>
> * Add the ability to automatically create materialized views
>
> Right now materialized views require the user to create triggers on the
> main table to keep the summary table current. SQL syntax should be able
> to manager the triggers and summary table automatically. A more
> sophisticated implementation would automatically retrieve from the
> summary table when the main table is referenced, if possible.
>
< * Allow major upgrades without dump/reload, perhaps using pg_upgrade
< [pg_upgrade]
< * Check for unreferenced table files created by transactions that were
< in-progress when the server terminated abruptly
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00096.php
<
> * Check for unreferenced table files created by transactions that were
> in-progress when the server terminated abruptly
>
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00096.php
>
< * Support table partitioning that allows a single table to be stored
< in subtables that are partitioned based on the primary key or a WHERE
< clause
< creation of rules for INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE, and constraints for
< rapid partition selection. Options could include range and hash
> creation of triggers or rules for INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE, and constraints
> for rapid partition selection. Options could include range and hash
<
< * Improve replication solutions
<
< o Load balancing
<
< You can use any of the master/slave replication servers to use a
< standby server for data warehousing. To allow read/write queries to
< multiple servers, you need multi-master replication like pgcluster.
<
< o Allow replication over unreliable or non-persistent links
<
<
< o Mark change-on-restart-only values in postgresql.conf
< All objects in the default database tablespace must have default
< tablespace specifications. This is because new databases are
< created by copying directories. If you mix default tablespace
< tables and tablespace-specified tables in the same directory,
< creating a new database from such a mixed directory would create a
< new database with tables that had incorrect explicit tablespaces.
< To fix this would require modifying pg_class in the newly copied
< database, which we don't currently do.
> Currently all objects in the default database tablespace must
> have default tablespace specifications. This is because new
> databases are created by copying directories. If you mix default
> tablespace tables and tablespace-specified tables in the same
> directory, creating a new database from such a mixed directory
> would create a new database with tables that had incorrect
> explicit tablespaces. To fix this would require modifying
> pg_class in the newly copied database, which we don't currently
> do.
<
< o Allow recovery.conf to allow the same syntax as
> o Allow recovery.conf to support the same syntax as
< * Allow user-defined types to specify a type modifier at table creation
< time
< * Allow all data types to cast to and from TEXT
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00017.php
<
<
< o Add support for year-month syntax, INTERVAL '50-6' YEAR TO MONTH
< o Interpret INTERVAL '1 year' MONTH as CAST (INTERVAL '1 year' AS
< INTERVAL MONTH), and this should return '12 months'
> o Add support for year-month syntax, INTERVAL '50-6' YEAR
> TO MONTH
> o Interpret INTERVAL '1 year' MONTH as CAST (INTERVAL '1
> year' AS INTERVAL MONTH), and this should return '12 months'
< * Allow MONEY to be cast to/from other numeric data types
> * Allow MONEY to be easily cast to/from other numeric data types
>
< * Allow functions to have a schema search path specified at creation time
< * Fix cases where invalid byte encodings are accepted by the database,
< but throw an error on SELECT
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00767.php
< * Improve logging of prepared statements recovered during startup
> * Improve logging of prepared transactions recovered during startup
< * Make standard_conforming_strings the default in 8.4?
> * Make standard_conforming_strings the default in 8.5?
< * Allow the count returned by SELECT, etc to be to represent as an int64
> * Allow the count returned by SELECT, etc to be represented as an int64
< o Use more reliable method for CREATE DATABASE to get a consistent
< copy of db?
< o Fix transaction restriction checks for CREATE DATABASE and
< other commands
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00133.php
< currently allowed.
> currently allowed. This currently is done if the table is
> created inside the same transaction block as the COPY because
> no other backends can see the table.
< o Add SET PATH for schemas?
<
< This is basically the same as SET search_path.
< o Enforce referential integrity for system tables
< o Add Oracle-style packages (Pavel)
<
< A package would be a schema with session-local variables,
< public/private functions, and initialization functions. It
< is also possible to implement these capabilities
< in all schemas and not use a separate "packages"
< syntax at all.
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00384.php
<
< o Add single-step debugging of functions
< o Allow RETURN to return row or record functions
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-11/msg00045.php
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-08/msg00397.php
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg00388.php
<
< o Fix problems with RETURN NEXT on tables with
< dropped/added columns after function creation
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-02/msg00165.php
<
< * Make consistent use of long/short command options --- pg_ctl needs
< long ones, pg_config doesn't have short ones, postgres doesn't have
< enough long ones, etc.
<
<
<
< o Consider parsing the -c string into individual queries so each
< is run in its own transaction
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00291.php
<
<
< o Remove unnecessary function pointer abstractions in pg_dump source
< code
> o Remove unnecessary function pointer abstractions in pg_dump source
> code
<
<
< o Fix SSL retry to avoid useless repeated connection attempts and
< ensuing misleading error messages
>
<
< This is difficult because it requires datatype-specific knowledge.
<
< * Improve commit_delay handling to reduce fsync()
< * %Add an option to sync() before fsync()'ing checkpoint files
>
< * Reduce lock time during VACUUM FULL by moving tuples with read lock,
< then write lock and truncate table
<
< Moved tuples are invisible to other backends so they don't require a
< write lock. However, the read lock promotion to write lock could lead
< to deadlock situations.
<
< * Prevent long-lived temporary tables from causing frozen-xid advancement
< starvation
<
< The problem is that autovacuum cannot vacuum them to set frozen xids;
< only the session that created them can do that.
<
<
<
< o Use free-space map information to guide refilling
< o Consider logging activity either to the logs or a system view
> The problem is that autovacuum cannot vacuum them to set frozen xids;
> only the session that created them can do that.
< * Add connection pooling
<
< It is unclear if this should be done inside the backend code or done
< by something external like pgpool. The passing of file descriptors to
< existing backends is one of the difficulties with a backend approach.
<
< * Consider reducing memory used for shared buffer reference count
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00752.php
<
< * %Remove memory/file descriptor freeing before ereport(ERROR)
< * %Promote debug_query_string into a server-side function current_query()
< * Allow ecpg to work with MSVC and BCC
< * Add xpath_array() to /contrib/xml2 to return results as an array
< * Allow building in directories containing spaces
<
< This is probably not possible because 'gmake' and other compiler tools
< do not fully support quoting of paths with spaces.
<
< * Fix sgmltools so PDFs can be generated with bookmarks
< * Split out libpq pgpass and environment documentation sections to make
< it easier for non-developers to find
< * Use strlcpy() rather than our StrNCpy() macro
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg02108.php
<
< o Re-enable timezone output on log_line_prefix '%t' when a
< shorter timezone string is available
< * Allow statements across databases or servers with transaction
< semantics
<
< This can be done using dblink and two-phase commit.
> * Add Oracle-style packages (Pavel)
< * Add the features of packages
> A package would be a schema with session-local variables,
> public/private functions, and initialization functions. It
> is also possible to implement these capabilities
> in any schema and not use a separate "packages"
> syntax at all.
< o Make private objects accessible only to objects in the same schema
< o Allow current_schema.objname to access current schema objects
< o Add session variables
< o Allow nested schemas
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00384.php
< * Experiment with multi-threaded backend better resource utilization
<
< This would allow a single query to make use of multiple CPU's or
< multiple I/O channels simultaneously. One idea is to create a
< background reader that can pre-fetch sequential and index scan
< pages needed by other backends. This could be expanded to allow
< concurrent reads from multiple devices in a partitioned table.
<
> * Experiment with multi-threaded backend better resource utilization
>
> This would allow a single query to make use of multiple CPU's or
> multiple I/O channels simultaneously. One idea is to create a
> background reader that can pre-fetch sequential and index scan
> pages needed by other backends. This could be expanded to allow
> concurrent reads from multiple devices in a partitioned table.
* Consider having the background writer update the transaction status
hint bits before writing out the page
Implementing this requires the background writer to have access to system
catalogs and the transaction status log.
<
< * Allow free-behind capability for large sequential scans to avoid
< kernel cache spoiling
<
< Posix_fadvise() can control both sequential/random file caching and
< free-behind behavior, but it is unclear how the setting affects other
< backends that also have the file open, and the feature is not supported
< on all operating systems.
< o -Allow commenting of variables in postgresql.conf to restore them
< to defaults
< o -Add a GUC variable to control the tablespace for temporary objects
< and sort files
< Monitoring
< ==========
<
< * -Allow server log information to be output as CSV format
< * -Add ability to monitor the use of temporary sort files
< * -Allow user-defined types to accept 'typmod' parameters
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-08/msg01142.php
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00012.php
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00149.php
<
< * -Add Globally/Universally Unique Identifier (GUID/UUID)
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-09/msg00209.php
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-01/msg00853.php
<
< * -Support a data type with specific enumerated values (ENUM)
< o -Add support for arrays of complex types
< o -Make 64-bit version of the MONEY data type
< * -Add ISO day of week format 'ID' to to_char() where Monday = 1
< * -Add a field 'isoyear' to extract(), based on the ISO week
< * -Add RESET SESSION command to reset all session state
< o -Make CLUSTER preserve recently-dead tuples per MVCC requirements
< o -Add more logical syntax CLUSTER table USING index;
< support current syntax for backward compatibility
< o -Allow UPDATE/DELETE WHERE CURRENT OF cursor
< o -Add support for MOVE cursors
< o -Allow PL/PythonU to return boolean rather than 1/0
< o -Allow psql \pset boolean variables to set to fixed values, rather
< than toggle
< o -Add -f to pg_dumpall
< Dependency Checking
< ===================
<
< * -Flush cached query plans when the dependent objects change or
< when new ANALYZE statistics are available
< * -Track dependencies in function bodies and recompile/invalidate
< * -Invalidate prepared queries, like INSERT, when the table definition
< is altered
<
< * -Allow use of indexes to search for NULLs
< * -Allow the creation of indexes with mixed ascending/descending
< specifiers
< * -Reduce checkpoint performance degredation by forcing data to disk
< more evenly
< * -Allow sequential scans to take advantage of other concurrent
< sequential scans, also called "Synchronised Scanning"
< * -Consider shrinking expired tuples to just their headers
< * -Allow heap reuse of UPDATEd rows if no indexed columns are changed,
< and old and new versions are on the same heap page
< * -Reduce XID consumption of read-only queries
< o -Turn on by default
< o -Allow multiple vacuums so large tables do not starve small
< tables
< * -Allow the pg_xlog directory location to be specified during initdb
< with a symlink back to the /data location
< * -Allow buffered WAL writes and fsync
< * -Allow ORDER BY ... LIMIT # to select high/low value without sort or
< index using a sequential scan for highest/lowest values
< * -Merge xmin/xmax/cmin/cmax back into three header fields
< o -Support a smaller header for short variable-length fields
< * -Move NAMEDATALEN from postgres_ext.h to pg_config_manual.h
< * -Fix problem with excessive logging during SSL disconnection
<
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2006-12/msg00122.php
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-05/msg00065.php
<
< o -Add long file support for binary pg_dump output
< * Prevent long-lived temporary tables from causing frozen-Xid advancement
> * Prevent long-lived temporary tables from causing frozen-xid advancement
>
> The problem is that autovacuum cannot vacuum them to set frozen xids;
> only the session that created them can do that.
>
>
>
< o Prevent COMMENT ON dbname from issuing a warning when loading
< into a database with a different name, perhaps using COMMENT ON
< CURRENT DATABASE
> o Change pg_dump so that a comment on the dumped database is
> applied to the loaded database, even if the database has a
> different name. This will require new backend syntax, perhaps
> COMMENT ON CURRENT DATABASE.
< o Allow COMMENT ON dbname to work when loading into a database
< with a different name, perhaps using COMMENT ON CURRENT
< DATABASE
> o Prevent COMMENT ON dbname from issuing a warning when loading
> into a database with a different name, perhaps using COMMENT ON
> CURRENT DATABASE
> * -Consider shrinking expired tuples to just their headers
> * -Allow heap reuse of UPDATEd rows if no indexed columns are changed,
> and old and new versions are on the same heap page
Not needed anymore:
< * Reuse index tuples that point to heap tuples that are not visible to
< anyone?
< o Allow UPDATE/DELETE WHERE CURRENT OF cursor
<
< This requires using the row ctid to map cursor rows back to the
< original heap row. This become more complicated if WITH HOLD cursors
< are to be supported because WITH HOLD cursors have a copy of the row
< and no FOR UPDATE lock.
< http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01014.php
<
> o -Allow UPDATE/DELETE WHERE CURRENT OF cursor
o -Add a GUC variable to control the tablespace for temporary objects
and sort files
<
< It could start with a random tablespace from a supplied list and
< cycle through the list.
<
< * Allow free-behind capability for large sequential scans, perhaps using
< posix_fadvise()
> * Allow free-behind capability for large sequential scans to avoid
> kernel cache spoiling
scan-resistant:
<
< * Allow free-behind capability for large sequential scans, perhaps using
< posix_fadvise()
<
< Posix_fadvise() can control both sequential/random file caching and
< free-behind behavior, but it is unclear how the setting affects other
< backends that also have the file open, and the feature is not supported
< on all operating systems.
< * Consider allowing 64-bit integers to be passed by value on 64-bit
< platforms
> * Consider allowing 64-bit integers and floats to be passed by value on
> 64-bit platforms
>
> Also change 32-bit floats (float4) to be passed by value at the same
> time.
>
* Improve speed with indexes
For large table adjustments during VACUUM FULL, it is faster to cluster
or reindex rather than update the index. Also, index updates can bloat
the index.
Bruce Momjian