. In prior releases, FETCH 0 - would fetch all remaining rows, and MOVE 0 - would move to the end of the cursor. - - + + To repair the pg_settings error, simply do: + +GRANT SELECT, UPDATE ON pg_settings TO PUBLIC; + + - - - FETCH and MOVE now return - the actual number of rows fetched/moved, or zero if at the - beginning/end of the cursor. Prior releases would return the - row count passed to the command, not the number of rows - actually fetched or moved. - - + + The above procedures must be carried out in each database + of an installation, including template1, and ideally + including template0 as well. If you do not fix the + template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain + the same errors. template1 can be fixed in the same way + as any other database, but fixing template0 requires + additional steps. First, from any database issue: + +UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = true WHERE datname = 'template0'; + + Next connect to template0 and perform the above repair + procedures. Finally, do: + +-- re-freeze template0: +VACUUM FREEZE; +-- and protect it against future alterations: +UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false WHERE datname = 'template0'; + + + - - - COPY now can process files that use - carriage-return or carriage-return/line-feed end-of-line - sequences. Literal carriage-returns and line-feeds are no - longer accepted in data values; use \r and - \n instead. - - + + Changes - - - Trailing spaces are now trimmed when converting from type - char(n) to - varchar(n) or text. - This is what most people always expected to happen anyway. - - + + Release 7.4.2 incorporates all the fixes included in release 7.3.6, + plus the following fixes: + - - - The data type float(p) now - measures p in binary digits, not decimal - digits. The new behavior follows the SQL standard. - - + +Fix pg_statistics alignment bug that could crash optimizer +See above for details about this problem. +Allow non-super users to update pg_settings +Fix several optimizer bugs, most of which led to +variable not found in subplan target lists errors +Avoid out-of-memory failure during startup of large multiple +index scan +Fix multibyte problem that could lead to out of +memory error during COPY IN +Fix problems with SELECT INTO / CREATE +TABLE AS from tables without OIDs +Fix problems with alter_table regression test +during parallel testing +Fix problems with hitting open file limit, especially on OS X (Tom) +Partial fix for Turkish-locale issues +initdb will succeed now in Turkish locale, but there are still some +inconveniences associated with the i/I problem. +Make pg_dump set client encoding on restore +Other minor pg_dump fixes +Allow ecpg to again use C keywords as column names (Michael) +Added ecpg WHENEVER NOT_FOUND to +SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE (Michael) +Fix ecpg crash for queries calling set-returning functions (Michael) +Various other ecpg fixes (Michael) +Fixes for Borland compiler +Thread build improvements (Bruce) +Various other build fixes +Various JDBC fixes + - - - Ambiguous date values now must match the ordering specified by - the datestyle setting. In prior releases, a - date specification of 10/20/03 was interpreted as a - date in October even if datestyle specified that - the day should be first. 7.4 will throw an error if a date - specification is invalid for the current setting of - datestyle. - - + + - - - The functions oidrand, - oidsrand, and - userfntest have been removed. These - functions were determined to be no longer useful. - - + + Release 7.4.1 - - - String literals specifying time-varying date/time values, such - as 'now' or 'today' will - no longer work as expected in column default expressions; they - now cause the time of the table creation to be the default, not - the time of the insertion. Functions such as - now(), current_timestamp, or - current_date should be used instead. - + + Release date + 2003-12-22 + - - In previous releases, there was special code so that strings - such as 'now' were interpreted at - INSERT time and not at table creation time, but - this work around didn't cover all cases. Release 7.4 now - requires that defaults be defined properly using functions such - as now() or current_timestamp. These - will work in all situations. - - + + This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4. + - - - The dollar sign ($) is no longer allowed in - operator names. It can instead be a non-first character in - identifiers. This was done to improve compatibility with other - database systems, and to avoid syntax problems when parameter - placeholders ($n) are written - adjacent to operators. - - - + + Migration to Version 7.4.1 + + + A dump/restore is not required for those + running 7.4. + + + + If you want to install the fixes in the information schema + you need to reload it into the database. + This is either accomplished by initializing a new cluster + by running initdb, or by running the following + sequence of SQL commands in each database (ideally including + template1) as a superuser in + psql, after installing the new release: + +DROP SCHEMA information_schema CASCADE; +\i /usr/local/pgsql/share/information_schema.sql + + Substitute your installation path in the second command. + + Changes - - Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between - release 7.4 and the previous major release. - + +Fixed bug in CREATE SCHEMA parsing in ECPG (Michael) +Fix compile error when and are used together (Peter) +Fix for subqueries that used hash joins (Tom) + + Certain subqueries that used hash joins would crash because of + improperly shared structures. + +Fix free space map compaction bug (Tom) + + This fixes a bug where compaction of the free space map could lead + to a database server shutdown. + + +Fix for Borland compiler build of libpq (Bruce) +Fix netmask() and hostmask() to return the maximum-length masklen (Tom) + + Fix these functions to return values consistent with pre-7.4 + releases. + + +Several contrib/pg_autovacuum fixes + + Fixes include improper variable initialization, missing vacuum after + TRUNCATE, and duration computation overflow for long vacuums. + + +Allow compile of contrib/cube under Cygwin (Jason Tishler) +Fix Solaris use of password file when no passwords are defined (Tom) + + Fix crash on Solaris caused by use of any type of password + authentication when no passwords were defined. + + +JDBC fix for thread problems, other fixes +Fix for bytea index lookups (Joe) +Fix information schema for bit data types (Peter) +Force zero_damaged_pages to be on during recovery from WAL +Prevent some obscure cases of variable not in subplan target lists +Make PQescapeBytea and byteaout consistent with each other (Joe) +Escape bytea output for bytes > 0x7e(Joe) + + If different client encodings are used for bytea output and input, it + is possible for bytea values to be corrupted by the differing + encodings. This fix escapes all bytes that might be affected. + + +Added missing SPI_finish() calls to dblink's get_tuple_of_interest() (Joe) +New Czech FAQ +Fix information schema view constraint_column_usage for foreign keys (Peter) +ECPG fixes (Michael) +Fix bug with multiple IN subqueries and joins in the subqueries (Tom) +Allow COUNT('x') to work (Tom) +Install ECPG include files for Informix compatibility into separate directory (Peter) + + Some names of ECPG include files for Informix compatibility conflicted with operating system include files. + By installing them in their own directory, name conflicts have been reduced. + + +Fix SSL memory leak (Neil) + + This release fixes a bug in 7.4 where SSL didn't free all memory it allocated. + + +Prevent pg_service.conf from using service name as default dbname (Bruce) +Fix local ident authentication on FreeBSD (Tom) + - - Server Operation Changes + + - - - - Allow IPv6 server connections (Nigel Kukard, Johan Jordaan, - Bruce, Tom, Kurt Roeckx, Andrew Dunstan) - - + + Release 7.4 - - - Fix SSL to handle errors cleanly (Nathan Mueller) - - - In prior releases, certain SSL API error reports were not - handled correctly. This release fixes those problems. - - + + Release date + 2003-11-17 + + + + Overview + + + Major changes in this release: + - - - SSL protocol security and performance improvements (Sean Chittenden) - - - SSL key renegotiation was happening too frequently, causing poor - SSL performance. Also, initial key handling was improved. - - + + + + IN / NOT IN subqueries are + now much more efficient + - Print lock information when a deadlock is detected (Tom) - - - This allows easier debugging of deadlock situations. + In previous releases, IN/NOT + IN subqueries were joined to the upper query by + sequentially scanning the subquery looking for a match. The + 7.4 code uses the same sophisticated techniques used by + ordinary joins and so is much faster. An + IN will now usually be as fast as or faster + than an equivalent EXISTS subquery; this + reverses the conventional wisdom that applied to previous + releases. + + + + + Improved GROUP BY processing by using hash buckets + - Update /tmp socket modification times - regularly to avoid their removal (Tom) - - - This should help prevent /tmp directory - cleaner administration scripts from removing server socket - files. + In previous releases, rows to be grouped had to be sorted + first. The 7.4 code can do GROUP BY + without sorting, by accumulating results into a hash table + with one entry per group. It will still use the sort + technique, however, if the hash table is estimated to be too + large to fit in sort_mem. + - Enable PAM for Mac OS X (Aaron Hillegass) + + + New multikey hash join capability + - Make B-tree indexes fully WAL-safe (Tom) - In prior releases, under certain rare cases, a server crash - could cause B-tree indexes to become corrupt. This release - removes those last few rare cases. + In previous releases, hash joins could only occur on single + keys. This release allows multicolumn hash joins. + - Allow B-tree index compaction and empty page reuse (Tom) + + + Queries using the explicit JOIN syntax are + now better optimized + - Fix inconsistent index lookups during split of first root page (Tom) - - - In prior releases, when a single-page index split into two - pages, there was a brief period when another database session - could miss seeing an index entry. This release fixes that rare - failure case. + Prior releases evaluated queries using the explicit + JOIN syntax only in the order implied by + the syntax. 7.4 allows full optimization of these queries, + meaning the optimizer considers all possible join orderings + and chooses the most efficient. Outer joins, however, must + still follow the declared ordering. + - Improve free space map allocation logic (Tom) + + + Faster and more powerful regular expression code + - Preserve free space information between server restarts (Tom) - In prior releases, the free space map was not saved when the - postmaster was stopped, so newly started servers had no free - space information. This release saves the free space map, and - reloads it when the server is restarted. + The entire regular expression module has been replaced with a + new version by Henry Spencer, originally written for Tcl. The + code greatly improves performance and supports several flavors + of regular expressions. + - Add start time to pg_stat_activity (Neil) - New code to detect corrupt disk pages; erase with zero_damaged_pages (Tom) - New client/server protocol: faster, no username length limit, allow clean exit from COPY (Tom) - Add transaction status, table ID, column ID to client/server protocol (Tom) - Add binary I/O to client/server protocol (Tom) - Remove autocommit server setting; move to client applications (Tom) - New error message wording, error codes, and three levels of error detail (Tom, Joe, Peter) - - - - - Performance Improvements - - - Add hashing for GROUP BY aggregates (Tom) - Make nested-loop joins be smarter about multicolumn indexes (Tom) - Allow multikey hash joins (Tom) - Improve constant folding (Tom) - Add ability to inline simple SQL functions (Tom) + + + Function-inlining for simple SQL functions + - Reduce memory usage for queries using complex functions (Tom) - In prior releases, functions returning allocated memory would - not free it until the query completed. This release allows the - freeing of function-allocated memory when the function call - completes, reducing the total memory used by functions. + Simple SQL functions can now be inlined by including their SQL + in the main query. This improves performance by eliminating + per-call overhead. That means simple SQL functions now + behave like macros. + - - Improve GEQO optimizer performance (Tom) - - This release fixes several inefficiencies in the way the GEQO optimizer - manages potential query paths. - - + + + Full support for IPv6 connections and IPv6 address data types + - Allow IN/NOT IN to be handled via hash - tables (Tom) + Previous releases allowed only IPv4 connections, and the IP + data types only supported IPv4 addresses. This release adds + full IPv6 support in both of these areas. + - - - Improve NOT IN (subquery) - performance (Tom) - - + + + Major improvements in SSL performance and reliability + - Allow most IN subqueries to be processed as - joins (Tom) + Several people very familiar with the SSL API have overhauled + our SSL code to improve SSL key negotiation and error + recovery. + - - - Pattern matching operations can use indexes regardless of - locale (Peter) - - - There is no way for non-ASCII locales to use the standard - indexes for LIKE comparisons. This release - adds a way to create a special index for - LIKE. - - + + + Make free space map efficiently reuse empty index pages, + and other free space management improvements + - Allow the postmaster to preload libraries using preload_libraries (Joe) - For shared libraries that require a long time to load, this - option is available so the library can be preloaded in the - postmaster and inherited by all database sessions. + In previous releases, B-tree index pages that were left empty + because of deleted rows could only be reused by rows with + index values similar to the rows originally indexed on that + page. In 7.4, VACUUM records empty index + pages and allows them to be reused for any future index rows. + - - - Improve optimizer cost computations, particularly for subqueries (Tom) - - + + + SQL-standard information schema + - Avoid sort when subquery ORDER BY matches upper query (Tom) + The information schema provides a standardized and stable way + to access information about the schema objects defined in a + database. + - - - Deduce that WHERE a.x = b.y AND b.y = 42 also - means a.x = 42 (Tom) - - + + + Cursors conform more closely to the SQL standard + - Allow hash/merge joins on complex joins (Tom) + The commands FETCH and + MOVE have been overhauled to conform more + closely to the SQL standard. + - - - Allow hash joins for more data types (Tom) - - + + + Cursors can exist outside transactions + - Allow join optimization of explicit inner joins, disable with - join_collapse_limit (Tom) + These cursors are also called holdable cursors. + + + + + New client-to-server protocol + - Add parameter from_collapse_limit to control - conversion of subqueries to joins (Tom) + The new protocol adds error codes, more status information, + faster startup, better support for binary data transmission, + parameter values separated from SQL commands, prepared + statements available at the protocol level, and cleaner + recovery from COPY failures. The older + protocol is still supported by both server and clients. + + + + + libpq and + ECPG applications are now fully + thread-safe + - Use faster and more powerful regular expression code from Tcl - (Henry Spencer, Tom) + While previous libpq releases + already supported threads, this release improves thread safety + by fixing some non-thread-safe code that was used during + database connection startup. The configure + option must be used to + enable this feature. + + + + + New version of full-text indexing + - Use bit-mapped relation sets in the optimizer (Tom) + A new full-text indexing suite is available in + contrib/tsearch2. + + + + + New autovacuum tool + - Improve connection startup time (Tom) - The new client/server protocol requires fewer network packets to - start a database session. + The new autovacuum tool in + contrib/autovacuum monitors the database + statistics tables for + INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE + activity and automatically vacuums tables when needed. + + + + + Array handling has been improved and moved into the server core + - Improve trigger/constraint performance (Stephan) + Many array limitations have been removed, and arrays behave + more like fully-supported data types. + + + + + + + Migration to Version 7.4 + + + A dump/restore using pg_dump is + required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous + release. + + + + Observe the following incompatibilities: + + + + + + The server-side autocommit setting was removed and + reimplemented in client applications and languages. + Server-side autocommit was causing too many problems with + languages and applications that wanted to control their own + autocommit behavior, so autocommit was removed from the server + and added to individual client APIs as appropriate. + + + + + + Error message wording has changed substantially in this + release. Significant effort was invested to make the messages + more consistent and user-oriented. If your applications try to + detect different error conditions by parsing the error message, + you are strongly encouraged to use the new error code facility instead. + + + + + + Inner joins using the explicit JOIN syntax + might behave differently because they are now better + optimized. + + + + + + A number of server configuration parameters have been renamed + for clarity, primarily those related to + logging. + + + + + + FETCH 0 or MOVE 0 now + does nothing. In prior releases, FETCH 0 + would fetch all remaining rows, and MOVE 0 + would move to the end of the cursor. + + + + + + FETCH and MOVE now return + the actual number of rows fetched/moved, or zero if at the + beginning/end of the cursor. Prior releases would return the + row count passed to the command, not the number of rows + actually fetched or moved. + + + + + + COPY now can process files that use + carriage-return or carriage-return/line-feed end-of-line + sequences. Literal carriage-returns and line-feeds are no + longer accepted in data values; use \r and + \n instead. + + + + + + Trailing spaces are now trimmed when converting from type + char(n) to + varchar(n) or text. + This is what most people always expected to happen anyway. + + + + + + The data type float(p) now + measures p in binary digits, not decimal + digits. The new behavior follows the SQL standard. + + + + + + Ambiguous date values now must match the ordering specified by + the datestyle setting. In prior releases, a + date specification of 10/20/03 was interpreted as a + date in October even if datestyle specified that + the day should be first. 7.4 will throw an error if a date + specification is invalid for the current setting of + datestyle. + + + + + + The functions oidrand, + oidsrand, and + userfntest have been removed. These + functions were determined to be no longer useful. + + + + + + String literals specifying time-varying date/time values, such + as 'now' or 'today' will + no longer work as expected in column default expressions; they + now cause the time of the table creation to be the default, not + the time of the insertion. Functions such as + now(), current_timestamp, or + current_date should be used instead. + + + + In previous releases, there was special code so that strings + such as 'now' were interpreted at + INSERT time and not at table creation time, but + this work around didn't cover all cases. Release 7.4 now + requires that defaults be defined properly using functions such + as now() or current_timestamp. These + will work in all situations. + + + + + + The dollar sign ($) is no longer allowed in + operator names. It can instead be a non-first character in + identifiers. This was done to improve compatibility with other + database systems, and to avoid syntax problems when parameter + placeholders ($n) are written + adjacent to operators. + + + + + + + + Changes + + + Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between + release 7.4 and the previous major release. + + + + Server Operation Changes + + + + + Allow IPv6 server connections (Nigel Kukard, Johan Jordaan, + Bruce, Tom, Kurt Roeckx, Andrew Dunstan) + + + + + + Fix SSL to handle errors cleanly (Nathan Mueller) + + + In prior releases, certain SSL API error reports were not + handled correctly. This release fixes those problems. + + + + + + SSL protocol security and performance improvements (Sean Chittenden) + + + SSL key renegotiation was happening too frequently, causing poor + SSL performance. Also, initial key handling was improved. + + + + + + Print lock information when a deadlock is detected (Tom) + + + This allows easier debugging of deadlock situations. + + + + + + Update /tmp socket modification times + regularly to avoid their removal (Tom) + + + This should help prevent /tmp directory + cleaner administration scripts from removing server socket + files. + + + + Enable PAM for Mac OS X (Aaron Hillegass) + + + Make B-tree indexes fully WAL-safe (Tom) + + In prior releases, under certain rare cases, a server crash + could cause B-tree indexes to become corrupt. This release + removes those last few rare cases. + + + + Allow B-tree index compaction and empty page reuse (Tom) + + + + Fix inconsistent index lookups during split of first root page (Tom) + + + In prior releases, when a single-page index split into two + pages, there was a brief period when another database session + could miss seeing an index entry. This release fixes that rare + failure case. + + + + Improve free space map allocation logic (Tom) + + + Preserve free space information between server restarts (Tom) + + In prior releases, the free space map was not saved when the + postmaster was stopped, so newly started servers had no free + space information. This release saves the free space map, and + reloads it when the server is restarted. + + + + Add start time to pg_stat_activity (Neil) + New code to detect corrupt disk pages; erase with zero_damaged_pages (Tom) + New client/server protocol: faster, no username length limit, allow clean exit from COPY (Tom) + Add transaction status, table ID, column ID to client/server protocol (Tom) + Add binary I/O to client/server protocol (Tom) + Remove autocommit server setting; move to client applications (Tom) + New error message wording, error codes, and three levels of error detail (Tom, Joe, Peter) + + + + + Performance Improvements + + + Add hashing for GROUP BY aggregates (Tom) + Make nested-loop joins be smarter about multicolumn indexes (Tom) + Allow multikey hash joins (Tom) + Improve constant folding (Tom) + Add ability to inline simple SQL functions (Tom) + + + Reduce memory usage for queries using complex functions (Tom) + + In prior releases, functions returning allocated memory would + not free it until the query completed. This release allows the + freeing of function-allocated memory when the function call + completes, reducing the total memory used by functions. + + + + + Improve GEQO optimizer performance (Tom) + + This release fixes several inefficiencies in the way the GEQO optimizer + manages potential query paths. + + + + + + Allow IN/NOT IN to be handled via hash + tables (Tom) + + + + + + Improve NOT IN (subquery) + performance (Tom) + + + + + + Allow most IN subqueries to be processed as + joins (Tom) + + + + + + Pattern matching operations can use indexes regardless of + locale (Peter) + + + There is no way for non-ASCII locales to use the standard + indexes for LIKE comparisons. This release + adds a way to create a special index for + LIKE. + + + + + Allow the postmaster to preload libraries using preload_libraries (Joe) + + For shared libraries that require a long time to load, this + option is available so the library can be preloaded in the + postmaster and inherited by all database sessions. + + + + + + Improve optimizer cost computations, particularly for subqueries (Tom) + + + + + + Avoid sort when subquery ORDER BY matches upper query (Tom) + + + + + + Deduce that WHERE a.x = b.y AND b.y = 42 also + means a.x = 42 (Tom) + + + + + + Allow hash/merge joins on complex joins (Tom) + + + + + + Allow hash joins for more data types (Tom) + + + + + + Allow join optimization of explicit inner joins, disable with + join_collapse_limit (Tom) + + + + + + Add parameter from_collapse_limit to control + conversion of subqueries to joins (Tom) + + + + + + Use faster and more powerful regular expression code from Tcl + (Henry Spencer, Tom) + + + + + + Use bit-mapped relation sets in the optimizer (Tom) + + + + + Improve connection startup time (Tom) + + The new client/server protocol requires fewer network packets to + start a database session. + + + + + + Improve trigger/constraint performance (Stephan) + + + + + + Improve speed of col IN (const, const, const, ...) (Tom) + + + + + + Fix hash indexes which were broken in rare cases (Tom) + + + + Improve hash index concurrency and speed (Tom) + + Prior releases suffered from poor hash index performance, + particularly for high concurrency situations. This release fixes + that, and the development group is interested in reports + comparing B-tree and hash index performance. + + + + + Align shared buffers on 32-byte boundary for copy speed improvement (Manfred Spraul) + + Certain CPU's perform faster data copies when addresses are + 32-byte aligned. + + + + + Data type numeric reimplemented for better performance (Tom) + + numeric used to be stored in base 100. The new code + uses base 10000, for significantly better performance. + + + + + + + Server Configuration Changes + + + + Rename server parameter server_min_messages to log_min_messages (Bruce) + + This was done so most parameters that control the server logs + begin with log_. + + + + Rename show_*_stats to log_*_stats (Bruce) + Rename show_source_port to log_source_port (Bruce) + Rename hostname_lookup to log_hostname (Bruce) + + + Add checkpoint_warning to warn of excessive checkpointing (Bruce) + + In prior releases, it was difficult to determine if checkpoint + was happening too frequently. This feature adds a warning to the + server logs when excessive checkpointing happens. + + + + New read-only server parameters for localization (Tom) + + + + Change debug server log messages to output as DEBUG + rather than LOG (Bruce) + + + + + Prevent server log variables from being turned off by non-superusers (Bruce) + + This is a security feature so non-superusers cannot disable + logging that was enabled by the administrator. + + + + + + log_min_messages/client_min_messages now + controls debug_* output (Bruce) + + + This centralizes client debug information so all debug output + can be sent to either the client or server logs. + + + + + Add Mac OS X Rendezvous server support (Chris Campbell) + + This allows Mac OS X hosts to query the network for available + PostgreSQL servers. + + + + + + Add ability to print only slow statements using + log_min_duration_statement + (Christopher) + + + This is an often requested debugging feature that allows + administrators to see only slow queries in their server logs. + + + + + Allow pg_hba.conf to accept netmasks in CIDR format (Andrew Dunstan) + + This allows administrators to merge the host IP address and + netmask fields into a single CIDR field in pg_hba.conf. + + + + New read-only parameter is_superuser (Tom) + + + New parameter log_error_verbosity to control error detail (Tom) + + This works with the new error reporting feature to supply + additional error information like hints, file names and line + numbers. + + + + + postgres --describe-config now dumps server config variables (Aizaz Ahmed, Peter) + + This option is useful for administration tools that need to know + the configuration variable names and their minimums, maximums, + defaults, and descriptions. + + + + + + Add new columns in pg_settings: + context, type, source, + min_val, max_val (Joe) + + + + + + Make default shared_buffers 1000 and + max_connections 100, if possible (Tom) + + + Prior versions defaulted to 64 shared buffers so PostgreSQL + would start on even very old systems. This release tests the + amount of shared memory allowed by the platform and selects more + reasonable default values if possible. Of course, users are + still encouraged to evaluate their resource load and size + shared_buffers accordingly. + + - - - Improve speed of col IN (const, const, const, ...) (Tom) - - + + + New pg_hba.conf record type + hostnossl to prevent SSL connections (Jon + Jensen) + + + In prior releases, there was no way to prevent SSL connections + if both the client and server supported SSL. This option allows + that capability. + + - - - Fix hash indexes which were broken in rare cases (Tom) - - + + + Remove parameter geqo_random_seed + (Tom) + + - Improve hash index concurrency and speed (Tom) - - Prior releases suffered from poor hash index performance, - particularly for high concurrency situations. This release fixes - that, and the development group is interested in reports - comparing B-tree and hash index performance. - - + + + Add server parameter regex_flavor to control regular expression processing (Tom) + + - - Align shared buffers on 32-byte boundary for copy speed improvement (Manfred Spraul) - - Certain CPU's perform faster data copies when addresses are - 32-byte aligned. - - + + + Make pg_ctl better handle nonstandard ports (Greg) + + + + - - Data type numeric reimplemented for better performance (Tom) - - numeric used to be stored in base 100. The new code - uses base 10000, for significantly better performance. - - - - + + Query Changes - - Server Configuration Changes + + New SQL-standard information schema (Peter) + Add read-only transactions (Peter) + Print key name and value in foreign-key violation messages (Dmitry Tkach) - - - Rename server parameter server_min_messages to log_min_messages (Bruce) - - This was done so most parameters that control the server logs - begin with log_. - - + + Allow users to see their own queries in pg_stat_activity (Kevin Brown) + + In prior releases, only the superuser could see query strings + using pg_stat_activity. Now ordinary users + can see their own query strings. + + - Rename show_*_stats to log_*_stats (Bruce) - Rename show_source_port to log_source_port (Bruce) - Rename hostname_lookup to log_hostname (Bruce) + + Fix aggregates in subqueries to match SQL standard (Tom) + + The SQL standard says that an aggregate function appearing + within a nested subquery belongs to the outer query if its + argument contains only outer-query variables. Prior + PostgreSQL releases did not handle + this fine point correctly. + + - - Add checkpoint_warning to warn of excessive checkpointing (Bruce) - - In prior releases, it was difficult to determine if checkpoint - was happening too frequently. This feature adds a warning to the - server logs when excessive checkpointing happens. - - + + Add option to prevent auto-addition of tables referenced in query (Nigel J. Andrews) + + By default, tables mentioned in the query are automatically + added to the FROM clause if they are not already + there. This is compatible with historic + POSTGRES behavior but is contrary to + the SQL standard. This option allows selecting + standard-compatible behavior. + + - New read-only server parameters for localization (Tom) + + Allow UPDATE ... SET col = DEFAULT (Rod) + + This allows UPDATE to set a column to its + declared default value. + + - - - Change debug server log messages to output as DEBUG - rather than LOG (Bruce) - - + + Allow expressions to be used in LIMIT/OFFSET (Tom) + + In prior releases, LIMIT/OFFSET could + only use constants, not expressions. + + - - Prevent server log variables from being turned off by non-superusers (Bruce) - - This is a security feature so non-superusers cannot disable - logging that was enabled by the administrator. - - + + Implement CREATE TABLE AS EXECUTE (Neil, Peter) + + + - - - log_min_messages/client_min_messages now - controls debug_* output (Bruce) - - - This centralizes client debug information so all debug output - can be sent to either the client or server logs. - - + + Object Manipulation Changes - - Add Mac OS X Rendezvous server support (Chris Campbell) - - This allows Mac OS X hosts to query the network for available - PostgreSQL servers. - - + + + Make CREATE SEQUENCE grammar more conforming to SQL:2003 (Neil) + - - - Add ability to print only slow statements using - log_min_duration_statement - (Christopher) - - - This is an often requested debugging feature that allows - administrators to see only slow queries in their server logs. - - + + Add statement-level triggers (Neil) + + While this allows a trigger to fire at the end of a statement, + it does not allow the trigger to access all rows modified by the + statement. This capability is planned for a future release. + + - - Allow pg_hba.conf to accept netmasks in CIDR format (Andrew Dunstan) - - This allows administrators to merge the host IP address and - netmask fields into a single CIDR field in pg_hba.conf. - - + + Add check constraints for domains (Rod) + + This greatly increases the usefulness of domains by allowing + them to use check constraints. + + - New read-only parameter is_superuser (Tom) + + Add ALTER DOMAIN (Rod) + + This allows manipulation of existing domains. + + - - New parameter log_error_verbosity to control error detail (Tom) - - This works with the new error reporting feature to supply - additional error information like hints, file names and line - numbers. - - + + Fix several zero-column table bugs (Tom) + + PostgreSQL supports zero-column tables. This fixes various bugs + that occur when using such tables. + + - - postgres --describe-config now dumps server config variables (Aizaz Ahmed, Peter) - - This option is useful for administration tools that need to know - the configuration variable names and their minimums, maximums, - defaults, and descriptions. - - + + Have ALTER TABLE ... ADD PRIMARY KEY add not-null constraint (Rod) + + In prior releases, ALTER TABLE ... ADD + PRIMARY would add a unique index, but not a not-null + constraint. That is fixed in this release. + + - - - Add new columns in pg_settings: - context, type, source, - min_val, max_val (Joe) - - + Add ALTER TABLE ... WITHOUT OIDS (Rod) + + This allows control over whether new and updated rows will have + an OID column. This is most useful for saving storage space. + + - - - Make default shared_buffers 1000 and - max_connections 100, if possible (Tom) - - - Prior versions defaulted to 64 shared buffers so PostgreSQL - would start on even very old systems. This release tests the - amount of shared memory allowed by the platform and selects more - reasonable default values if possible. Of course, users are - still encouraged to evaluate their resource load and size - shared_buffers accordingly. - - + + + Add ALTER SEQUENCE to modify minimum, maximum, + increment, cache, cycle values (Rod) + + - - - New pg_hba.conf record type - hostnossl to prevent SSL connections (Jon - Jensen) - - - In prior releases, there was no way to prevent SSL connections - if both the client and server supported SSL. This option allows - that capability. - - + + Add ALTER TABLE ... CLUSTER ON (Alvaro Herrera) + + This command is used by pg_dump to record the + cluster column for each table previously clustered. This + information is used by database-wide cluster to cluster all + previously clustered tables. + + - - - Remove parameter geqo_random_seed - (Tom) - - + Improve automatic type casting for domains (Rod, Tom) + Allow dollar signs in identifiers, except as first character (Tom) + Disallow dollar signs in operator names, so x=$1 works (Tom) - - - Add server parameter regex_flavor to control regular expression processing (Tom) - - + + + Allow copying table schema using LIKE + subtable, also SQL:2003 + feature INCLUDING DEFAULTS (Rod) + + - - - Make pg_ctl better handle nonstandard ports (Greg) - - - - + + + Add WITH GRANT OPTION clause to + GRANT (Peter) + + + This enabled GRANT to give other users the + ability to grant privileges on a object. + + + + - - Query Changes + + Utility Command Changes - - New SQL-standard information schema (Peter) - Add read-only transactions (Peter) - Print key name and value in foreign-key violation messages (Dmitry Tkach) + + + Add ON COMMIT clause to CREATE TABLE for temporary tables (Gavin) + + This adds the ability for a table to be dropped or all rows + deleted on transaction commit. + + - - Allow users to see their own queries in pg_stat_activity (Kevin Brown) - - In prior releases, only the superuser could see query strings - using pg_stat_activity. Now ordinary users - can see their own query strings. - - + + Allow cursors outside transactions using WITH HOLD (Neil) + + In previous releases, cursors were removed at the end of the + transaction that created them. Cursors can now be created with + the WITH HOLD option, which allows them to + continue to be accessed after the creating transaction has + committed. + + - - Fix aggregates in subqueries to match SQL standard (Tom) - - The SQL standard says that an aggregate function appearing - within a nested subquery belongs to the outer query if its - argument contains only outer-query variables. Prior - PostgreSQL releases did not handle - this fine point correctly. - - + + FETCH 0 and MOVE 0 now do nothing (Bruce) + + In previous releases, FETCH 0 fetched all + remaining rows, and MOVE 0 moved to the end + of the cursor. + + - - Add option to prevent auto-addition of tables referenced in query (Nigel J. Andrews) - - By default, tables mentioned in the query are automatically - added to the FROM clause if they are not already - there. This is compatible with historic - POSTGRES behavior but is contrary to - the SQL standard. This option allows selecting - standard-compatible behavior. - - + + + Cause FETCH and MOVE to + return the number of rows fetched/moved, or zero if at the + beginning/end of cursor, per SQL standard (Bruce) + + + In prior releases, the row count returned by + FETCH and MOVE did not + accurately reflect the number of rows processed. + + - - Allow UPDATE ... SET col = DEFAULT (Rod) - - This allows UPDATE to set a column to its - declared default value. - - + + Properly handle SCROLL with cursors, or + report an error (Neil) + + Allowing random access (both forward and backward scrolling) to + some kinds of queries cannot be done without some additional + work. If SCROLL is specified when the cursor + is created, this additional work will be performed. Furthermore, + if the cursor has been created with NO SCROLL, + no random access is allowed. + + - - Allow expressions to be used in LIMIT/OFFSET (Tom) - - In prior releases, LIMIT/OFFSET could - only use constants, not expressions. - - + + + Implement SQL-compatible options FIRST, + LAST, ABSOLUTE n, + RELATIVE n for + FETCH and MOVE (Tom) + + - - Implement CREATE TABLE AS EXECUTE (Neil, Peter) - - - + + Allow EXPLAIN on DECLARE CURSOR (Tom) + - - Object Manipulation Changes + + Allow CLUSTER to use index marked as pre-clustered by default (Alvaro Herrera) + - - - Make CREATE SEQUENCE grammar more conforming to SQL:2003 (Neil) - + + Allow CLUSTER to cluster all tables (Alvaro Herrera) + + This allows all previously clustered tables in a database to be + reclustered with a single command. + + - - Add statement-level triggers (Neil) - - While this allows a trigger to fire at the end of a statement, - it does not allow the trigger to access all rows modified by the - statement. This capability is planned for a future release. - - + Prevent CLUSTER on partial indexes (Tom) - - Add check constraints for domains (Rod) - - This greatly increases the usefulness of domains by allowing - them to use check constraints. - - + Allow DOS and Mac line-endings in COPY files (Bruce) - - Add ALTER DOMAIN (Rod) - - This allows manipulation of existing domains. - - + + + Disallow literal carriage return as a data value, + backslash-carriage-return and \r are still allowed + (Bruce) + + - - Fix several zero-column table bugs (Tom) - - PostgreSQL supports zero-column tables. This fixes various bugs - that occur when using such tables. - - + + COPY changes (binary, \.) (Tom) + - - Have ALTER TABLE ... ADD PRIMARY KEY add not-null constraint (Rod) - - In prior releases, ALTER TABLE ... ADD - PRIMARY would add a unique index, but not a not-null - constraint. That is fixed in this release. - - + + Recover from COPY failure cleanly (Tom) + - Add ALTER TABLE ... WITHOUT OIDS (Rod) - - This allows control over whether new and updated rows will have - an OID column. This is most useful for saving storage space. - - + + Prevent possible memory leaks in COPY (Tom) + - - - Add ALTER SEQUENCE to modify minimum, maximum, - increment, cache, cycle values (Rod) - - + + Make TRUNCATE transaction-safe (Rod) + + TRUNCATE can now be used inside a + transaction. If the transaction aborts, the changes made by the + TRUNCATE are automatically rolled back. + + - - Add ALTER TABLE ... CLUSTER ON (Alvaro Herrera) - - This command is used by pg_dump to record the - cluster column for each table previously clustered. This - information is used by database-wide cluster to cluster all - previously clustered tables. - - + + + Allow prepare/bind of utility commands like + FETCH and EXPLAIN (Tom) + + - Improve automatic type casting for domains (Rod, Tom) - Allow dollar signs in identifiers, except as first character (Tom) - Disallow dollar signs in operator names, so x=$1 works (Tom) + + Add EXPLAIN EXECUTE (Neil) + - - - Allow copying table schema using LIKE - subtable, also SQL:2003 - feature INCLUDING DEFAULTS (Rod) - - + + Improve VACUUM performance on indexes by reducing WAL traffic (Tom) + - - - Add WITH GRANT OPTION clause to - GRANT (Peter) - - - This enabled GRANT to give other users the - ability to grant privileges on a object. - - - - + + Functional indexes have been generalized into indexes on expressions (Tom) + + In prior releases, functional indexes only supported a simple + function applied to one or more column names. This release + allows any type of scalar expression. + + - - Utility Command Changes + + + Have SHOW TRANSACTION ISOLATION match input + to SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION + (Tom) + + - - - Add ON COMMIT clause to CREATE TABLE for temporary tables (Gavin) - - This adds the ability for a table to be dropped or all rows - deleted on transaction commit. + + + Have COMMENT ON DATABASE on nonlocal + database generate a warning, rather than an error (Rod) - - - Allow cursors outside transactions using WITH HOLD (Neil) - - In previous releases, cursors were removed at the end of the - transaction that created them. Cursors can now be created with - the WITH HOLD option, which allows them to - continue to be accessed after the creating transaction has - committed. - - + + Database comments are stored in database-local tables so + comments on a database have to be stored in each database. + + + + + + Improve reliability of LISTEN/NOTIFY (Tom) + + - - FETCH 0 and MOVE 0 now do nothing (Bruce) - - In previous releases, FETCH 0 fetched all - remaining rows, and MOVE 0 moved to the end - of the cursor. - - + + Allow REINDEX to reliably reindex nonshared system catalog indexes (Tom) + + This allows system tables to be reindexed without the + requirement of a standalone session, which was necessary in + previous releases. The only tables that now require a standalone + session for reindexing are the global system tables + pg_database, pg_shadow, and + pg_group. + + + + - - - Cause FETCH and MOVE to - return the number of rows fetched/moved, or zero if at the - beginning/end of cursor, per SQL standard (Bruce) - - - In prior releases, the row count returned by - FETCH and MOVE did not - accurately reflect the number of rows processed. - - + + Data Type and Function Changes - - Properly handle SCROLL with cursors, or - report an error (Neil) - - Allowing random access (both forward and backward scrolling) to - some kinds of queries cannot be done without some additional - work. If SCROLL is specified when the cursor - is created, this additional work will be performed. Furthermore, - if the cursor has been created with NO SCROLL, - no random access is allowed. - - + + + + New server parameter extra_float_digits to + control precision display of floating-point numbers (Pedro + Ferreira, Tom) + + + This controls output precision which was causing regression + testing problems. + + - - - Implement SQL-compatible options FIRST, - LAST, ABSOLUTE n, - RELATIVE n for - FETCH and MOVE (Tom) - - + Allow +1300 as a numeric time-zone specifier, for FJST (Tom) - - Allow EXPLAIN on DECLARE CURSOR (Tom) - + + + Remove rarely used functions oidrand, + oidsrand, and userfntest functions + (Neil) + + - - Allow CLUSTER to use index marked as pre-clustered by default (Alvaro Herrera) - + + Add md5() function to main server, already in contrib/pgcrypto (Joe) + + An MD5 function was frequently requested. For more complex + encryption capabilities, use + contrib/pgcrypto. + + - - Allow CLUSTER to cluster all tables (Alvaro Herrera) - - This allows all previously clustered tables in a database to be - reclustered with a single command. - - + Increase date range of timestamp (John Cochran) - Prevent CLUSTER on partial indexes (Tom) + + + Change EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM timestamp) so + timestamp without time zone is assumed to be in + local time, not GMT (Tom) + + - Allow DOS and Mac line-endings in COPY files (Bruce) + Trap division by zero in case the operating system doesn't prevent it (Tom) + Change the numeric data type internally to base 10000 (Tom) + New hostmask() function (Greg Wickham) + Fixes for to_char() and to_timestamp() (Karel) - - - Disallow literal carriage return as a data value, - backslash-carriage-return and \r are still allowed - (Bruce) - - + + + Allow functions that can take any argument data type and return + any data type, using anyelement and + anyarray (Joe) + + + This allows the creation of functions that can work with any + data type. + + - - COPY changes (binary, \.) (Tom) - + + + Arrays can now be specified as ARRAY[1,2,3], + ARRAY[['a','b'],['c','d']], or + ARRAY[ARRAY[ARRAY[2]]] (Joe) + + - - Recover from COPY failure cleanly (Tom) - + + + Allow proper comparisons for arrays, including ORDER + BY and DISTINCT support + (Joe) + + - - Prevent possible memory leaks in COPY (Tom) - + Allow indexes on array columns (Joe) + Allow array concatenation with || (Joe) - - Make TRUNCATE transaction-safe (Rod) - - TRUNCATE can now be used inside a - transaction. If the transaction aborts, the changes made by the - TRUNCATE are automatically rolled back. - - + + + Allow WHERE qualification + expr op ANY/SOME/ALL + (array_expr) (Joe) + + + This allows arrays to behave like a list of values, for purposes + like SELECT * FROM tab WHERE col IN + (array_val). + + - - - Allow prepare/bind of utility commands like - FETCH and EXPLAIN (Tom) - - + + + New array functions array_append, + array_cat, array_lower, + array_prepend, array_to_string, + array_upper, string_to_array (Joe) + + - - Add EXPLAIN EXECUTE (Neil) - + Allow user defined aggregates to use polymorphic functions (Joe) + Allow assignments to empty arrays (Joe) - - Improve VACUUM performance on indexes by reducing WAL traffic (Tom) - + + + Allow 60 in seconds fields of time, + timestamp, and interval input values + (Tom) + + + Sixty-second values are needed for leap seconds. + + - - Functional indexes have been generalized into indexes on expressions (Tom) - - In prior releases, functional indexes only supported a simple - function applied to one or more column names. This release - allows any type of scalar expression. - - + Allow cidr data type to be cast to text (Tom) - - - Have SHOW TRANSACTION ISOLATION match input - to SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION - (Tom) - - + Disallow invalid time zone names in SET TIMEZONE - - - Have COMMENT ON DATABASE on nonlocal - database generate a warning, rather than an error (Rod) - + + + Trim trailing spaces when char is cast to + varchar or text (Tom) + + - - Database comments are stored in database-local tables so - comments on a database have to be stored in each database. - - + + + Make float(p) measure the precision + p in binary digits, not decimal digits + (Tom) + + - - - Improve reliability of LISTEN/NOTIFY (Tom) - - + + Add IPv6 support to the inet and cidr data types (Michael Graff) + - - Allow REINDEX to reliably reindex nonshared system catalog indexes (Tom) - - This allows system tables to be reindexed without the - requirement of a standalone session, which was necessary in - previous releases. The only tables that now require a standalone - session for reindexing are the global system tables - pg_database, pg_shadow, and - pg_group. - - - - + + Add family() function to report whether address is IPv4 or IPv6 (Michael Graff) + - - Data Type and Function Changes + + + Have SHOW datestyle generate output similar + to that used by SET datestyle (Tom) + + - - - - New server parameter extra_float_digits to - control precision display of floating-point numbers (Pedro - Ferreira, Tom) - - - This controls output precision which was causing regression - tes