postgresql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml
Bruce Momjian 936815e9ab Fix release note attribution:
Support the IS0 8601 time interval syntax (Tom, Kevin
	Grittner)

per Ron Mayer
2009-03-27 00:11:34 +00:00

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<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.602 2009/03/27 00:11:34 momjian Exp $ -->
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<appendix id="release">
<title>Release Notes</title>
<para>
The release notes contain the significant changes in each
<productname>PostgreSQL</> release, with major features and migration
issues listed at the top. The release notes do not contain changes
that affect only a few users or changes that are internal and therefore not
user-visible. For example, the optimizer is improved in almost every
release, but the improvements are usually observed by users as simply
faster queries.
</para>
<para>
A complete list of changes for each release can be obtained by
viewing the <link linkend="cvs">CVS</link> logs for each release.
The <ulink
url="http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-committers/">pgsql-committers
email list</ulink> records all source code changes as well. There is also
a <ulink url="http://anoncvs.postgresql.org/cvsweb.cgi/pgsql/">web
interface</ulink> that shows changes to specific files.
<!-- we need a file containing the CVS logs for each release, and something
like the SVN web interface that groups commits but has branches -->
</para>
<para>
The name appearing next to each item represents the major developer for
that item. Of course all changes involve community discussion and patch
review, so each item is truly a community effort.
</para>
<sect1 id="release-8-4">
<title>Release 8.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-XX-XX, ITEMS CURRENT AS OF 2009-03-16</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
This major PostgreSQL release brings SQL features people have been
waiting for for years, as well as performance enhancements
and changes to make space reuse more efficient and
more automatic. This release adds the following major features:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<!-- This list duplicates items below, but without authors or details-->
<listitem>
<para>
*MAJOR ITEM LIST GOES HERE*
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The above items are explained in more detail in the sections below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is
required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous
release.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<sect3>
<title>General</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Use 64-bit integer datetimes by default (Neil Conway)
</para>
<para>
This was available previously via a configure --enable-integer-datetimes
(Neil Conway)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change postgresql.conf default for log_min_messages to 'warning'
(previously 'notice') to reduce log file volume (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have debug_print_parse, debug_print_rewritten, and debug_print_plan
output appear as LOG message level, not DEBUG1 (Tom) bjm: inconsistency
because of var names?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have debug_pretty_print default to on (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make "log_temp_files" super-user set only, like other logging options
(Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disable appending of the epoch date/time when no '%' escapes are
present in log_filename (Robert Haas)
</para>
<para>
This change was made because some users wanted a constant log filename,
for use with an external log rotation tool.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove explain_pretty_print postgresql.conf setting (no longer needed)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove log_restartpoints from recovery.conf; instead use
log_checkpoints (Simon Riggs)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove support for the (insecure) crypt authentication method (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
This breaks compatibility with pre-7.2 versions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove krb_realm and krb_server_hostname, now pg_hba.conf-only settings
(Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove ipcclean utility command (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
The utility only worked on a few platforms; users should use their
operating system tools instead.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
pg_hba.conf also has extensive changes related to migration. bjm: add markup
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Queries</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have children inherit CHECK constraints from parents (Alex Hunsaker,
Nikhil Sontakke, Tom Lane)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Force child tables to have the same CHECK constraints as parents (Alex
Hunsaker, Nikhil Sontakke, Tom Lane) bjm: verify
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change TRUNCATE and LOCK behavior to apply to all child tables (Peter)
</para>
<para>
There is a new ONLY clause which disables this behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow negative LIMIT or OFFSET values, rather than treating them as
zero (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow LOCK TABLE outside a transaction block (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Such an operation is useless because the lock would be immediately
released.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make DISCARD ALL also discard advisory locks (Marko Kreen)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Functions and Operators</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have NUMERIC 0 ^ 4.3 return 1, rather than an error, and have 0 ^ 0.0
return 1, rather than error (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This was already the float8 behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove code that prevented unary minus of floating-point values from
producing '-0' (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The changed behavior is more IEEE-standards compliant.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Throw an error if an escape character is the last character in a LIKE
pattern (it has nothing to escape) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have to_char()'s localized month/day names depend on LC_TIME, not
LC_MESSAGES (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Cause to_date() and to_timestamp() to more consistently report errors on
invalid input (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Provide consistent rounding for fractional seconds (Ron Mayer) bjm:
combine with another item?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix to_timestamp() to not require upper/lower case matching for meridian
(AM/PM) and era (BC/AD) format designations (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require the existence of periods in to_timestamp() meridian
(AM/PM) and era (BC/AD) format designations to match (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
<para>
For example, input value 'AD' does not match format string 'A.D.'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
DateStyle no longer controls interval output (use new variable
IntervalStyle)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove ~=~ and ~&lt;&gt;~ operators used for LIKE index comparisons
(Tom) bjm: needed?
</para>
<para>
A not-immediately-obvious incompatibility is that the sort order within
bpchar_pattern_ops indexes changes --- it had been identical to plain
strcmp, but is now trailing-blank-insensitive. This will impact
in-place upgrades, if those ever happen.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
Below you will find a detailed account of the
changes between <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 and
the previous major release.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Performance</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimizer statistics calculations (Tom, Jan
Urbanski)
</para>
<para>
This includes improved statistics for full text columns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow SELECT DISTINCT and UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT to use hashing (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This causes SELECT DISTINCT no longer always produces sorted output;
add an ORDER BY clause. The old SELECT DISTINCT behavior can be
restored by disabling enable_hashagg. SELECT DISTINCT ON does not use
hashing. bjm: enable_hashagg accurate?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New semi- and anti-joins (Tom)
</para>
<para>
While semi-joins merely replace existing IN joins, anti-joins
are a new capability for NOT IN and NOT EXIST clauses (Tom)
This improves optimization possibilities.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve IN/ANY/EXISTS processing (Tom)
</para>
<para>
IN and EXISTs now provide similar performance for equivalent clauses.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the performance of text_position() and related functions by
using Boyer-Moore-Horspool searching (David Rowley)
</para>
<para>
This is particularly useful for long search patterns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of subqueries by the optimizer (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reduce I/O frequency of writing the backend statistics file by writing
the file only when requested (Martin Pihlak)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance for bulk inserts (Robert Haas, Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Increase the default value of default_statistics_target from 10 to 100
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
The maximum value was also increased from 1000 to 10000.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Modify 'constraint_exclusion' to check for partitioned tables by default
when inheritance or UNION ALL is used (Tom)
</para>
<para>
A new constraint_exclusion setting, "partition", which matches this
behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow I/O read-ahead for bitmap index scans (Greg Stark)
</para>
<para>
The amount of read-ahead is controlled by effective_io_concurrency.
This requires posix_fadvise() support in the kernel.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Inline simple set-returning SQL functions in FROM clauses (Richard Rowell)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>TOAST</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Consider TOAST compression on values as short as 32 bytes (previously
256 bytes) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require 25% of space savings before using TOAST compression (previously
20%) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Be more aggressive in storing EXTERNAL and EXTENDED column values in
TOAST (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Settings</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Convert many postgresql.conf settings to enumerated values so
pg_settings can easily display valid values (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add postgresql.conf setting cursor_tuple_fraction to control the
fraction of a cursor's rows expected to be requested by the user (Robert
Hell)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow underscores in postgresql.conf custom variable classes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Monitoring</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_conf_load_time() function to report when the Postgres configuration
files were last loaded (George Gensure)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_terminate_backend() to safely terminate a backend (the SIGTERM
signal also works) (Tom, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ability to track user-defined functions call counts and runtimes via
postgresql.conf variable 'track_functions' (Martin Pihlak)
</para>
<para>
Function statistics appear in a new system table, pg_stat_user_functions.
However, inlined SQL functions are not tracked.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow specification of the maximum pg_stat_activity query string size
via postgresql.conf variable track_activity_query_size (Thomas Lee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve syslog performance by increasing the maximum line length
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add read-only postgresql.conf variables segment_size, wal_block_size,
and wal_segment_size (Bernd Helmle)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
When reporting a deadlock, report all session queries involved in the
deadlock to the server log (Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New pg_stat_get_activity(pid) function to return information about a
specific process id (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move that server statistics file into the subdirectory pg_stat_tmp
(Magnus)
</para>
<para>
This allows the statistics file to be placed in a RAM-resident
directory to reduce I/O requirements. On startup/shutdown, the
file is copied to the top-level $PGDATA directory so it is preserved
between restarts.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the location of the new pg_stat_tmp to be configured via
the stats_temp_directory setting (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>pg_hba.conf</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Parse pg_hba.conf in the postmaster so errors are reported on reload
(Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make pg_hba.conf "sameuser" an optional argument for ident
authentication (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change all pg_hba.conf authentication options to be 'name=value'
settings (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow 'ident' authentication over Unix-domain sockets on Solaris (Garick
Hamlin)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_hba.conf option "clientcert" to control requesting of a client
certificate (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
Previously this was controlled by the presence of a root certificate
file in the server's data directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_hba.conf "cert" authentication method to allow user
authentication via SSL certificates (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
Previously SSL certificates could only authenticate hosts, not users.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow krb5, gssapi and sspi realm and krb5 host settings to be specified
in pg_hba.conf (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
These override the settings in postgresql.conf.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Addkrb5, gssapi and sspi 'include_realm' parameter to pg_hba.conf
(Magnus)
</para>
<para>
This allows identical usernames from different realms to be
authenticated as different database users. bjm: correct?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Issue a warning rather than shut down when pg_hba.conf can't be loaded
(Selena Deckelmann)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Authentication</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Report appropriate error message for combination of MD5 authentication
and db_user_namespace enabled (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support regular expressions in pg_ident.conf (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow Kerberos/GSSAPI parameters to be changed without restarting the
postmaster (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Continuous Archiving</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have pg_stop_backup() wait for modified WAL files to be archived (Simon)
</para>
<para>
This guarantees that the backup is valid at the time pg_stop_backup()
completes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent normal shutdown if a continuous archiving base backup is in
progress (Laurenz Albe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Cancel a continuous archiving base backup if a fast shutdown is requested
(Laurenz Albe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow recovery.conf boolean variables to take the same range of string
alues as postgresql.conf (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Queries</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for WINDOW functions (Hitoshi Harada)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add WITH clauses support, including WITH RECURSIVE (Yoshiyuki Asaba,
Tatsuo Ishii, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New TABLE command (Peter)
</para>
<para>
"TABLE tablename" is a short-hand for "SELECT * FROM tablename".
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow AS to be optional when specifying a SELECT (or RETURNING) column
output label (assuming the label is not an SQL keyword) (Hiroshi Saito)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support set-returning functions in the target lists of Agg and Group plan
nodes. This is a pretty ugly feature but since we don't yet have a
plausible substitute, we'd better support it everywhere (Tom) bjm:
details?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow SELECT FOR UPDATE/SHARE to work on inheritance trees (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add infrastructure for SQL/MED (Martin Pihlak, Peter)
</para>
<para>
There are no remote or external SQL/MED capabilities yet. bjm:
accurate?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Invalidate cached plans when schemas, operators, or operator classes are
modified (Tom) bjm: effect?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the plan cache invalidation mechanism to make it invalidate plans
when user-defined functions used in a plan are modified (Tom, Martin
Pihlak) bjm: explain
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow comparison of composite types and allow arrays of
possibly-anonymous composite types (Tom) bjm: clear?
</para>
<para>
Specifically this allows 'array[ row(1,2), row(3,4)]' and 'row(1,1.1)
= any (array[ row(7,7.7), row(1,1.0)'. This is particularly useful
for recursive queries.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for Unicode sting and identifier specifications using code
points, e.g. U&'d\0061t\+000061' (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the parser's ability to report the error location of a query
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>LIMIT/OFFSET</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow LIMIT and OFFSET to use subselects as arguments (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Document that LIMIT NULL and OFFSET NULL have no effect (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add SQL-standards syntax for LIMIT/OFFSET capabilities (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
OFFSET num {ROW|ROWS} FETCH {FIRST|NEXT} [num] {ROW|ROWS} ONLY.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>ALTER TABLE</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ALTER TYPE RENAME (Petr Jelinek)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ALTER SEQUENCE ... RESTART (no parameter) to reset a sequence to its
initial value (Zoltan Boszormenyi) bjm: compatibility problem?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Modify the ALTER TABLE syntax to allow all reasonable combinations for
tables, indexes, sequences, and views (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New syntax supported (these formerly required "ALTER TABLE")
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
ALTER SEQUENCE OWNER TO
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
ALTER VIEW ALTER COLUMN SET/DROP DEFAULT
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
ALTER VIEW OWNER TO
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
ALTER VIEW SET SCHEMA
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for the syntax ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN ... SET DATA
TYPE (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This is SQL-standard syntax for functionality that was already
supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS rewrite the table to remove oid values
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
Also, add ALTER TABLE SET WITH OIDS to rewrite the table to add oids.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ALTER DATABASE SET TABLESPACE to move a database to a new tablespace
(Guillaume Lelarge, Bernd Helmle)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>TRUNCATE</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support statement-level ON TRUNCATE triggers (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add TRUNCATE TABLE ... RESTART/CONTINUE IDENTITY clauses (Zoltan
Boszormenyi)
</para>
<para>
The start value of a sequence can be changed by ALTER SEQUENCE START
WITH.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow TRUNCATE foo, foo to succeed (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a separate TRUNCATE permission (Robert Haas)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Database Manipulation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve reporting of CREATE/DROP/RENAME DATABASE failure when
uncommitted prepared transactions are the cause (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE database-level settings (Radek Strnad, Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This makes collation similar to encoding, which was always configurable
per database.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve checks that the database encoding, collation (LC_COLLATE), and
character classes (LC_CTYPE) match (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for column-level privileges (Stephen Frost, KaiGai Kohei)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve reporting of dependencies during DROP commands (Alex Hunsaker)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Refactor multi-object DROP operations so conflicting dependencies don't
generate an error (Alex Hunsaker)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add WITH [NO] DATA clause to CREATE TABLE AS, per the SQL standard (Tom, Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for user-defined I/O conversion casts (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow CREATE AGGREGATE to user an "internal" transition datatype (for
super-users only) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add LIKE clause to CREATE TYPE (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This simplifies creation of data types like existing types.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW to add columns to the _end_ of the view
(Robert Haas)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>EXPLAIN</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have EXPLAIN VERBOSE show the output columns of a query (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously EXPLAIN VERBOSE output an internal representation of the
query plan. (That behavior is now available via debug_print_plan.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have EXPLAIN honor debug_print_plan (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow EXPLAIN on CREATE TABLE AS (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Indexes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Dramatically improve the speed of building and accessing hash indexes
(Tom Raney, Shreya Bhargava, Kenneth Marshall)
</para>
<para>
This allows hash indexes to be sometimes faster than btree indexes.
However, hash indexes are still not crash-safe.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have hash indexes store only the hashed value, not the full indexed
columns (Xiao Meng)
</para>
<para>
This greatly reduces the size of hash indexes for long indexed
values, and improves performance.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove requirement to use "@@@" when doing GIN weighted lookups on full
text indexes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add optimizer selectivity function for '@@' text search operations (Jan
Urbanski)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add partial match support for GIN indexes (Teodor Sigaev, Oleg Bartunov)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow prefix matching in full text searches (Teodor Sigaev, Oleg
Bartunov)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support multi-column GIN indexes (Teodor Sigaev)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Special xxx_pattern_ops LIKE indexes can now be used for simple equality
comparisons (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>VACUUM</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow relation forks to track free space (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This allows the recording of all free space discovered by vacuum in
*.fsm files, rather than having to limit recording to a fixed-sized
shared memory area; max_fsm_pages and max_fsm_relations settings
have been removed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New visibility map file to track pages that do not require vacuum
(Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This allows VACUUM to avoid sequentially scanning a table when only a
portion of the table needs vacuuming.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Track explicit transaction snapshots (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This improves space reuse by vacuum in the presence of long-running
transactions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add vacuum_freeze_table_age to postgresql.conf to control when VACUUM should
ignore the visibility map and do a full table scan to set frozen xids
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ability to specify autovacuum and TOAST parameters in
CREATE TABLE (Alvaro, Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
<para>
Autovacuum options uses to be stored in a system table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add --freeze option to vacuumdb (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Other Utility Operations</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add verbose option to the CLUSTER command and clusterdb (Jim Cox)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Decrease memory requirements for recording pending trigger events (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>General Data Types</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a CaseSensitive option for text search synonym dictionaries (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the precision of NUMERIC division (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add int2 with int8 basic arithmetic operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This simplifies casting requirements.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow UUID input to accept optional hyphens after every four digits
(Robert Haas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Accept 'on'/'off' as boolean data type values (ITAGAKI Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Temporal Data Types</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Reject year '0 BC' and years '000' and '0000' (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously these were interpreted as 1 BC. (Years '0' and '00' are
assumed to be the year 2000.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Include SGT (Singapore time) as a valid timezone abbreviation (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support the IS0 8601 time interval syntax (Tom, Kevin Grittner)
</para>
<para>
For example, INTERVAL 'P1Y2M3DT4H5M6.7S' is now supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the interval precision to be specified after the last field, for
SQL-standards compliance (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Formerly the precision had to be specified after the keyword INTERVAL
(the old syntax is still supported). Data type definitions will now
be output using the new format.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support 'infinite' dates (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add postgresql.conf variable IntervalStyle which controls how interval
values are output (Ron Mayer)
</para>
<para>
Valid value are: postgres, postgres_verbose, sql_standard, iso_8601.
This also controls handling of negative interval input when only some
fields have positive/negative designations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Made interval seconds rounding more consistent across output
formats (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Arrays</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have cast on ARRAY[] apply to all elements, not just the array result
(Brendan Jurd)
</para>
<para>
This allows NULL ARRAY[] entries as long as it is properly cast
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make the SQL ARRAY dimensions optional to match the SQL standard
(Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add array_ndims() function to return the number of dimensions of an array (Robert
Haas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add array_length() function to return the length of an array for the
specified dimensions (Jim Nasby, Robert Haas, Peter Eisentraut)
</para>
<para>
Also add identically-functioning SQL-standard function cardinality().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new aggregate function array_agg(), which returns all aggregated
values as a single array (Robert Haas, Jeff Davis, Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function unnest(), which converts an array to individual row values
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is the opposite of array_agg().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add array_fill() to create arrays initialized with a value (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add generate_subscripts() to generate array subscripts (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Generate proper error if a SERIAL array is specified (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>General Functions</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Document that setseed() allows values from -1 to 1 (not 0 to 1), and
enforce the valid range (Kris Jurka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add server side lo_import(filename, oid) function (Tatsuo)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add quote_nullable(), which behaves like quote_literal() but returns
'NULL' for a null argument (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve full text search headline() generation to allow several
fragments (Sushant Sinha)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add suppress_redundant_updates_trigger() trigger function to avoid
non-data-changing updates (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add div(NUMERIC, NUMERIC) for NUMERIC division, without rounding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add timestamp and timestamptz versions of generate_series() (Hitoshi
Harada)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Information Functions</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement current_query() for use by functions that need to know the
currently running query (Tomas Doran)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_get_keywords() function to return predefined parser keywords
(Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function pg_get_functiondef() to see a functions definition (Abhijit
Menon-Sen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Modify pg_relation_size() to handle free space map (*.fsm) files
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Modify pg_relation_size() to use 'regclass' (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
pg_relation_size(data_type_name) no longer works.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add boot_val and reset_val columns to pg_settings output (Greg Smith)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for CURRENT_CATALOG, CURRENT_SCHEMA, SET CATALOG, SET SCHEMA
(Peter)
</para>
<para>
These are SQL-standard capabilities.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_typeof() function to return the data type of any value (Brendan
Jurd)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have version() return information about whether the server is a 32
or 64-bit binary (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix the behavior of information schema columns is_insertable_into and
is_updatable to be consistent (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Convert remaining builtin set-returning functions to use OUT parameters
(Jaime Casanova)
</para>
<para>
This makes it possible to call these functions without specifying
a column list: pg_show_all_settings(), pg_lock_status(),
pg_prepared_xact(), pg_prepared_statement(), pg_cursor()
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have pg_*_is_visible and has_*_privilege functions return NULL for
invalid oids, rather than generate an error (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add has_column_privilege() and has_any_column_privilege() functions
(Stephen Frost, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Function Creation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support variadic functions (functions with a variable number of
arguments) (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
<para>
Only trailing arguments can be of variable length, and they all must
be of the same data type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow DEFAULT values for function arguments (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add CREATE FUNCTION ... RETURNS TABLE clause (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow SQL-language functions to return the output of an INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE
RETURNING clause (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Formerly only SELECT was supported.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support EXECUTE USING in PL/pgSQL (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow PL/pgSQL to loop over an open cursor using a FOR loop (Pavel
Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support RETURN QUERY EXECUTE in PL/pgSQL (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the PL/pgSQL RAISE command (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support DETAIL and HINT fields
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support SQLSTATE error codes
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support an exception name parameter
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow RAISE without parameters in an exception
block to rethrow the current error
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the specification of SQLSTATE numeric codes in EXCEPTION lists
(Pavel Stehule)
</para>
<para>
This is useful for handling custom SQLSTATE codes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support CASE statement in PL/pgSQL (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add PL/PgSQL FOUND and GET DIAGNOSTICS support for the RETURN QUERY
statement (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add PL/pgSQL translation (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>General <link linkend="APP-PSQL"><application>psql</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove psql startup banner; now just suggest 'help' (Joshua Drake)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have psql 'help' show common backslash commands (Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add psql '\pset format wrapped' mode to wrap output to screen width, or
file/pipe output too if \pset columns' is set (Bryce Nesbitt)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use the psql pager for wide output (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require a space between a psql backslash command and the first argument (Bernd
Helmle)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Display access control rights on multiple lines in psql (Brendan Jurd,
Andreas Scherbaum)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve psql tab completion support for schema qualified and quoted
identifiers (Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the normal range of boolean values in \pset, rather than just
'on' and 'off' (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add optional on/off argument to psql \timing (David Fetter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have psql \l show access privileges (Andrew Gilligan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have psql \l+ show database sizes, if permissions allow (Andrew Gilligan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add psql \ef command to edit function definitions (Abhijit Menon-Sen)
</para>
<para>
\ef without a function names creates an empty function template for
editing.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="APP-PSQL"><application>psql</></link> \d*</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have psql \d display references to this table as a foreign-key constraint
(Kenneth D'Souza)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have psql \d show the value of sequence columns (Euler Taveira de
Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add column storage type and other relation options to psql \d+ display
(Gregory Stark, Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Show relation size in psql \d+ output (Dickson S. Guedes)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have all psql \d* commands show system objects only if 'S' is specified
(Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
<para>
psql \dt already behaved this way.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make psql \d and \dt consistent in their display of system tables
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Previously, '\d pg_class' would show pg_class while '\dt pg_class'
would not.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Show enumerated values in psql's \dT+ (David Fetter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow psql \dC to accept wildcard patterns (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow psql \d* commands to work with versions of Postgres back to 7.4
(Guillaume Lelarge)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="APP-PGDUMP"><application>pg_dump</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add --no-tablespaces option to pg_dump/pg_dumpall/pg_restore so dumps
can be restored to clusters that have non-matching tablespace layouts
(Gavin Roy)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove -i/--ignore-version option from pg_dump and pg_dumpall (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Use of the options does not throw an error, but it has no effect.
This option was removed because the version checks are considered
necessary.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disable statement_timeout during dump and restore (Joshua Drake)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_dump/pg_dumpall option --lock-wait-timeout (David Gould)
</para>
<para>
Allows dumps to fail if unable to acquire shared table within the
specified amount of time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reorder pg_dump --data-only output to dump primary-key tables referenced
by foreign keys are dumped before the foreign-key referencing tables
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows data loads when foreign keys are already present. If
circular references make this impossible, issue a NOTICE.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow pg_dump, pg_dumpall, and pg_restore to use a specified role (Benedek
L<>szl<7A>)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow pg_restore of a custom format archive to use multiple concurrent
connections to do the restore (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
The number of concurrent connections is controlled by the option
--jobs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new pg_dump --binary-upgrade flag to be used by binary upgrade
utilities (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Other Client Applications</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix 'pg_ctl restart' to preserve command-line arguments (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add -w/--no-password option that suppresses password prompts to all
utilities that have a -W/--password option (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove -q (quiet) option for create* and drop* utility commands (Peter)
</para>
<para>
These options have had no effect since 8.3.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>General <link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the OID to be specified when importing large objects using
libpq lo_import_with_oid() (Tatsuo)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add events support to libpq (Andrew Chernow, Merlin Moncure)
</para>
<para>
This adds the ability to register callbacks to handle private data
for connection and result creation and destruction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve libpq error handling to allow the return of multiple error
messages as multi-line error reports (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have libpq PQexecParams() return PGRES_EMPTY_QUERY for an empty query
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
It previously returned PGRES_COMMAND_OK.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Document how to avoid the libpq overhead of WSACleanup() overhead on
Windows (Andrew Chernow)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link> SSL</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix libpq certificate validation for SSL connections (Magnus) bjm:
details?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the file locations for libpq SSL certificates to be specified
(Mark Woodward, Alvaro, Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add libpq connection parameter "sslverify" to control the verification
of the server's SSL certificate (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
The default is full verification.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Properly unregister OpenSSL callbacks when libpq is done with
all connection (Bruce, Magnus, Russell Smith)
</para>
<para>
This is required for applications that unload the libpq library so
no invalid OpenSSL callbacks remain.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="ecpg"><application>ecpg</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add localization support for ecpg messages (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
ecpg parser is now automatically generated from the server parser
(Michael)
</para>
<para>
Previously a separate ecpg parser was maintained.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Programming Interface (<acronym>SPI</>)</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add SPI support for single-use plans with out-of-line parameters (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new SPI_OK_REWRITTEN return code to SPI_execute() (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This is used when a command is rewritten to another type of command.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Build Options</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support 64-bit timezone data files (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This adds support for daylight saving time (DST) calculations beyond 2038.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in handling of the timezone database when cross-compiling
(Richard Evans)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update build system to use Autoconf 2.61 (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require GNU bison for source code builds (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This has been a requirement for several years but this removes the
infrastructure for supporting other parser tools.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_config --htmldir option (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Pass float4 by value inside the server (Zoltan Boszormenyi)
</para>
<para>
Add configure option --disable-float4-byval to use the old behavior.
tgl
Pass float8 and int8 by value in the server where possible (Zoltan
Boszormenyi)
</para>
<para>
Add configure option --disable-float8-byval to use the old behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add configure options -with-segsize, --with-blocksize,
--with-wal-blocksize, --with-wal-segsize (Zdenek Kotala, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows compile-time control over several compile-time constants
that control how large tables and WAL are segmented into separate files and
their internal block sizes
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow threaded builds on Solaris 2.5 (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for Sun Studio compiler on Linux (Julius Stroffek)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Append major version number to the gettext domain name, and for
libraries the soname major version number (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This simplifies parallel installations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow out-of-tree builds on Mingw and Cygwin (Richard Evans)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix the use of Mingw32 as a cross-compiling source platform (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix problem when setting LC_MESSAGES on MSVC-built systems (Hiroshi
Inoue, Hiroshi Saito, Magnus) bjm: details?
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Link backend object files in one step, rather than in stages (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Additional DTrace probes (Robert Lor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add DTrace support on Mac OS X Leopard (Robert Lor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new cstring to text conversion functions (Brendan Jurd, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve logic for shared cache invalidation (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make "name" char-aligned (Tom) bjm: pg_upgrade?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function hook to let plug-ins control the executor (ITAGAKI
Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a hook to allow planner statistics lookup behavior to be overridden
(Simon Riggs)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add "shmem_startup_hook" for custom shared memory requirements (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Replace pg_class column reltriggers with boolean relhastriggers (Simon)
</para>
<para>
Also remove unused pg_class columns relukeys, relfkeys, and relrefs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move SQL-command manual pages from the 'manl' (man-el) section to 'man7'
(Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move platform FAQs into the main documentation (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add %expect 0 to all parser input files to prevent builds with parser
conflicts (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for the KOI8U (Ukrainian) encoding (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add -M (query mode) to /contrib/pgbench (ITAGAKI Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add duration option to /contrib/pgbench (Takahiro Itagaki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix /contrib/pgstattuple to handle tables and indexes with over 2
billion pages (Tatsuhito Kasahara)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add Levenshtein string-distance function to /contrib/fuzzystrmatch
that allows the user to specify the cost of insertion, deletion,
and substitution (Volkan Yazici)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove dblink_current_query() from /contrib/dblink; it should now use
current_query() (Tomas Doran)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have /contrib/ltree support multibyte encodings (laser)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add /contrib/citext as a case-insensitive text data type (David Wheeler)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make sure /contrib/dblink uses a password supplied by the user, and not
accidentally from the server .pgpass file (Joe Conway)
</para>
<para>
This is a security enhancement.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add fsm_page_contents() to contrib/pageinspect (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
Modify get_raw_page() to support free space map (*.fsm) files.
Also update /contrib/pg_freespacemap.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for multibyte encodings to /contrib/pg_trgm (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rewrite contrib/intagg to user new server-side functions array_agg() and
unnest() (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add /contrib/auto_explain to automatically run EXPLAIN on queries
exceeding a specified duration (Takahiro Itagaki, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add contrib/pg_stat_statements for server-wide tracking of statement execution
statistics (Takahiro Itagaki)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-7">
<title>Release 8.3.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-03-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.3.6.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.7</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.3.5,
see the release notes for 8.3.5.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent error recursion crashes when encoding conversion fails (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change extends fixes made in the last two minor releases for
related failure scenarios. The previous fixes were narrowly tailored
for the original problem reports, but we have now recognized that
<emphasis>any</> error thrown by an encoding conversion function could
potentially lead to infinite recursion while trying to report the
error. The solution therefore is to disable translation and encoding
conversion and report the plain-ASCII form of any error message,
if we find we have gotten into a recursive error reporting situation.
(CVE-2009-0922)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>CREATE CONVERSION</> with the wrong encodings
for the specified conversion function (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This prevents one possible scenario for encoding conversion failure.
The previous change is a backstop to guard against other kinds of
failures in the same area.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>xpath()</> to not modify the path expression unless
necessary, and to make a saner attempt at it when necessary (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
The SQL standard suggests that <function>xpath</> should work on data
that is a document fragment, but <application>libxml</> doesn't support
that, and indeed it's not clear that this is sensible according to the
XPath standard. <function>xpath</> attempted to work around this
mismatch by modifying both the data and the path expression, but the
modification was buggy and could cause valid searches to fail. Now,
<function>xpath</> checks whether the data is in fact a well-formed
document, and if so invokes <application>libxml</> with no change to the
data or path expression. Otherwise, a different modification method
that is somewhat less likely to fail is used.
</para>
<note>
<para>
The new modification method is still not 100% satisfactory, and it
seems likely that no real solution is possible. This patch should
therefore be viewed as a band-aid to keep from breaking existing
applications unnecessarily. It is likely that
<productname>PostgreSQL</> 8.4 will simply reject use of
<function>xpath</> on data that is not a well-formed document.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump when <function>to_char()</> is given format codes that
are inappropriate for the type of the data argument (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible failure in text search when C locale is used with
a multi-byte encoding (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
Crashes were possible on platforms where <type>wchar_t</> is narrower
than <type>int</>; Windows in particular.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix extreme inefficiency in text search parser's handling of an
email-like string containing multiple <literal>@</> characters (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner problem with sub-<command>SELECT</> in the output list
of a larger subquery (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The known symptom of this bug is a <quote>failed to locate grouping
columns</> error that is dependent on the datatype involved;
but there could be other issues as well.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix decompilation of <literal>CASE WHEN</> with an implicit coercion
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This mistake could lead to Assert failures in an Assert-enabled build,
or an <quote>unexpected CASE WHEN clause</> error message in other
cases, when trying to examine or dump a view.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible misassignment of the owner of a TOAST table's rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If <command>CLUSTER</> or a rewriting variant of <command>ALTER TABLE</>
were executed by someone other than the table owner, the
<structname>pg_type</> entry for the table's TOAST table would end up
marked as owned by that someone. This caused no immediate problems,
since the permissions on the TOAST rowtype aren't examined by any
ordinary database operation. However, it could lead to unexpected
failures if one later tried to drop the role that issued the command
(in 8.1 or 8.2), or <quote>owner of data type appears to be invalid</>
warnings from <application>pg_dump</> after having done so (in 8.3).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <command>UNLISTEN</> to exit quickly if the current session has
never executed any <command>LISTEN</> command (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Most of the time this is not a particularly useful optimization, but
since <command>DISCARD ALL</> invokes <command>UNLISTEN</>, the previous
coding caused a substantial performance problem for applications that
made heavy use of <command>DISCARD ALL</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/pgSQL to not treat <literal>INTO</> after <command>INSERT</> as
an INTO-variables clause anywhere in the string, not only at the start;
in particular, don't fail for <command>INSERT INTO</> within
<command>CREATE RULE</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean up PL/pgSQL error status variables fully at block exit
(Ashesh Vashi and Dave Page)
</para>
<para>
This is not a problem for PL/pgSQL itself, but the omission could cause
the PL/pgSQL Debugger to crash while examining the state of a function.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Retry failed calls to <function>CallNamedPipe()</> on Windows
(Steve Marshall, Magnus)
</para>
<para>
It appears that this function can sometimes fail transiently;
we previously treated any failure as a hard error, which could
confuse <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</> as well as other
operations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>MUST</> (Mauritius Island Summer Time) to the default list
of known timezone abbreviations (Xavier Bugaud)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-6">
<title>Release 8.3.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-02-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.3.5.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.6</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.3.5,
see the release notes for 8.3.5.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>DISCARD ALL</> release advisory locks, in addition
to everything it already did (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was decided to be the most appropriate behavior. This could
affect existing applications, however.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix whole-index GiST scans to work correctly (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
This error could cause rows to be lost if a table is clustered
on a GiST index.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash of <literal>xmlconcat(NULL)</> (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash in <literal>ispell</> dictionary if high-bit-set
characters are used as flags (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
This is known to be done by one widely available Norwegian dictionary,
and the same condition may exist in others.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix misordering of <application>pg_dump</> output for composite types
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
The most likely problem was for user-defined operator classes to
be dumped after indexes or views that needed them.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of URLs in <function>headline()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of overlength headlines in <function>headline()</>
function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible Assert failure or misconversion if an encoding
conversion is created with the wrong conversion function for the
specified pair of encodings (Tom, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible Assert failure if a statement executed in PL/pgSQL is
rewritten into another kind of statement, for example if an
<command>INSERT</> is rewritten into an <command>UPDATE</> (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure that a snapshot is available to datatype input functions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This primarily affects domains that are declared with <literal>CHECK</>
constraints involving user-defined stable or immutable functions. Such
functions typically fail if no snapshot has been set.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make it safer for SPI-using functions to be used within datatype I/O;
in particular, to be used in domain check constraints (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid unnecessary locking of small tables in <command>VACUUM</>
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a problem that sometimes kept <command>ALTER TABLE ENABLE/DISABLE
RULE</> from being recognized by active sessions (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a problem that made <literal>UPDATE RETURNING tableoid</>
return zero instead of the correct OID (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow functions declared as taking <type>ANYARRAY</> to work on
the <structname>pg_statistic</> columns of that type (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This used to work, but was unintentionally broken in 8.3.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner misestimation of selectivity when transitive equality
is applied to an outer-join clause (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could result in bad plans for queries like
<literal>... from a left join b on a.a1 = b.b1 where a.a1 = 42 ...</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimizer's handling of long <literal>IN</> lists (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change avoids wasting large amounts of time on such lists
when constraint exclusion is enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent synchronous scan during GIN index build (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Because GIN is optimized for inserting tuples in increasing TID order,
choosing to use a synchronous scan could slow the build by a factor of
three or more.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure that the contents of a holdable cursor don't depend on the
contents of TOAST tables (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, large field values in a cursor result might be represented
as TOAST pointers, which would fail if the referenced table got dropped
before the cursor is read, or if the large value is deleted and then
vacuumed away. This cannot happen with an ordinary cursor,
but it could with a cursor that is held past its creating transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory leak when a set-returning function is terminated without
reading its whole result (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix encoding conversion problems in XML functions when the database
encoding isn't UTF-8 (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <filename>contrib/dblink</>'s
<function>dblink_get_result(text,bool)</> function (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible garbage output from <filename>contrib/sslinfo</> functions
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect behavior of <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> compatibility
trigger when it's fired more than once in a command (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible mis-signaling in autovacuum (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support running as a service on Windows 7 beta (Dave and Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</>'s handling of varchar structs (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>configure</> script to properly report failure when
unable to obtain linkage information for PL/Perl (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make all documentation reference <literal>pgsql-bugs</> and/or
<literal>pgsql-hackers</> as appropriate, instead of the
now-decommissioned <literal>pgsql-ports</> and <literal>pgsql-patches</>
mailing lists (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2009a (for
Kathmandu and historical DST corrections in Switzerland, Cuba)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-5">
<title>Release 8.3.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-11-03</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.3.4.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.5</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.3.1,
see the release notes for 8.3.1. Also, if you were running a previous
8.3.X release, it is recommended to <command>REINDEX</> all GiST
indexes after the upgrade.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix GiST index corruption due to marking the wrong index entry
<quote>dead</> after a deletion (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
This would result in index searches failing to find rows they
should have found. Corrupted indexes can be fixed with
<command>REINDEX</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix backend crash when the client encoding cannot represent a localized
error message (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We have addressed similar issues before, but it would still fail if
the <quote>character has no equivalent</> message itself couldn't
be converted. The fix is to disable localization and send the plain
ASCII error message when we detect such a situation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash in <type>bytea</>-to-XML mapping (Michael McMaster)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash when deeply nested functions are invoked from
a trigger (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimization of <replaceable>expression</> <literal>IN</>
(<replaceable>expression-list</>) queries (Tom, per an idea from Robert
Haas)
</para>
<para>
Cases in which there are query variables on the right-hand side had been
handled less efficiently in 8.2.x and 8.3.x than in prior versions.
The fix restores 8.1 behavior for such cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix mis-expansion of rule queries when a sub-<literal>SELECT</> appears
in a function call in <literal>FROM</>, a multi-row <literal>VALUES</>
list, or a <literal>RETURNING</> list (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The usual symptom of this problem is an <quote>unrecognized node type</>
error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix Assert failure during rescan of an <literal>IS NULL</>
search of a GiST index (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory leak during rescan of a hashed aggregation plan (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure an error is reported when a newly-defined PL/pgSQL trigger
function is invoked as a normal function (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Force a checkpoint before <command>CREATE DATABASE</> starts to copy
files (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This prevents a possible failure if files had recently been deleted
in the source database.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible collision of <structfield>relfilenode</> numbers
when moving a table to another tablespace with <command>ALTER SET
TABLESPACE</> (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
The command tried to re-use the existing filename, instead of
picking one that is known unused in the destination directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect text search headline generation when single query
item matches first word of text (Sushant Sinha)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix improper display of fractional seconds in interval values when
using a non-ISO datestyle in an <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</>
build (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <literal>ILIKE</> compare characters case-insensitively
even when they're escaped (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <command>DISCARD</> is handled properly by statement logging (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect logging of last-completed-transaction time during
PITR recovery (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <function>SPI_getvalue</> and <function>SPI_getbinval</>
behave correctly when the passed tuple and tuple descriptor have
different numbers of columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This situation is normal when a table has had columns added or removed,
but these two functions didn't handle it properly.
The only likely consequence is an incorrect error indication.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Mark <varname>SessionReplicationRole</> as <literal>PGDLLIMPORT</>
so it can be used by <application>Slony</> on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix small memory leak when using <application>libpq</>'s
<literal>gsslib</> parameter (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
The space used by the parameter string was not freed at connection
close.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <application>libgssapi</> is linked into <application>libpq</>
if needed (Markus Schaaf)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</>'s parsing of <command>CREATE ROLE</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix recent breakage of <literal>pg_ctl restart</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <filename>pg_control</> is opened in binary mode
(Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
<para>
<application>pg_controldata</> and <application>pg_resetxlog</>
did this incorrectly, and so could fail on Windows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008i (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Brazil, Mauritius, Syria)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-4">
<title>Release 8.3.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-09-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.3.3.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.3.1,
see the release notes for 8.3.1.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in btree WAL recovery code (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
Recovery failed if the WAL ended partway through a page split operation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential use of wrong cutoff XID for HOT page pruning (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This error created a risk of corruption in system
catalogs that are consulted by <command>VACUUM</>: dead tuple versions
might be removed too soon. The impact of this on actual database
operations would be minimal, since the system doesn't follow MVCC
rules while examining catalogs, but it might result in transiently
wrong output from <application>pg_dump</> or other client programs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential miscalculation of <structfield>datfrozenxid</> (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This error may explain some recent reports of failure to remove old
<structname>pg_clog</> data.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect HOT updates after <structname>pg_class</> is reindexed
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
Corruption of <structname>pg_class</> could occur if <literal>REINDEX
TABLE pg_class</> was followed in the same session by an <literal>ALTER
TABLE RENAME</> or <literal>ALTER TABLE SET SCHEMA</> command.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix missed <quote>combo cid</> case (Karl Schnaitter)
</para>
<para>
This error made rows incorrectly invisible to a transaction in which they
had been deleted by multiple subtransactions that all aborted.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent autovacuum from crashing if the table it's currently
checking is deleted at just the wrong time (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Widen local lock counters from 32 to 64 bits (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This responds to reports that the counters could overflow in
sufficiently long transactions, leading to unexpected <quote>lock is
already held</> errors.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible duplicate output of tuples during a GiST index scan (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Regenerate foreign key checking queries from scratch when either
table is modified (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, 8.3 would attempt to replan the query, but would work from
previously generated query text. This led to failures if a
table or column was renamed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix missed permissions checks when a view contains a simple
<literal>UNION ALL</> construct (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
Permissions for the referenced tables were checked properly, but not
permissions for the view itself.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add checks in executor startup to ensure that the tuples produced by an
<command>INSERT</> or <command>UPDATE</> will match the target table's
current rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This situation is believed to be impossible in 8.3, but it can happen in
prior releases, so a check seems prudent.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible repeated drops during <command>DROP OWNED</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This would typically result in strange errors such as <quote>cache
lookup failed for relation NNN</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix several memory leaks in XML operations (Kris Jurka, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>xmlserialize()</> to raise error properly for
unacceptable target data type (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a couple of places that mis-handled multibyte characters in text
search configuration file parsing (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Certain characters occurring in configuration files would always cause
<quote>invalid byte sequence for encoding</> failures.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Provide file name and line number location for all errors reported
in text search configuration files (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> to first try to interpret its timezone
argument as a timezone abbreviation, and only try it as a full timezone
name if that fails, rather than the other way around as formerly (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The timestamp input functions have always resolved ambiguous zone names
in this order. Making <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> do so as well improves
consistency, and fixes a compatibility bug introduced in 8.1:
in ambiguous cases we now behave the same as 8.0 and before did,
since in the older versions <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> accepted
<emphasis>only</> abbreviations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix datetime input functions to correctly detect integer overflow when
running on a 64-bit platform (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent integer overflows during units conversion when displaying a
configuration parameter that has units (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of writing very long log messages to syslog (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow spaces in the suffix part of an LDAP URL in
<filename>pg_hba.conf</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in backwards scanning of a cursor on a <literal>SELECT DISTINCT
ON</> query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner bug that could improperly push down <literal>IS NULL</>
tests below an outer join (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was triggered by occurrence of <literal>IS NULL</> tests for
the same relation in all arms of an upper <literal>OR</> clause.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner bug with nested sub-select expressions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If the outer sub-select has no direct dependency on the parent query,
but the inner one does, the outer value might not get recalculated
for new parent query rows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner to estimate that <literal>GROUP BY</> expressions yielding
boolean results always result in two groups, regardless of the
expressions' contents (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is very substantially more accurate than the regular <literal>GROUP
BY</> estimate for certain boolean tests like <replaceable>col</>
<literal>IS NULL</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/PgSQL to not fail when a <literal>FOR</> loop's target variable
is a record containing composite-type fields (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Tcl to behave correctly with Tcl 8.5, and to be more careful
about the encoding of data sent to or from Tcl (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of <function>PQescapeBytea()</> (Rudolf Leitgeb)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
On Windows, work around a Microsoft bug by preventing
<application>libpq</> from trying to send more than 64kB per system call
(Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</> to handle variables properly in <command>SET</>
commands (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_restore</>'s
error reporting after failure to send a SQL command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to properly preserve postmaster
command-line arguments across a <literal>restart</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix erroneous WAL file cutoff point calculation in
<application>pg_standby</> (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008f (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Mauritius, Morocco,
Pakistan, Palestine, and Paraguay)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-3">
<title>Release 8.3.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-06-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one serious and one minor bug fix over 8.3.2.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.3.1,
see the release notes for 8.3.1.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> parenthesize negative constants (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Before this fix, a negative constant in a view or rule might be dumped
as, say, <literal>-42::integer</>, which is subtly incorrect: it should
be <literal>(-42)::integer</> due to operator precedence rules.
Usually this would make little difference, but it could interact with
another recent patch to cause
<productname>PostgreSQL</> to reject what had been a valid
<command>SELECT DISTINCT</> view query. Since this could result in
<application>pg_dump</> output failing to reload, it is being treated
as a high-priority fix. The only released versions in which dump
output is actually incorrect are 8.3.1 and 8.2.7.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>ALTER AGGREGATE ... OWNER TO</> update
<structname>pg_shdepend</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This oversight could lead to problems if the aggregate was later
involved in a <command>DROP OWNED</> or <command>REASSIGN OWNED</>
operation.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-2">
<title>Release 8.3.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>never released</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.3.1.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.3.1,
see the release notes for 8.3.1.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>ERRORDATA_STACK_SIZE exceeded</literal> crash that
occurred on Windows when using UTF-8 database encoding and a different
client encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect archive truncation point calculation for the
<literal>%r</> macro in <varname>recovery_command</> parameters
(Simon)
</para>
<para>
This could lead to data loss if a warm-standby script relied on
<literal>%r</> to decide when to throw away WAL segment files.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN ... PRIMARY KEY</> so that the new
column is correctly checked to see if it's been initialized to all
non-nulls (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
<para>
Previous versions neglected to check this requirement at all.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>REASSIGN OWNED</> so that it works on procedural
languages too (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix problems with <command>SELECT FOR UPDATE/SHARE</> occurring as a
subquery in a query with a non-<command>SELECT</> top-level operation
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible <command>CREATE TABLE</> failure when inheriting the
<quote>same</> constraint from multiple parent relations that
inherited that constraint from a common ancestor (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> to show the alias, if any, attached
to the target table of an <command>UPDATE</> or <command>DELETE</>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore the pre-8.3 behavior that an out-of-range block number in a
TID being used in a TidScan plan results in silently not matching any
rows (Tom)
</para>
<para>
8.3.0 and 8.3.1 threw an error instead.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix GIN bug that could result in a <literal>too many LWLocks
taken</literal> failure (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix broken GiST comparison function for <type>tsquery</> (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>tsvector_update_trigger()</> and <function>ts_stat()</>
to accept domains over the types they expect to work with (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix failure to support enum data types as foreign keys (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid possible crash when decompressing corrupted data
(Zdenek Kotala)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix race conditions between delayed unlinks and <command>DROP
DATABASE</> (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
In the worst case this could result in deleting a newly created table
in a new database that happened to get the same OID as the
recently-dropped one; but of course that is an extremely
low-probability scenario.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair two places where SIGTERM exit of a backend could leave corrupted
state in shared memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Neither case is very important if SIGTERM is used to shut down the
whole database cluster together, but there was a problem if someone
tried to SIGTERM individual backends.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash due to incorrect plan generated for an
<literal><replaceable>x</> IN (SELECT <replaceable>y</>
FROM ...)</literal> clause when <replaceable>x</> and <replaceable>y</>
have different data types; and make sure the behavior is semantically
correct when the conversion from <replaceable>y</>'s type to
<replaceable>x</>'s type is lossy (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix oversight that prevented the planner from substituting known Param
values as if they were constants (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This mistake partially disabled optimization of unnamed
extended-Query statements in 8.3.0 and 8.3.1: in particular the
LIKE-to-indexscan optimization would never be applied if the LIKE
pattern was passed as a parameter, and constraint exclusion
depending on a parameter value didn't work either.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner failure when an indexable <function>MIN</> or
<function>MAX</> aggregate is used with <literal>DISTINCT</> or
<literal>ORDER BY</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner to ensure it never uses a <quote>physical tlist</> for a
plan node that is feeding a Sort node (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This led to the sort having to push around more data than it really
needed to, since unused column values were included in the sorted
data.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid unnecessary copying of query strings (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fixes a performance problem introduced in 8.3.0 when a very large
number of commands are submitted as a single query string.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>TransactionIdIsCurrentTransactionId()</> use binary
search instead of linear search when checking child-transaction XIDs
(Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This fixes some cases in which 8.3.0 was significantly
slower than earlier releases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix conversions between ISO-8859-5 and other encodings to handle
Cyrillic <quote>Yo</> characters (<literal>e</> and <literal>E</> with
two dots) (Sergey Burladyan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix several datatype input functions, notably <function>array_in()</>,
that were allowing unused bytes in their results to contain
uninitialized, unpredictable values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could lead to failures in which two apparently identical literal
values were not seen as equal, resulting in the parser complaining
about unmatched <literal>ORDER BY</> and <literal>DISTINCT</>
expressions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a corner case in regular-expression substring matching
(<literal>substring(<replaceable>string</> from
<replaceable>pattern</>)</literal>) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The problem occurs when there is a match to the pattern overall but
the user has specified a parenthesized subexpression and that
subexpression hasn't got a match. An example is
<literal>substring('foo' from 'foo(bar)?')</>.
This should return NULL, since <literal>(bar)</> isn't matched, but
it was mistakenly returning the whole-pattern match instead (ie,
<literal>foo</>).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent cancellation of an auto-vacuum that was launched to prevent
XID wraparound (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <command>ANALYZE</>'s handling of in-doubt tuples (those
inserted or deleted by a not-yet-committed transaction) so that the
counts it reports to the stats collector are more likely to be correct
(Pavan Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>initdb</> to reject a relative path for its
<literal>--xlogdir</> (<literal>-X</>) option (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <application>psql</> print tab characters as an appropriate
number of spaces, rather than <literal>\x09</literal> as was done in
8.3.0 and 8.3.1 (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008c (for
DST law changes in Morocco, Iraq, Choibalsan, Pakistan, Syria, Cuba, and
Argentina/San_Luis)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>ECPGget_PGconn()</> function to
<application>ecpglib</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect result from <application>ecpg</>'s
<function>PGTYPEStimestamp_sub()</> function (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix handling of continuation line markers in <application>ecpg</>
(Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crashes in <filename>contrib/cube</> functions (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump in <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s
<function>xpath_table()</> function when the input query returns a
NULL value (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s makefile to not override
<literal>CFLAGS</>, and make it auto-configure properly for
<application>libxslt</> present or not (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3-1">
<title>Release 8.3.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-03-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.3.0.
For information about new features in the 8.3 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-3">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.3.X.
However, you might need to <command>REINDEX</> indexes on textual
columns after updating, if you are affected by the Windows locale
issue described below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix character string comparison for Windows locales that consider
different character combinations as equal (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fix applies only on Windows and only when using UTF-8
database encoding. The same fix was made for all other cases
over two years ago, but Windows with UTF-8 uses a separate code
path that was not updated. If you are using a locale that
considers some non-identical strings as equal, you may need to
<command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on textual columns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair corner-case bugs in <command>VACUUM FULL</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
A potential deadlock between concurrent <command>VACUUM FULL</>
operations on different system catalogs was introduced in 8.2.
This has now been corrected. 8.3 made this worse because the
deadlock could occur within a critical code section, making it
a PANIC rather than just ERROR condition.
</para>
<para>
Also, a <command>VACUUM FULL</> that failed partway through
vacuuming a system catalog could result in cache corruption in
concurrent database sessions.
</para>
<para>
Another <command>VACUUM FULL</> bug introduced in 8.3 could
result in a crash or out-of-memory report when dealing with
pages containing no live tuples.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix misbehavior of foreign key checks involving <type>character</>
or <type>bit</> columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If the referencing column were of a different but compatible type
(for instance <type>varchar</>), the constraint was enforced incorrectly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid needless deadlock failures in no-op foreign-key checks (Stephan
Szabo, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible core dump when re-planning a prepared query (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This bug affected only protocol-level prepare operations, not
SQL <command>PREPARE</>, and so tended to be seen only with
JDBC, DBI, and other client-side drivers that use prepared
statements heavily.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible failure when re-planning a query that calls an SPI-using
function (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix failure in row-wise comparisons involving columns of different
datatypes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix longstanding <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</>
race condition (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In rare cases a session that had just executed a
<command>LISTEN</> might not get a notification, even though
one would be expected because the concurrent transaction executing
<command>NOTIFY</> was observed to commit later.
</para>
<para>
A side effect of the fix is that a transaction that has executed
a not-yet-committed <command>LISTEN</> command will not see any
row in <structname>pg_listener</> for the <command>LISTEN</>,
should it choose to look; formerly it would have. This behavior
was never documented one way or the other, but it is possible that
some applications depend on the old behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>LISTEN</> and <command>UNLISTEN</> within a
prepared transaction (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was formerly allowed but trying to do it had various unpleasant
consequences, notably that the originating backend could not exit
as long as an <command>UNLISTEN</> remained uncommitted.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow dropping a temporary table within a
prepared transaction (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This was correctly disallowed by 8.1, but the check was inadvertently
broken in 8.2 and 8.3.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare crash when an error occurs during a query using a hash index
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect comparison of <type>tsquery</> values (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect behavior of <literal>LIKE</> with non-ASCII characters
in single-byte encodings (Rolf Jentsch)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disable <function>xmlvalidate</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This function should have been removed before 8.3 release, but
was inadvertently left in the source code. It poses a small
security risk since unprivileged users could use it to read the
first few characters of any file accessible to the server.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory leaks in certain usages of set-returning functions (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>encode(<replaceable>bytea</>, 'escape')</> convert all
high-bit-set byte values into <literal>\</><replaceable>nnn</> octal
escape sequences (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is necessary to avoid encoding problems when the database
encoding is multi-byte. This change could pose compatibility issues
for applications that are expecting specific results from
<function>encode</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix input of datetime values for February 29 in years BC (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The former coding was mistaken about which years were leap years.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>unrecognized node type</> error in some variants of
<command>ALTER OWNER</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid tablespace permissions errors in <command>CREATE TABLE LIKE
INCLUDING INDEXES</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <structname>pg_stat_activity</>.<structfield>waiting</> flag
is cleared when a lock wait is aborted (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix handling of process permissions on Windows Vista (Dave, Magnus)
</para>
<para>
In particular, this fix allows starting the server as the Administrator
user.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008a
(in particular, recent Chile changes); adjust timezone abbreviation
<literal>VET</> (Venezuela) to mean UTC-4:30, not UTC-4:00 (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</> problems with arrays (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to correctly extract the postmaster's port
number from command-line options (Itagaki Takahiro, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, <literal>pg_ctl start -w</> could try to contact the
postmaster on the wrong port, leading to bogus reports of startup
failure.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <option>-fwrapv</> to defend against possible misoptimization
in recent <application>gcc</> versions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is known to be necessary when building <productname>PostgreSQL</>
with <application>gcc</> 4.3 or later.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enable building <filename>contrib/uuid-ossp</> with MSVC (Hiroshi Saito)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-3">
<title>Release 8.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-02-04</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
With significant new functionality and performance enhancements,
this release represents a major leap forward for
<productname>PostgreSQL</>. This was made possible by a growing
community that has dramatically accelerated the pace of
development. This release adds the following major features:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Full text search is integrated into the core database system
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support for the SQL/XML standard, including new operators and an
<type>XML</type> data type
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enumerated data types (<type>ENUM</type>)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Arrays of composite types
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Universally Unique Identifier (<type>UUID</>) data type
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add control over whether <literal>NULL</>s sort first or last
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Updatable cursors
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameters can now be set on a per-function
basis
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
User-defined types can now have type modifiers
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Automatically re-plan cached queries when table
definitions change or statistics are updated
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Numerous improvements in logging and statistics collection
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support Security Service Provider Interface (<acronym>SSPI</>) for
authentication on Windows
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support multiple concurrent autovacuum processes, and other
autovacuum improvements
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the whole <productname>PostgreSQL</> distribution to be compiled
with <productname>Microsoft Visual C++</>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Major performance improvements are listed below. Most of
these enhancements are automatic and do not require user changes or
tuning:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Asynchronous commit delays writes to WAL during transaction commit
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Checkpoint writes can be spread over a longer time period to smooth
the I/O spike during each checkpoint
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Heap-Only Tuples (<acronym>HOT</>) accelerate space reuse for
most <command>UPDATE</>s and <command>DELETE</>s
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Just-in-time background writer strategy improves disk write
efficiency
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Using non-persistent transaction IDs for read-only transactions
reduces overhead and <command>VACUUM</> requirements
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Per-field and per-row storage overhead has been reduced
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Large sequential scans no longer force out frequently used
cached pages
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Concurrent large sequential scans can now share disk reads
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>ORDER BY ... LIMIT</> can be done without sorting
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The above items are explained in more detail in the sections below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is
required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous
release.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<sect3>
<title>General</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Non-character data types are no longer automatically cast to
<type>TEXT</> (Peter, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, if a non-character value was supplied to an operator or
function that requires <type>text</> input, it was automatically
cast to <type>text</>, for most (though not all) built-in data types.
This no longer happens: an explicit cast to <type>text</> is now
required for all non-character-string types. For example, these
expressions formerly worked:
<programlisting>
substr(current_date, 1, 4)
23 LIKE '2%'
</programlisting>
but will now draw <quote>function does not exist</> and <quote>operator
does not exist</> errors respectively. Use an explicit cast instead:
<programlisting>
substr(current_date::text, 1, 4)
23::text LIKE '2%'
</programlisting>
(Of course, you can use the more verbose <literal>CAST()</> syntax too.)
The reason for the change is that these automatic casts too often caused
surprising behavior. An example is that in previous releases, this
expression was accepted but did not do what was expected:
<programlisting>
current_date &lt; 2017-11-17
</programlisting>
This is actually comparing a date to an integer, which should be
(and now is) rejected &mdash; but in the presence of automatic
casts both sides were cast to <type>text</> and a textual comparison
was done, because the <literal>text &lt; text</> operator was able
to match the expression when no other <literal>&lt;</> operator could.
</para>
<para>
Types <type>char(<replaceable>n</>)</type> and
<type>varchar(<replaceable>n</>)</type> still cast to <type>text</>
automatically. Also, automatic casting to <type>text</> still works for
inputs to the concatenation (<literal>||</>) operator, so long as least
one input is a character-string type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Full text search features from <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> have
been moved into the core server, with some minor syntax changes
</para>
<para>
<filename>contrib/tsearch2</> now contains a compatibility
interface.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>ARRAY(SELECT ...)</literal>, where the <command>SELECT</>
returns no rows, now returns an empty array, rather than NULL
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The array type name for a base data type is no longer always the base
type's name with an underscore prefix
</para>
<para>
The old naming convention is still honored when possible, but
application code should no longer depend on it. Instead
use the new <literal>pg_type.typarray</literal> column to
identify the array data type associated with a given type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>ORDER BY ... USING</> <replaceable>operator</> must now
use a less-than or greater-than <replaceable>operator</> that is
defined in a btree operator class
</para>
<para>
This restriction was added to prevent inconsistent results.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>SET LOCAL</command> changes now persist until
the end of the outermost transaction, unless rolled back (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously <command>SET LOCAL</command>'s effects were lost
after subtransaction commit (<command>RELEASE SAVEPOINT</>
or exit from a PL/pgSQL exception block).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Commands rejected in transaction blocks are now also rejected in
multiple-statement query strings (Tom)
</para>
<para>
For example, <literal>"BEGIN; DROP DATABASE; COMMIT"</> will now be
rejected even if submitted as a single query message.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>ROLLBACK</> outside a transaction block now
issues <literal>NOTICE</> instead of <literal>WARNING</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>NOTIFY</command>/<command>LISTEN</command>/<command>UNLISTEN</command>
from accepting schema-qualified names (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Formerly, these commands accepted <literal>schema.relation</> but
ignored the schema part, which was confusing.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>ALTER SEQUENCE</> no longer affects the sequence's
<function>currval()</> state (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Foreign keys now must match indexable conditions for
cross-data-type references (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves semantic consistency and helps avoid
performance problems.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Restrict object size functions to users who have reasonable
permissions to view such information (Tom)
</para>
<para>
For example, <function>pg_database_size()</function> now requires
<literal>CONNECT</> permission, which is granted to everyone by
default. <function>pg_tablespace_size()</function> requires
<literal>CREATE</> permission in the tablespace, or is allowed if
the tablespace is the default tablespace for the database.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove the undocumented <literal>!!=</> (not in) operator (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<literal>NOT IN (SELECT ...)</literal> is the proper way to
perform this operation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Internal hashing functions are now more uniformly-distributed (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If application code was computing and storing hash values using
internal <productname>PostgreSQL</> hashing functions, the hash
values must be regenerated.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
C-code conventions for handling variable-length data values
have changed (Greg Stark, Tom)
</para>
<para>
The new <function>SET_VARSIZE()</> macro <emphasis>must</> be used
to set the length of generated <type>varlena</> values. Also, it
might be necessary to expand (<quote>de-TOAST</quote>) input values
in more cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Continuous archiving no longer reports each successful archive
operation to the server logs unless <literal>DEBUG</> level is used
(Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Configuration Parameters</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Numerous changes in administrative server parameters
</para>
<para>
<varname>bgwriter_lru_percent</>,
<varname>bgwriter_all_percent</>,
<varname>bgwriter_all_maxpages</>,
<varname>stats_start_collector</>, and
<varname>stats_reset_on_server_start</> are removed.
<varname>redirect_stderr</> is renamed to
<varname>logging_collector</>.
<varname>stats_command_string</> is renamed to
<varname>track_activities</>.
<varname>stats_block_level</> and <varname>stats_row_level</>
are merged into <varname>track_counts</>.
A new boolean configuration parameter, <varname>archive_mode</>,
controls archiving. Autovacuum's default settings have changed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <varname>stats_start_collector</varname> parameter (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We now always start the collector process, unless <acronym>UDP</>
socket creation fails.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <varname>stats_reset_on_server_start</varname> parameter (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was removed because <function>pg_stat_reset()</function>
can be used for this purpose.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Commenting out a parameter in <filename>postgresql.conf</> now
causes it to revert to its default value (Joachim Wieland)
</para>
<para>
Previously, commenting out an entry left the parameter's value unchanged
until the next server restart.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Character Encodings</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add more checks for invalidly-encoded data (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This change plugs some holes that existed in literal backslash
escape string processing and <command>COPY</command> escape
processing. Now the de-escaped string is rechecked to see if the
result created an invalid multi-byte character.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow database encodings that are inconsistent with the server's
locale setting (Tom)
</para>
<para>
On most platforms, <literal>C</> locale is the only locale that
will work with any database encoding. Other locale settings imply
a specific encoding and will misbehave if the database encoding
is something different. (Typical symptoms include bogus textual
sort order and wrong results from <function>upper()</> or
<function>lower()</>.) The server now rejects attempts to create
databases that have an incompatible encoding.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure that <function>chr()</function> cannot create
invalidly-encoded values (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
In UTF8-encoded databases the argument of <function>chr()</function> is
now treated as a Unicode code point. In other multi-byte encodings
<function>chr()</function>'s argument must designate a 7-bit ASCII
character. Zero is no longer accepted.
<function>ascii()</function> has been adjusted to match.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Adjust <function>convert()</function> behavior to ensure encoding
validity (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
The two argument form of <function>convert()</function> has been
removed. The three argument form now takes a <type>bytea</type>
first argument and returns a <type>bytea</type>. To cover the
loss of functionality, three new functions have been added:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>convert_from(bytea, name)</function> returns
<type>text</> &mdash; converts the first argument from the named
encoding to the database encoding
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>convert_to(text, name)</function> returns
<type>bytea</> &mdash; converts the first argument from the
database encoding to the named encoding
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>length(bytea, name)</function> returns
<type>integer</> &mdash; gives the length of the first
argument in characters in the named encoding
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <literal>convert(argument USING conversion_name)</literal>
(Andrew)
</para>
<para>
Its behavior did not match the SQL standard.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make JOHAB encoding client-only (Tatsuo)
</para>
<para>
JOHAB is not safe as a server-side encoding.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
Below you will find a detailed account of the
changes between <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.3 and
the previous major release.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Performance</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Asynchronous commit delays writes to WAL during transaction commit
(Simon)
</para>
<para>
This feature dramatically increases performance for short data-modifying
transactions. The disadvantage is that because disk writes are delayed,
if the database or operating system crashes before data is written to
the disk, committed data will be lost. This feature is useful for
applications that can accept some data loss. Unlike turning off
<varname>fsync</varname>, using asynchronous commit does not put
database consistency at risk; the worst case is that after a crash the
last few reportedly-committed transactions might not be committed after
all.
This feature is enabled by turning off <varname>synchronous_commit</>
(which can be done per-session or per-transaction, if some transactions
are critical and others are not).
<varname>wal_writer_delay</> can be adjusted to control the maximum
delay before transactions actually reach disk.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Checkpoint writes can be spread over a longer time period to smooth
the I/O spike during each checkpoint (Itagaki Takahiro and Heikki
Linnakangas)
</para>
<para>
Previously all modified buffers were forced to disk as quickly as
possible during a
checkpoint, causing an I/O spike that decreased server performance.
This new approach spreads out disk writes during checkpoints,
reducing peak I/O usage. (User-requested and shutdown checkpoints
are still written as quickly as possible.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Heap-Only Tuples (<acronym>HOT</>) accelerate space reuse for most
<command>UPDATE</>s and <command>DELETE</>s (Pavan Deolasee, with
ideas from many others)
</para>
<para>
<command>UPDATE</>s and <command>DELETE</>s leave dead tuples
behind, as do failed <command>INSERT</>s. Previously only
<command>VACUUM</> could reclaim space taken by dead tuples. With
<acronym>HOT</> dead tuple space can be automatically reclaimed at
the time of <command>INSERT</> or <command>UPDATE</> if no changes
are made to indexed columns. This allows for more consistent
performance. Also, <acronym>HOT</> avoids adding duplicate index
entries.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Just-in-time background writer strategy improves disk write
efficiency (Greg Smith, Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
<para>
This greatly reduces the need for manual tuning of the background
writer.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Per-field and per-row storage overhead have been reduced
(Greg Stark, Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
<para>
Variable-length data types with data values less than 128 bytes long
will see a storage decrease of 3 to 6 bytes. For example, two adjacent
<type>char(1)</type> fields now use 4 bytes instead of 16. Row headers
are also 4 bytes shorter than before.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Using non-persistent transaction IDs for read-only transactions
reduces overhead and <command>VACUUM</> requirements (Florian Pflug)
</para>
<para>
Non-persistent transaction IDs do not increment the global
transaction counter. Therefore, they reduce the load on
<structname>pg_clog</> and increase the time between forced
vacuums to prevent transaction ID wraparound.
Other performance
improvements were also made that should improve concurrency.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid incrementing the command counter after a read-only command (Tom)
</para>
<para>
There was formerly a hard limit of 2<superscript>32</>
(4 billion) commands per transaction. Now only commands that
actually changed the database count, so while this limit still
exists, it should be significantly less annoying.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create a dedicated <acronym>WAL</> writer process to off-load
work from backends (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Skip unnecessary WAL writes for <command>CLUSTER</command> and
<command>COPY</command> (Simon)
</para>
<para>
Unless WAL archiving is enabled, the system now avoids WAL writes
for <command>CLUSTER</command> and just <function>fsync()</>s the
table at the end of the command. It also does the same for
<command>COPY</command> if the table was created in the same
transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Large sequential scans no longer force out frequently used
cached pages (Simon, Heikki, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Concurrent large sequential scans can now share disk reads (Jeff Davis)
</para>
<para>
This is accomplished by starting the new sequential scan in the
middle of the table (where another sequential scan is already
in-progress) and wrapping around to the beginning to finish. This
can affect the order of returned rows in a query that does not
specify <literal>ORDER BY</>. The <varname>synchronize_seqscans</>
configuration parameter can be used to disable this if necessary.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>ORDER BY ... LIMIT</> can be done without sorting
(Greg Stark)
</para>
<para>
This is done by sequentially scanning the table and tracking just
the <quote>top N</> candidate rows, rather than performing a
full sort of the entire table. This is useful when there is no
matching index and the <literal>LIMIT</> is not large.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Put a rate limit on messages sent to the statistics
collector by backends
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This reduces overhead for short transactions, but might sometimes
increase the delay before statistics are tallied.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve hash join performance for cases with many NULLs (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Speed up operator lookup for cases with non-exact datatype matches (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Autovacuum is now enabled by default (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
Several changes were made to eliminate disadvantages of having
autovacuum enabled, thereby justifying the change in default.
Several other autovacuum parameter defaults were also modified.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support multiple concurrent autovacuum processes (Alvaro, Itagaki
Takahiro)
</para>
<para>
This allows multiple vacuums to run concurrently. This prevents
vacuuming of a large table from delaying vacuuming of smaller tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Automatically re-plan cached queries when table
definitions change or statistics are updated (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously PL/PgSQL functions that referenced temporary tables
would fail if the temporary table was dropped and recreated
between function invocations, unless <literal>EXECUTE</> was
used. This improvement fixes that problem and many related issues.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a <varname>temp_tablespaces</varname> parameter to control
the tablespaces for temporary tables and files (Jaime Casanova,
Albert Cervera, Bernd Helmle)
</para>
<para>
This parameter defines a list of tablespaces to be used. This
enables spreading the I/O load across multiple tablespaces. A random
tablespace is chosen each time a temporary object is created.
Temporary files are no longer stored in per-database
<filename>pgsql_tmp/</filename> directories but in per-tablespace
directories.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Place temporary tables' TOAST tables in special schemas named
<literal>pg_toast_temp_<replaceable>nnn</></literal> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows low-level code to recognize these tables as temporary,
which enables various optimizations such as not WAL-logging changes
and using local rather than shared buffers for access. This also
fixes a bug wherein backends unexpectedly held open file references
to temporary TOAST tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix problem that a constant flow of new connection requests could
indefinitely delay the postmaster from completing a shutdown or
a crash restart (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Guard against a very-low-probability data loss scenario by preventing
re-use of a deleted table's relfilenode until after the next
checkpoint (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>CREATE CONSTRAINT TRIGGER</>
to convert old-style foreign key trigger definitions into regular
foreign key constraints (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This will ease porting of foreign key constraints carried forward from
pre-7.3 databases, if they were never converted using
<filename>contrib/adddepend</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>DEFAULT NULL</> to override inherited defaults (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<literal>DEFAULT NULL</> was formerly considered a noise phrase, but it
should (and now does) override non-null defaults that would otherwise
be inherited from a parent table or domain.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new encodings EUC_JIS_2004 and SHIFT_JIS_2004 (Tatsuo)
</para>
<para>
These new encodings can be converted to and from UTF-8.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change server startup log message from <quote>database system is
ready</quote> to <quote>database system is ready to accept
connections</quote>, and adjust its timing
</para>
<para>
The message now appears only when the postmaster is really ready
to accept connections.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Monitoring</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>log_autovacuum_min_duration</varname> parameter to
support configurable logging of autovacuum activity (Simon, Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>log_lock_waits</varname> parameter to log lock waiting
(Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>log_temp_files</varname> parameter to log temporary
file usage (Bill Moran)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>log_checkpoints</varname> parameter to improve logging
of checkpoints (Greg Smith, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<varname>log_line_prefix</varname> now supports
<literal>%s</literal> and <literal>%c</literal> escapes in all
processes (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
Previously these escapes worked only for user sessions, not for
background database processes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>log_restartpoints</varname> to control logging of
point-in-time recovery restart points (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Last transaction end time is now logged at end of recovery and at
each logged restart point (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Autovacuum now reports its activity start time in
<literal>pg_stat_activity</literal> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow server log output in comma-separated value (CSV) format (Arul
Shaji, Greg Smith, Andrew Dunstan)
</para>
<para>
CSV-format log files can easily be loaded into a database table for
subsequent analysis.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use PostgreSQL-supplied timezone support for formatting timestamps
displayed in the server log (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This avoids Windows-specific problems with localized time zone
names that are in the wrong encoding. There is a new
<varname>log_timezone</> parameter that controls the timezone
used in log messages, independently of the client-visible
<varname>timezone</> parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New system view <literal>pg_stat_bgwriter</literal> displays
statistics about background writer activity (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new columns for database-wide tuple statistics to
<literal>pg_stat_database</literal> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add an <literal>xact_start</literal> (transaction start time) column to
<literal>pg_stat_activity</literal> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
This makes it easier to identify long-running transactions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>n_live_tuples</> and <literal>n_dead_tuples</> columns
to <literal>pg_stat_all_tables</literal> and related views (Glen
Parker)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Merge <varname>stats_block_level</> and <varname>stats_row_level</>
parameters into a single parameter <varname>track_counts</>, which
controls all messages sent to the statistics collector process
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename <varname>stats_command_string</varname> parameter to
<varname>track_activities</varname> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix statistical counting of live and dead tuples to recognize that
committed and aborted transactions have different effects (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Authentication</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support Security Service Provider Interface (<acronym>SSPI</>) for
authentication on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support GSSAPI authentication (Henry Hotz, Magnus)
</para>
<para>
This should be preferred to native Kerberos authentication because
GSSAPI is an industry standard.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support a global SSL configuration file (Victor Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>ssl_ciphers</> parameter to control accepted SSL ciphers
(Victor Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a Kerberos realm parameter, <varname>krb_realm</> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Write-Ahead Log (<acronym>WAL</>) and Continuous Archiving</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Change the timestamps recorded in transaction WAL records from
time_t to TimestampTz representation (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This provides sub-second resolution in WAL, which can be useful for
point-in-time recovery.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reduce WAL disk space needed by warm standby servers (Simon)
</para>
<para>
This change allows a warm standby server to pass the name of the earliest
still-needed WAL file to the recovery script, allowing automatic removal
of no-longer-needed WAL files. This is done using <literal>%r</> in
the <varname>restore_command</varname> parameter of
<filename>recovery.conf</filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New boolean configuration parameter, <varname>archive_mode</>,
controls archiving (Simon)
</para>
<para>
Previously setting <varname>archive_command</> to an empty string
turned off archiving. Now <varname>archive_mode</> turns archiving
on and off, independently of <varname>archive_command</>. This is
useful for stopping archiving temporarily.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Queries</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Full text search is integrated into the core database
system (Teodor, Oleg)
</para>
<para>
Text search has been improved, moved into the core code, and is now
installed by default. <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> now contains
a compatibility interface.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add control over whether <literal>NULL</>s sort first or last (Teodor, Tom)
</para>
<para>
The syntax is <literal>ORDER BY ... NULLS FIRST/LAST</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow per-column ascending/descending (<literal>ASC</>/<literal>DESC</>)
ordering options for indexes (Teodor, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously a query using <literal>ORDER BY</> with mixed
<literal>ASC</>/<literal>DESC</> specifiers could not fully use
an index. Now an index can be fully used in such cases if the
index was created with matching
<literal>ASC</>/<literal>DESC</> specifications.
<literal>NULL</> sort order within an index can be controlled, too.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>col IS NULL</> to use an index (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Updatable cursors (Arul Shaji, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This eliminates the need to reference a primary key to
<command>UPDATE</> or <command>DELETE</> rows returned by a cursor.
The syntax is <literal>UPDATE/DELETE WHERE CURRENT OF</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>FOR UPDATE</literal> in cursors (Arul Shaji, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create a general mechanism that supports casts to and from the
standard string types (<type>TEXT</type>, <type>VARCHAR</type>,
<type>CHAR</type>) for <emphasis>every</emphasis> datatype, by
invoking the datatype's I/O functions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, such casts were available only for types that had
specialized function(s) for the purpose.
These new casts are assignment-only in the to-string direction,
explicit-only in the other direction, and therefore should create no
surprising behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>UNION</> and related constructs to return a domain
type, when all inputs are of that domain type (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Formerly, the output would be considered to be of the domain's base
type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow limited hashing when using two different data types (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows hash joins, hash indexes, hashed subplans, and hash
aggregation to be used in situations involving cross-data-type
comparisons, if the data types have compatible hash functions.
Currently, cross-data-type hashing support exists for
<type>smallint</type>/<type>integer</type>/<type>bigint</type>,
and for <type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimizer logic for detecting when variables are equal
in a <literal>WHERE</> clause (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows mergejoins to work with descending sort orders, and
improves recognition of redundant sort columns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance when planning large inheritance trees in
cases where most tables are excluded by constraints (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Arrays of composite types (David Fetter, Andrew, Tom)
</para>
<para>
In addition to arrays of explicitly-declared composite types,
arrays of the rowtypes of regular tables and views are now
supported, except for rowtypes of system catalogs, sequences, and TOAST
tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameters can now be set on a per-function
basis (Tom)
</para>
<para>
For example, functions can now set their own
<varname>search_path</> to prevent unexpected behavior if a
different <varname>search_path</> exists at run-time. Security
definer functions should set <varname>search_path</varname> to
avoid security loopholes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>CREATE/ALTER FUNCTION</command> now supports
<literal>COST</literal> and <literal>ROWS</literal> options (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<literal>COST</literal> allows specification of the cost of a
function call. <literal>ROWS</literal> allows specification of
the average number or rows returned by a set-returning function.
These values are used by the optimizer in choosing the best plan.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement <command>CREATE TABLE LIKE ... INCLUDING
INDEXES</command> (Trevor Hardcastle, Nikhil Sontakke, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY</command> to ignore
transactions in other databases (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>ALTER VIEW ... RENAME TO</command> and <command>ALTER
SEQUENCE ... RENAME TO</command> (David Fetter, Neil)
</para>
<para>
Previously this could only be done via <command>ALTER TABLE ...
RENAME TO</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE/DROP/RENAME DATABASE</> wait briefly for
conflicting backends to exit before failing (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This increases the likelihood that these commands will succeed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow triggers and rules to be deactivated in groups using a
configuration parameter, for replication purposes (Jan)
</para>
<para>
This allows replication systems to disable triggers and rewrite
rules as a group without modifying the system catalogs directly.
The behavior is controlled by <command>ALTER TABLE</> and a new
parameter <varname>session_replication_role</varname>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
User-defined types can now have type modifiers (Teodor, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows a user-defined type to take a modifier, like
<type>ssnum(7)</>. Previously only built-in
data types could have modifiers.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Commands</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Non-superuser database owners now are able to add trusted procedural
languages to their databases by default (Jeremy Drake)
</para>
<para>
While this is reasonably safe, some administrators might wish to
revoke the privilege. It is controlled by
<structname>pg_pltemplate</>.<structfield>tmpldbacreate</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow a session's current parameter setting to be used as the
default for future sessions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is done with <literal>SET ... FROM CURRENT</literal> in
<command>CREATE/ALTER FUNCTION</command>, <command>ALTER
DATABASE</command>, or <command>ALTER ROLE</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement new commands <command>DISCARD ALL</command>,
<command>DISCARD PLANS</command>, <command>DISCARD
TEMPORARY</command>, <command>CLOSE ALL</command>, and
<command>DEALLOCATE ALL</command> (Marko Kreen, Neil)
</para>
<para>
These commands simplify resetting a database session to its initial
state, and are particularly useful for connection-pooling software.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CLUSTER</command> MVCC-safe (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
<para>
Formerly, <command>CLUSTER</command> would discard all tuples
that were committed dead, even if there were still transactions
that should be able to see them under MVCC visibility rules.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new <command>CLUSTER</command> syntax: <literal>CLUSTER
<replaceable>table</> USING <replaceable>index</></literal>
(Holger Schurig)
</para>
<para>
The old <command>CLUSTER</command> syntax is still supported, but
the new form is considered more logical.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>EXPLAIN</command> so it can show complex plans
more accurately (Tom)
</para>
<para>
References to subplan outputs are now always shown correctly,
instead of using <literal>?column<replaceable>N</>?</literal>
for complicated cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Limit the amount of information reported when a user is dropped
(Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
Previously, dropping (or attempting to drop) a user who owned many
objects could result in large <literal>NOTICE</literal> or
<literal>ERROR</literal> messages listing all these objects; this
caused problems for some client applications. The length of the
message is now limited, although a full list is still sent to the
server log.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Data Types</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support for the SQL/XML standard, including new operators and an
<type>XML</type> data type (Nikolay Samokhvalov, Pavel Stehule, Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enumerated data types (<type>ENUM</type>) (Tom Dunstan)
</para>
<para>
This feature provides convenient support for fields that have a
small, fixed set of allowed values. An example of creating an
<literal>ENUM</> type is
<literal>CREATE TYPE mood AS ENUM ('sad', 'ok', 'happy')</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Universally Unique Identifier (<type>UUID</>) data type (Gevik
Babakhani, Neil)
</para>
<para>
This closely matches <acronym>RFC</> 4122.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Widen the <type>MONEY</type> data type to 64 bits (D'Arcy Cain)
</para>
<para>
This greatly increases the range of supported <type>MONEY</>
values.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type> to handle
<literal>Infinity</> and <literal>NAN</> (Not A Number)
consistently (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
The code formerly was not consistent about distinguishing
<literal>Infinity</> from overflow conditions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow leading and trailing whitespace during input of
<type>boolean</type> values (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>COPY</> from using digits and lowercase letters as
delimiters (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Functions</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new regular expression functions
<function>regexp_matches()</function>,
<function>regexp_split_to_array()</function>, and
<function>regexp_split_to_table()</function> (Jeremy Drake, Neil)
</para>
<para>
These functions provide extraction of regular expression
subexpressions and allow splitting a string using a POSIX regular
expression.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>lo_truncate()</function> for large object truncation
(Kris Jurka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement <function>width_bucket()</function> for the <type>float8</>
data type (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>pg_stat_clear_snapshot()</function> to discard
statistics snapshots collected during the current transaction
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
The first request for statistics in a transaction takes a statistics
snapshot that does not change during the transaction. This function
allows the snapshot to be discarded and a new snapshot loaded during
the next statistics query. This is particularly useful for PL/PgSQL
functions, which are confined to a single transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>isodow</> option to <function>EXTRACT()</> and
<function>date_part()</> (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This returns the day of the week, with Sunday as seven.
(<literal>dow</> returns Sunday as zero.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>ID</> (ISO day of week) and <literal>IDDD</> (ISO
day of year) format codes for <function>to_char()</>,
<function>to_date()</>, and <function>to_timestamp()</> (Brendan
Jurd)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>to_timestamp()</> and <function>to_date()</>
assume <literal>TM</literal> (trim) option for potentially
variable-width fields (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This matches <productname>Oracle</>'s behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix off-by-one conversion error in
<function>to_date()</function>/<function>to_timestamp()</function>
<literal>D</> (non-ISO day of week) fields (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>setseed()</function> return void, rather than a
useless integer value (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a hash function for <type>NUMERIC</type> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
This allows hash indexes and hash-based plans to be used with
<type>NUMERIC</type> columns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve efficiency of
<literal>LIKE</literal>/<literal>ILIKE</literal>, especially for
multi-byte character sets like UTF-8 (Andrew, Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>currtid()</function> functions require
<literal>SELECT</literal> privileges on the target table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add several <function>txid_*()</function> functions to query
active transaction IDs (Jan)
</para>
<para>
This is useful for various replication solutions.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add scrollable cursor support, including directional control in
<command>FETCH</command> (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>IN</literal> as an alternative to
<literal>FROM</literal> in PL/PgSQL's <command>FETCH</command>
statement, for consistency with the backend's
<command>FETCH</command> command (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>MOVE</command> to PL/PgSQL (Magnus, Pavel Stehule,
Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement <command>RETURN QUERY</command> (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
</para>
<para>
This adds convenient syntax for PL/PgSQL set-returning functions
that want to return the result of a query. <command>RETURN QUERY</>
is easier and more efficient than a loop
around <command>RETURN NEXT</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow function parameter names to be qualified with the
function's name (Tom)
</para>
<para>
For example, <literal>myfunc.myvar</>. This is particularly
useful for specifying variables in a query where the variable
name might match a column name.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make qualification of variables with block labels work properly (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Formerly, outer-level block labels could unexpectedly interfere with
recognition of inner-level record or row references.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Tighten requirements for <literal>FOR</literal> loop
<literal>STEP</> values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Prevent non-positive <literal>STEP</> values, and handle
loop overflows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve accuracy when reporting syntax error locations (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Other Server-Side Languages</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow type-name arguments to PL/Perl
<function>spi_prepare()</function> to be data type aliases in
addition to names found in <literal>pg_type</literal> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow type-name arguments to PL/Python
<function>plpy.prepare()</function> to be data type aliases in
addition to names found in <literal>pg_type</literal> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow type-name arguments to PL/Tcl <function>spi_prepare</> to
be data type aliases in addition to names found in
<literal>pg_type</literal> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enable PL/PythonU to compile on Python 2.5 (Marko Kreen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support a true PL/Python boolean type in compatible Python versions
(Python 2.3 and later) (Marko Kreen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Tcl problems with thread-enabled <filename>libtcl</> spawning
multiple threads within the backend (Steve Marshall, Paul Bayer,
Doug Knight)
</para>
<para>
This caused all sorts of unpleasantness.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="APP-PSQL"><application>psql</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
List disabled triggers separately in <literal>\d</literal> output
(Brendan Jurd)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
In <literal>\d</literal> patterns, always match <literal>$</literal>
literally (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Show aggregate return types in <literal>\da</literal> output
(Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add the function's volatility status to the output of
<literal>\df+</literal> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>\prompt</literal> capability (Chad Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>\pset</literal>, <literal>\t</literal>, and
<literal>\x</literal> to specify <literal>on</> or <literal>off</>,
rather than just toggling (Chad Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>\sleep</> capability (Jan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enable <literal>\timing</> output for <literal>\copy</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <literal>\timing</literal> resolution on Windows
(Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Flush <literal>\o</> output after each backslash command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Correctly detect and report errors while reading a <literal>-f</>
input file (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <literal>-u</> option (this option has long been deprecated)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="APP-PGDUMP"><application>pg_dump</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>--tablespaces-only</> and <literal>--roles-only</>
options to <application>pg_dumpall</application> (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add an output file option to
<application>pg_dumpall</application> (Dave Page)
</para>
<para>
This is primarily useful on Windows, where output redirection of
child <application>pg_dump</application> processes does not work.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>pg_dumpall</> to accept an initial-connection
database name rather than the default
<literal>template1</literal> (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
In <literal>-n</> and <literal>-t</> switches, always match
<literal>$</literal> literally (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance when a database has thousands of objects (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <literal>-u</> option (this option has long been deprecated)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Other Client Applications</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
In <application>initdb</>, allow the location of the
<filename>pg_xlog</filename> directory to be specified
(Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enable server core dump generation in <application>pg_regress</>
on supported operating systems (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a <literal>-t</> (timeout) parameter to <application>pg_ctl</>
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This controls how long <application>pg_ctl</> will wait when waiting
for server startup or shutdown. Formerly the timeout was hard-wired
as 60 seconds.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a <application>pg_ctl</> option to control generation
of server core dumps (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow Control-C to cancel <application>clusterdb</>,
<application>reindexdb</>, and <application>vacuumdb</> (Itagaki
Takahiro, Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Suppress command tag output for <application>createdb</>,
<application>createuser</>, <application>dropdb</>, and
<application>dropuser</> (Peter)
</para>
<para>
The <literal>--quiet</> option is ignored and will be removed in 8.4.
Progress messages when acting on all databases now go to stdout
instead of stderr because they are not actually errors.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Interpret the <literal>dbName</> parameter of
<function>PQsetdbLogin()</> as a <literal>conninfo</> string if
it contains an equals sign (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This allows use of <literal>conninfo</> strings in client
programs that still use <literal>PQsetdbLogin()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support a global <acronym>SSL</> configuration file (Victor
Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add environment variable <varname>PGSSLKEY</> to control
<acronym>SSL</> hardware keys (Victor Wagner)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>lo_truncate()</function> for large object
truncation (Kris Jurka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>PQconnectionNeedsPassword()</function> that returns
true if the server required a password but none was supplied
(Joe Conway, Tom)
</para>
<para>
If this returns true after a failed connection attempt, a client
application should prompt the user for a password. In the past
applications have had to check for a specific error message string to
decide whether a password is needed; that approach is now
deprecated.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>PQconnectionUsedPassword()</function> that returns
true if the supplied password was actually used
(Joe Conway, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is useful in some security contexts where it is important
to know whether a user-supplied password is actually valid.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="ecpg"><application>ecpg</></link></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Use V3 frontend/backend protocol (Michael)
</para>
<para>
This adds support for server-side prepared statements.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use native threads, instead of pthreads, on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve thread-safety of ecpglib (Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make the ecpg libraries export only necessary API symbols (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>Windows</> Port</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the whole <productname>PostgreSQL</> distribution to be compiled
with <productname>Microsoft Visual C++</> (Magnus and others)
</para>
<para>
This allows Windows-based developers to use familiar development
and debugging tools.
Windows executables made with Visual C++ might also have better
stability and performance than those made with other tool sets.
The client-only Visual C++ build scripts have been removed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Drastically reduce postmaster's memory usage when it has many child
processes (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow regression tests to be started by an administrative
user (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add native shared memory implementation (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Programming Interface (<acronym>SPI</>)</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add cursor-related functionality in SPI (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
<para>
Allow access to the cursor-related planning options, and add
<command>FETCH</>/<command>MOVE</> routines.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow execution of cursor commands through
<function>SPI_execute</function> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The macro <literal>SPI_ERROR_CURSOR</> still exists but will
never be returned.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
SPI plan pointers are now declared as <literal>SPIPlanPtr</> instead of
<literal>void *</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This does not break application code, but switching is
recommended to help catch simple programming mistakes.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Build Options</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <application>configure</> option <literal>--enable-profiling</>
to enable code profiling (works only with <application>gcc</>)
(Korry Douglas and Nikhil Sontakke)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <application>configure</> option <literal>--with-system-tzdata</>
to use the operating system's time zone database (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <acronym>PGXS</> so extensions can be built against PostgreSQL
installations whose <application>pg_config</> program does not
appear first in the <varname>PATH</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support <command>gmake draft</command> when building the
<acronym>SGML</> documentation (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Unless <literal>draft</> is used, the documentation build will
now be repeated if necessary to ensure the index is up-to-date.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename macro <literal>DLLIMPORT</> to <literal>PGDLLIMPORT</> to
avoid conflicting with third party includes (like Tcl) that
define <literal>DLLIMPORT</> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create <quote>operator families</quote> to improve planning of
queries involving cross-data-type comparisons (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update GIN <function>extractQuery()</> API to allow signalling
that nothing can satisfy the query (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move <literal>NAMEDATALEN</> definition from
<filename>postgres_ext.h</> to <filename>pg_config_manual.h</>
(Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Provide <function>strlcpy()</function> and
<function>strlcat()</function> on all platforms, and replace
error-prone uses of <function>strncpy()</function>,
<function>strncat()</function>, etc (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create hooks to let an external plugin monitor (or even replace) the
planner and create plans for hypothetical situations (Gurjeet
Singh, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create a function variable <literal>join_search_hook</> to let plugins
override the join search order portion of the planner (Julius
Stroffek)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>tas()</> support for Renesas' M32R processor
(Kazuhiro Inaoka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>quote_identifier()</function> and
<application>pg_dump</application> no longer quote keywords that are
unreserved according to the grammar (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change the on-disk representation of the <type>NUMERIC</type>
data type so that the <structfield>sign_dscale</> word comes
before the weight (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <acronym>SYSV</> semaphores rather than POSIX on Darwin
&gt;= 6.0, i.e., OS X 10.2 and up (Chris Marcellino)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="acronyms">acronym</link> and <link
linkend="creating-cluster-nfs">NFS</link> documentation
sections (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
"Postgres" is now documented as an accepted alias for
"PostgreSQL" (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add documentation about preventing database server spoofing when
the server is down (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Move <filename>contrib</> <filename>README</> content into the
main <productname>PostgreSQL</> documentation (Albert Cervera i
Areny)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <filename>contrib/pageinspect</filename> module for low-level
page inspection (Simon, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <filename>contrib/pg_standby</filename> module for controlling
warm standby operation (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <filename>contrib/uuid-ossp</filename> module for generating
<type>UUID</> values using the OSSP UUID library (Peter)
</para>
<para>
Use <application>configure</>
<literal>--with-ossp-uuid</literal> to activate. This takes
advantage of the new <type>UUID</type> builtin type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <filename>contrib/dict_int</filename>,
<filename>contrib/dict_xsyn</filename>, and
<filename>contrib/test_parser</filename> modules to provide
sample add-on text search dictionary templates and parsers
(Sergey Karpov)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>contrib/pgbench</> to set the fillfactor (Pavan
Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add timestamps to <application>contrib/pgbench</> <literal>-l</>
(Greg Smith)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add usage count statistics to
<filename>contrib/pgbuffercache</filename> (Greg Smith)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add GIN support for <filename>contrib/hstore</> (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add GIN support for <filename>contrib/pg_trgm</> (Guillaume Smet, Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update OS/X startup scripts in
<filename>contrib/start-scripts</filename> (Mark Cotner, David
Fetter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Restrict <function>pgrowlocks()</function> and
<function>dblink_get_pkey()</function> to users who have
<literal>SELECT</literal> privilege on the target table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Restrict <filename>contrib/pgstattuple</filename> functions to
superusers (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>contrib/xml2</filename> is deprecated and planned for
removal in 8.4 (Peter)
</para>
<para>
The new XML support in core PostgreSQL supersedes this module.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-13">
<title>Release 8.2.13</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-03-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.12.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.13</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.2.11,
see the release notes for 8.2.11.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent error recursion crashes when encoding conversion fails (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change extends fixes made in the last two minor releases for
related failure scenarios. The previous fixes were narrowly tailored
for the original problem reports, but we have now recognized that
<emphasis>any</> error thrown by an encoding conversion function could
potentially lead to infinite recursion while trying to report the
error. The solution therefore is to disable translation and encoding
conversion and report the plain-ASCII form of any error message,
if we find we have gotten into a recursive error reporting situation.
(CVE-2009-0922)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>CREATE CONVERSION</> with the wrong encodings
for the specified conversion function (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This prevents one possible scenario for encoding conversion failure.
The previous change is a backstop to guard against other kinds of
failures in the same area.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump when <function>to_char()</> is given format codes that
are inappropriate for the type of the data argument (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible failure in <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> when C locale is
used with a multi-byte encoding (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
Crashes were possible on platforms where <type>wchar_t</> is narrower
than <type>int</>; Windows in particular.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix extreme inefficiency in <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> parser's
handling of an email-like string containing multiple <literal>@</>
characters (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix decompilation of <literal>CASE WHEN</> with an implicit coercion
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This mistake could lead to Assert failures in an Assert-enabled build,
or an <quote>unexpected CASE WHEN clause</> error message in other
cases, when trying to examine or dump a view.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible misassignment of the owner of a TOAST table's rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If <command>CLUSTER</> or a rewriting variant of <command>ALTER TABLE</>
were executed by someone other than the table owner, the
<structname>pg_type</> entry for the table's TOAST table would end up
marked as owned by that someone. This caused no immediate problems,
since the permissions on the TOAST rowtype aren't examined by any
ordinary database operation. However, it could lead to unexpected
failures if one later tried to drop the role that issued the command
(in 8.1 or 8.2), or <quote>owner of data type appears to be invalid</>
warnings from <application>pg_dump</> after having done so (in 8.3).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/pgSQL to not treat <literal>INTO</> after <command>INSERT</> as
an INTO-variables clause anywhere in the string, not only at the start;
in particular, don't fail for <command>INSERT INTO</> within
<command>CREATE RULE</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean up PL/pgSQL error status variables fully at block exit
(Ashesh Vashi and Dave Page)
</para>
<para>
This is not a problem for PL/pgSQL itself, but the omission could cause
the PL/pgSQL Debugger to crash while examining the state of a function.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Retry failed calls to <function>CallNamedPipe()</> on Windows
(Steve Marshall, Magnus)
</para>
<para>
It appears that this function can sometimes fail transiently;
we previously treated any failure as a hard error, which could
confuse <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</> as well as other
operations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>MUST</> (Mauritius Island Summer Time) to the default list
of known timezone abbreviations (Xavier Bugaud)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-12">
<title>Release 8.2.12</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-02-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.11.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.12</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.2.11,
see the release notes for 8.2.11.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of URLs in <function>headline()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of overlength headlines in <function>headline()</>
function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible Assert failure or misconversion if an encoding
conversion is created with the wrong conversion function for the
specified pair of encodings (Tom, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible Assert failure if a statement executed in PL/pgSQL is
rewritten into another kind of statement, for example if an
<command>INSERT</> is rewritten into an <command>UPDATE</> (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure that a snapshot is available to datatype input functions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This primarily affects domains that are declared with <literal>CHECK</>
constraints involving user-defined stable or immutable functions. Such
functions typically fail if no snapshot has been set.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make it safer for SPI-using functions to be used within datatype I/O;
in particular, to be used in domain check constraints (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid unnecessary locking of small tables in <command>VACUUM</>
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a problem that made <literal>UPDATE RETURNING tableoid</>
return zero instead of the correct OID (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner misestimation of selectivity when transitive equality
is applied to an outer-join clause (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could result in bad plans for queries like
<literal>... from a left join b on a.a1 = b.b1 where a.a1 = 42 ...</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimizer's handling of long <literal>IN</> lists (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change avoids wasting large amounts of time on such lists
when constraint exclusion is enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure that the contents of a holdable cursor don't depend on the
contents of TOAST tables (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, large field values in a cursor result might be represented
as TOAST pointers, which would fail if the referenced table got dropped
before the cursor is read, or if the large value is deleted and then
vacuumed away. This cannot happen with an ordinary cursor,
but it could with a cursor that is held past its creating transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory leak when a set-returning function is terminated without
reading its whole result (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <filename>contrib/dblink</>'s
<function>dblink_get_result(text,bool)</> function (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible garbage output from <filename>contrib/sslinfo</> functions
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>configure</> script to properly report failure when
unable to obtain linkage information for PL/Perl (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make all documentation reference <literal>pgsql-bugs</> and/or
<literal>pgsql-hackers</> as appropriate, instead of the
now-decommissioned <literal>pgsql-ports</> and <literal>pgsql-patches</>
mailing lists (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2009a (for
Kathmandu and historical DST corrections in Switzerland, Cuba)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-11">
<title>Release 8.2.11</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-11-03</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.10.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.11</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.2.7,
see the release notes for 8.2.7. Also, if you were running a previous
8.2.X release, it is recommended to <command>REINDEX</> all GiST
indexes after the upgrade.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix GiST index corruption due to marking the wrong index entry
<quote>dead</> after a deletion (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
This would result in index searches failing to find rows they
should have found. Corrupted indexes can be fixed with
<command>REINDEX</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix backend crash when the client encoding cannot represent a localized
error message (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We have addressed similar issues before, but it would still fail if
the <quote>character has no equivalent</> message itself couldn't
be converted. The fix is to disable localization and send the plain
ASCII error message when we detect such a situation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash when deeply nested functions are invoked from
a trigger (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimization of <replaceable>expression</> <literal>IN</>
(<replaceable>expression-list</>) queries (Tom, per an idea from Robert
Haas)
</para>
<para>
Cases in which there are query variables on the right-hand side had been
handled less efficiently in 8.2.x and 8.3.x than in prior versions.
The fix restores 8.1 behavior for such cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix mis-expansion of rule queries when a sub-<literal>SELECT</> appears
in a function call in <literal>FROM</>, a multi-row <literal>VALUES</>
list, or a <literal>RETURNING</> list (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The usual symptom of this problem is an <quote>unrecognized node type</>
error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory leak during rescan of a hashed aggregation plan (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure an error is reported when a newly-defined PL/pgSQL trigger
function is invoked as a normal function (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible collision of <structfield>relfilenode</> numbers
when moving a table to another tablespace with <command>ALTER SET
TABLESPACE</> (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
The command tried to re-use the existing filename, instead of
picking one that is known unused in the destination directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect tsearch2 headline generation when single query
item matches first word of text (Sushant Sinha)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix improper display of fractional seconds in interval values when
using a non-ISO datestyle in an <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</>
build (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <function>SPI_getvalue</> and <function>SPI_getbinval</>
behave correctly when the passed tuple and tuple descriptor have
different numbers of columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This situation is normal when a table has had columns added or removed,
but these two functions didn't handle it properly.
The only likely consequence is an incorrect error indication.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</>'s parsing of <command>CREATE ROLE</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix recent breakage of <literal>pg_ctl restart</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <filename>pg_control</> is opened in binary mode
(Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
<para>
<application>pg_controldata</> and <application>pg_resetxlog</>
did this incorrectly, and so could fail on Windows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008i (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Brazil, Mauritius, Syria)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-10">
<title>Release 8.2.10</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-09-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.9.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.10</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.2.7,
see the release notes for 8.2.7.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in btree WAL recovery code (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
Recovery failed if the WAL ended partway through a page split operation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential miscalculation of <structfield>datfrozenxid</> (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This error may explain some recent reports of failure to remove old
<structname>pg_clog</> data.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Widen local lock counters from 32 to 64 bits (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This responds to reports that the counters could overflow in
sufficiently long transactions, leading to unexpected <quote>lock is
already held</> errors.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible duplicate output of tuples during a GiST index scan (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix missed permissions checks when a view contains a simple
<literal>UNION ALL</> construct (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
Permissions for the referenced tables were checked properly, but not
permissions for the view itself.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add checks in executor startup to ensure that the tuples produced by an
<command>INSERT</> or <command>UPDATE</> will match the target table's
current rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<command>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</>, followed by re-use of a previously
cached plan, could produce this type of situation. The check protects
against data corruption and/or crashes that could ensue.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible repeated drops during <command>DROP OWNED</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This would typically result in strange errors such as <quote>cache
lookup failed for relation NNN</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> to first try to interpret its timezone
argument as a timezone abbreviation, and only try it as a full timezone
name if that fails, rather than the other way around as formerly (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The timestamp input functions have always resolved ambiguous zone names
in this order. Making <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> do so as well improves
consistency, and fixes a compatibility bug introduced in 8.1:
in ambiguous cases we now behave the same as 8.0 and before did,
since in the older versions <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> accepted
<emphasis>only</> abbreviations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix datetime input functions to correctly detect integer overflow when
running on a 64-bit platform (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent integer overflows during units conversion when displaying a
configuration parameter that has units (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of writing very long log messages to syslog (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow spaces in the suffix part of an LDAP URL in
<filename>pg_hba.conf</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in backwards scanning of a cursor on a <literal>SELECT DISTINCT
ON</> query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner bug with nested sub-select expressions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If the outer sub-select has no direct dependency on the parent query,
but the inner one does, the outer value might not get recalculated
for new parent query rows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner to estimate that <literal>GROUP BY</> expressions yielding
boolean results always result in two groups, regardless of the
expressions' contents (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is very substantially more accurate than the regular <literal>GROUP
BY</> estimate for certain boolean tests like <replaceable>col</>
<literal>IS NULL</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/PgSQL to not fail when a <literal>FOR</> loop's target variable
is a record containing composite-type fields (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Tcl to behave correctly with Tcl 8.5, and to be more careful
about the encoding of data sent to or from Tcl (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
On Windows, work around a Microsoft bug by preventing
<application>libpq</> from trying to send more than 64kB per system call
(Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_restore</>'s
error reporting after failure to send a SQL command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to properly preserve postmaster
command-line arguments across a <literal>restart</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008f (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Mauritius, Morocco,
Pakistan, Palestine, and Paraguay)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-9">
<title>Release 8.2.9</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-06-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one serious and one minor bug fix over 8.2.8.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.9</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.2.7,
see the release notes for 8.2.7.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> parenthesize negative constants (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Before this fix, a negative constant in a view or rule might be dumped
as, say, <literal>-42::integer</>, which is subtly incorrect: it should
be <literal>(-42)::integer</> due to operator precedence rules.
Usually this would make little difference, but it could interact with
another recent patch to cause
<productname>PostgreSQL</> to reject what had been a valid
<command>SELECT DISTINCT</> view query. Since this could result in
<application>pg_dump</> output failing to reload, it is being treated
as a high-priority fix. The only released versions in which dump
output is actually incorrect are 8.3.1 and 8.2.7.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>ALTER AGGREGATE ... OWNER TO</> update
<structname>pg_shdepend</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This oversight could lead to problems if the aggregate was later
involved in a <command>DROP OWNED</> or <command>REASSIGN OWNED</>
operation.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-8">
<title>Release 8.2.8</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>never released</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.7.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.8</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.2.7,
see the release notes for 8.2.7.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>ERRORDATA_STACK_SIZE exceeded</literal> crash that
occurred on Windows when using UTF-8 database encoding and a different
client encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN ... PRIMARY KEY</> so that the new
column is correctly checked to see if it's been initialized to all
non-nulls (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
<para>
Previous versions neglected to check this requirement at all.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible <command>CREATE TABLE</> failure when inheriting the
<quote>same</> constraint from multiple parent relations that
inherited that constraint from a common ancestor (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> to show the alias, if any, attached
to the target table of an <command>UPDATE</> or <command>DELETE</>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix GIN bug that could result in a <literal>too many LWLocks
taken</literal> failure (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid possible crash when decompressing corrupted data
(Zdenek Kotala)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair two places where SIGTERM exit of a backend could leave corrupted
state in shared memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Neither case is very important if SIGTERM is used to shut down the
whole database cluster together, but there was a problem if someone
tried to SIGTERM individual backends.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix conversions between ISO-8859-5 and other encodings to handle
Cyrillic <quote>Yo</> characters (<literal>e</> and <literal>E</> with
two dots) (Sergey Burladyan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix several datatype input functions, notably <function>array_in()</>,
that were allowing unused bytes in their results to contain
uninitialized, unpredictable values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could lead to failures in which two apparently identical literal
values were not seen as equal, resulting in the parser complaining
about unmatched <literal>ORDER BY</> and <literal>DISTINCT</>
expressions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a corner case in regular-expression substring matching
(<literal>substring(<replaceable>string</> from
<replaceable>pattern</>)</literal>) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The problem occurs when there is a match to the pattern overall but
the user has specified a parenthesized subexpression and that
subexpression hasn't got a match. An example is
<literal>substring('foo' from 'foo(bar)?')</>.
This should return NULL, since <literal>(bar)</> isn't matched, but
it was mistakenly returning the whole-pattern match instead (ie,
<literal>foo</>).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008c (for
DST law changes in Morocco, Iraq, Choibalsan, Pakistan, Syria, Cuba, and
Argentina/San_Luis)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect result from <application>ecpg</>'s
<function>PGTYPEStimestamp_sub()</> function (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix broken GiST comparison function for <filename>contrib/tsearch2</>'s
<type>tsquery</> type (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crashes in <filename>contrib/cube</> functions (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump in <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s
<function>xpath_table()</> function when the input query returns a
NULL value (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s makefile to not override
<literal>CFLAGS</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>DatumGetBool</> macro to not fail with <application>gcc</>
4.3 (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This problem affects <quote>old style</> (V0) C functions that
return boolean. The fix is already in 8.3, but the need to
back-patch it was not realized at the time.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-7">
<title>Release 8.2.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-03-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.6.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.7</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
However, you might need to <command>REINDEX</> indexes on textual
columns after updating, if you are affected by the Windows locale
issue described below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix character string comparison for Windows locales that consider
different character combinations as equal (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fix applies only on Windows and only when using UTF-8
database encoding. The same fix was made for all other cases
over two years ago, but Windows with UTF-8 uses a separate code
path that was not updated. If you are using a locale that
considers some non-identical strings as equal, you may need to
<command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on textual columns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair potential deadlock between concurrent <command>VACUUM FULL</>
operations on different system catalogs (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix longstanding <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</>
race condition (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In rare cases a session that had just executed a
<command>LISTEN</> might not get a notification, even though
one would be expected because the concurrent transaction executing
<command>NOTIFY</> was observed to commit later.
</para>
<para>
A side effect of the fix is that a transaction that has executed
a not-yet-committed <command>LISTEN</> command will not see any
row in <structname>pg_listener</> for the <command>LISTEN</>,
should it choose to look; formerly it would have. This behavior
was never documented one way or the other, but it is possible that
some applications depend on the old behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>LISTEN</> and <command>UNLISTEN</> within a
prepared transaction (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was formerly allowed but trying to do it had various unpleasant
consequences, notably that the originating backend could not exit
as long as an <command>UNLISTEN</> remained uncommitted.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow dropping a temporary table within a
prepared transaction (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This was correctly disallowed by 8.1, but the check was inadvertently
broken in 8.2.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare crash when an error occurs during a query using a hash index
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory leaks in certain usages of set-returning functions (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix input of datetime values for February 29 in years BC (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The former coding was mistaken about which years were leap years.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>unrecognized node type</> error in some variants of
<command>ALTER OWNER</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <structname>pg_stat_activity</>.<structfield>waiting</> flag
is cleared when a lock wait is aborted (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix handling of process permissions on Windows Vista (Dave, Magnus)
</para>
<para>
In particular, this fix allows starting the server as the Administrator
user.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008a
(in particular, recent Chile changes); adjust timezone abbreviation
<literal>VET</> (Venezuela) to mean UTC-4:30, not UTC-4:00 (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to correctly extract the postmaster's port
number from command-line options (Itagaki Takahiro, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, <literal>pg_ctl start -w</> could try to contact the
postmaster on the wrong port, leading to bogus reports of startup
failure.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <option>-fwrapv</> to defend against possible misoptimization
in recent <application>gcc</> versions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is known to be necessary when building <productname>PostgreSQL</>
with <application>gcc</> 4.3 or later.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Correctly enforce <varname>statement_timeout</> values longer
than <literal>INT_MAX</> microseconds (about 35 minutes) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This bug affects only builds with <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>unexpected PARAM_SUBLINK ID</> planner error when
constant-folding simplifies a sub-select (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix logical errors in constraint-exclusion handling of <literal>IS
NULL</> and <literal>NOT</> expressions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The planner would sometimes exclude partitions that should not
have been excluded because of the possibility of NULL results.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix another cause of <quote>failed to build any N-way joins</>
planner errors (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could happen in cases where a clauseless join needed to be
forced before a join clause could be exploited.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect constant propagation in outer-join planning (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The planner could sometimes incorrectly conclude that a variable
could be constrained to be equal to a constant, leading
to wrong query results.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix display of constant expressions in <literal>ORDER BY</>
and <literal>GROUP BY</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
An explictly casted constant would be shown incorrectly. This could
for example lead to corruption of a view definition during
dump and reload.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>libpq</> to handle NOTICE messages correctly
during COPY OUT (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This failure has only been observed to occur when a user-defined
datatype's output routine issues a NOTICE, but there is no
guarantee it couldn't happen due to other causes.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-6">
<title>Release 8.2.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-01-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.5,
including fixes for significant security issues.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.6</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of
the user running <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, etc (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <command>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 <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, <command>REINDEX</>,
and <command>CLUSTER</>) to execute as the table owner rather than
the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already
used for <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> functions. To prevent bypassing
this security measure, execution of <command>SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</> and <command>SET ROLE</> is now forbidden within a
<literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> context. (CVE-2007-6600)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry)
</para>
<para>
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)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
<para>
The fix that appeared for this in 8.2.5 was incomplete, as it plugged
the hole for only some <filename>dblink</> functions. (CVE-2007-6601,
CVE-2007-3278)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bugs in WAL replay for GIN indexes (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix GIN index build to work properly when
<varname>maintenance_work_mem</> is 4GB or more (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2007k
(in particular, recent Argentina changes) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve planner's handling of LIKE/regex estimation in non-C locales
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planning-speed problem for deep outer-join nests, as well as
possible poor choice of join order (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner failure in some cases of <literal>WHERE false AND var IN
(SELECT ...)</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE TABLE ... SERIAL</> and
<command>ALTER SEQUENCE ... OWNED BY</> not change the
<function>currval()</> state of the sequence (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Preserve the tablespace and storage parameters of indexes that are
rebuilt by <command>ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make archive recovery always start a new WAL timeline, rather than only
when a recovery stop time was used (Simon)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>VACUUM</> not use all of <varname>maintenance_work_mem</>
when the table is too small for it to be useful (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential crash in <function>translate()</> when using a multibyte
database encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>corr()</> return the correct result for negative
correlation values (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix overflow in <literal>extract(epoch from interval)</> for intervals
exceeding 68 years (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Perl to not fail when a UTF-8 regular expression is used
in a trusted function (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Perl to cope when platform's Perl defines type <literal>bool</>
as <literal>int</> rather than <literal>char</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
While this could theoretically happen anywhere, no standard build of
Perl did things this way ... until <productname>Mac OS X</> 10.5.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to work correctly with Python 2.5 on 64-bit machines
(Marko Kreen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_dump</> to correctly handle inheritance child tables
that have default expressions different from their parent's (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>libpq</> crash when <varname>PGPASSFILE</> refers
to a file that is not a plain file (Martin Pitt)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>ecpg</> parser fixes (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</> defend against
<application>OpenSSL</> libraries that fail on keys longer than 128
bits; which is the case at least on some Solaris versions (Marko Kreen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/tablefunc</>'s <function>crosstab()</> handle
NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <type>tsvector</> and <type>tsquery</> output routines to
escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash of <function>to_tsvector()</> on huge input strings (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require a specific version of <productname>Autoconf</> to be used
when re-generating the <command>configure</> script (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made
to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of
<productname>Autoconf</> and <productname>PostgreSQL</> versions.
You can remove the version check if you really want to use a
different <productname>Autoconf</> version, but it's
your responsibility whether the result works or not.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update <function>gettimeofday</> configuration check so that
<productname>PostgreSQL</> can be built on newer versions of
<productname>MinGW</> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-5">
<title>Release 8.2.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-09-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.4.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.5</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and
then aborts close to the end of a concurrent <command>VACUUM</>
on the same table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>ALTER DOMAIN ADD CONSTRAINT</> for cases involving
domains over domains (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL</> work properly (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix some planner problems with outer joins, notably poor
size estimation for <literal>t1 LEFT JOIN t2 WHERE t2.col IS NULL</>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the <type>interval</> data type to accept input consisting only of
milliseconds or microseconds (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow timezone name to appear before the year in <type>timestamp</> input (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fixes for <acronym>GIN</> indexes used by <filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Speed up rtree index insertion (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix excessive logging of <acronym>SSL</> error messages (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using
the syslogger process (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash when <varname>log_min_error_statement</> logging runs out
of memory (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>stddev_pop(numeric)</> and <function>var_pop(numeric)</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>REINDEX</> and <command>CLUSTER</> from failing
due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Windows socket and semaphore improvements (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>pg_ctl -w</> work properly in Windows service mode (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix memory allocation bug when using <application>MIT Kerberos</> on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Suppress timezone name (<literal>%Z</>) in log timestamps on Windows
because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Restrict <filename>/contrib/pgstattuple</> functions to superusers, for security reasons (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not let <filename>/contrib/intarray</> try to make its GIN opclass
the default (this caused problems at dump/restore) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-4">
<title>Release 8.2.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-04-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.3,
including a security fix.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within
<varname>search_path</>, and disable searching it for functions
and operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a
truly secure value of <varname>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 <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> for more information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <varname>shared_preload_libraries</> for Windows
by forcing reload in each backend (Korry Douglas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>to_char()</> so it properly upper/lower cases localized day or month
names (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> crash fixes (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require <command>COMMIT PREPARED</> to be executed in the same
database as the transaction was prepared in (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>pg_dump</> to do binary backups larger than two gigabytes
on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New traditional (Taiwan) Chinese <acronym>FAQ</> (Zhou Daojing)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent the statistics collector from writing to disk too frequently (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how <command>VACUUM FULL</> handles
<command>UPDATE</> chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in domains that use array types (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>pg_dump</> so it can dump a serial column's sequence
using <option>-t</> when not also dumping the owning table
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Planner fixes, including improving outer join and bitmap scan
selection logic (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible wrong answers or crash when a PL/pgSQL function tries
to <literal>RETURN</> from within an <literal>EXCEPTION</> block
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-3">
<title>Release 8.2.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains two fixes from 8.2.2.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and
functional indexes(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix optimization so MIN/MAX in subqueries can again use indexes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-2">
<title>Release 8.2.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.1, including
a security fix.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users
to read backend memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix not-so-rare-anymore bug wherein btree index page splits could fail
due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix Borland C compile scripts (L Bayuk)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Properly handle <function>to_char('CC')</> for years ending in
<literal>00</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Year 2000 is in the twentieth century, not the twenty-first.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> localization improvements (Tatsuo, Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect permission check in
<literal>information_schema.key_column_usage</> view (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The symptom is <quote>relation with OID nnnnn does not exist</> errors.
To get this fix without using <command>initdb</>, use <command>CREATE OR
REPLACE VIEW</> to install the corrected definition found in
<filename>share/information_schema.sql</>. Note you will need to do
this in each database.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <command>VACUUM</> performance for databases with many tables (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by <literal>UNION</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potentially incorrect results from index searches using
<literal>ROW</> inequality conditions (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences
over three bytes long (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bogus <quote>permission denied</> failures occurring on Windows
due to attempts to fsync already-deleted files (Magnus, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug that could cause the statistics collector
to hang on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
This would in turn lead to autovacuum not working.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crashes when an already-in-use PL/pgSQL function is
updated (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve PL/pgSQL handling of domain types (Sergiy Vyshnevetskiy, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible errors in processing PL/pgSQL exception blocks (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2-1">
<title>Release 8.2.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-01-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.2.
For information about new features in the 8.2 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-2">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.2.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash with <literal>SELECT</> ... <literal>LIMIT ALL</> (also
<literal>LIMIT NULL</>) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>Several /contrib/tsearch2</> fixes (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
On Windows, make log messages coming from the operating system use
<acronym>ASCII</> encoding (Hiroshi Saito)
</para>
<para>
This fixes a conversion problem when there is a mismatch between
the encoding of the operating system and database server.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix Windows linking of <application>pg_dump</> using
<filename>win32.mak</>
(Hiroshi Saito)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner mistakes for outer join queries (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix several problems in queries involving sub-SELECTs (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential crash in SPI during subtransaction abort (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This affects all PL functions since they all use SPI.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve build speed of <acronym>PDF</> documentation (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Re-add <acronym>JST</> (Japan) timezone abbreviation (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimization decisions related to index scans (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <application>psql</> print multi-byte combining characters as
before, rather than output as <literal>\u</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves <application>psql</> <literal>\d</> performance also.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <application>pg_dumpall</> assume that databases have public
<literal>CONNECT</> privilege, when dumping from a pre-8.2 server (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This preserves the previous behavior that anyone can connect to a
database if allowed by <filename>pg_hba.conf</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-2">
<title>Release 8.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-12-05</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
This release adds many functionality and performance improvements that
were requested by users, including:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Query language enhancements including <command>INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE
RETURNING</command>, multirow <literal>VALUES</literal> lists, and
optional target-table alias in
<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</command>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Index creation without blocking concurrent
<command>INSERT</>/<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE</>
operations
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Many query optimization improvements, including support for
reordering outer joins
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improved sorting performance with lower memory usage
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
More efficient locking with better concurrency
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
More efficient vacuuming
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Easier administration of warm standby servers
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <literal>FILLFACTOR</literal> support for tables and indexes
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Monitoring, logging, and performance tuning additions
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
More control over creating and dropping objects
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Table inheritance relationships can be defined
for and removed from pre-existing tables
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>COPY TO</command> can copy the output of an arbitrary
<command>SELECT</command> statement
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Array improvements, including nulls in arrays
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Aggregate-function improvements, including multiple-input
aggregates and SQL:2003 statistical functions
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Many <filename>contrib/</filename> improvements
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is
required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous
release.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Set <link
linkend="guc-escape-string-warning"><varname>escape_string_warning</></link>
to <literal>on</> by default (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This issues a warning if backslash escapes are used in
<link linkend="sql-syntax-strings">non-escape (non-<literal>E''</>)
strings</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change the <link linkend="sql-syntax-row-constructors">row
constructor syntax</link> (<literal>ROW(...)</>) so that
list elements <literal>foo.*</> will be expanded to a list
of their member fields, rather than creating a nested
row type field as formerly (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The new behavior is substantially more useful since it
allows, for example, triggers to check for data changes
with <literal>IF row(new.*) IS DISTINCT FROM row(old.*)</>.
The old behavior is still available by omitting <literal>.*</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <link linkend="row-wise-comparison">row comparisons</link>
follow <acronym>SQL</> standard semantics and allow them
to be used in index scans (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, row = and &lt;&gt; comparisons followed the
standard but &lt; &lt;= &gt; &gt;= did not. A row comparison
can now be used as an index constraint for a multicolumn
index matching the row value.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <link linkend="functions-comparison">row <literal>IS <optional>NOT</> NULL</literal></link>
tests follow <acronym>SQL</> standard semantics (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The former behavior conformed to the standard for simple cases
with <literal>IS NULL</>, but <literal>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <link linkend="SQL-SET-CONSTRAINTS"><command>SET
CONSTRAINT</></link> affect only one constraint (Kris Jurka)
</para>
<para>
In previous releases, <command>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <literal>RULE</> permission for tables, for security reasons
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
As of this release, only a table's owner can create or modify
rules for the table. For backwards compatibility,
<command>GRANT</>/<command>REVOKE RULE</> is still accepted,
but it does nothing.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Array comparison improvements (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Now array dimensions are also compared.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <link linkend="functions-array">array concatenation</link>
to match documented behavior (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This changes the previous behavior where concatenation
would modify the array lower bound.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make command-line options of <application>postmaster</>
and <link linkend="app-postgres"><application>postgres</></link>
identical (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This allows the postmaster to pass arguments to each backend
without using <literal>-o</>. Note that some options are now
only available as long-form options, because there were conflicting
single-letter options.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Deprecate use of <application>postmaster</> symbolic link (Peter)
</para>
<para>
<application>postmaster</> and <application>postgres</>
commands now act identically, with the behavior determined
by command-line options. The <application>postmaster</> symbolic link is
kept for compatibility, but is not really needed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <link
linkend="guc-log-duration"><varname>log_duration</></link>
to output even if the query is not output (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, <varname>log_duration</> only printed if
the query appeared earlier in the log.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <link
linkend="functions-formatting"><function>to_char(time)</></link>
and <link
linkend="functions-formatting"><function>to_char(interval)</></link>
treat <literal>HH</> and <literal>HH12</> as 12-hour
intervals
</para>
<para>
Most applications should use <literal>HH24</> unless they
want a 12-hour display.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Zero unmasked bits in conversion from <link
linkend="datatype-inet"><type>INET</></link> to <link
linkend="datatype-inet"><type>CIDR</></link> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This ensures that the converted value is actually valid for
<type>CIDR</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <varname>australian_timezones</> configuration variable
(Joachim Wieland)
</para>
<para>
This variable has been superseded by a more general facility
for configuring timezone abbreviations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve cost estimation for nested-loop index scans (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This might eliminate the need to set unrealistically small
values of <link
linkend="guc-random-page-cost"><varname>random_page_cost</></link>.
If you have been using a very small <varname>random_page_cost</>,
please recheck your test cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change behavior of <command>pg_dump</> <literal>-n</> and
<literal>-t</> options. (Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
<para>
See the <command>pg_dump</> manual page for details.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link>
<function>PQdsplen()</> to return a useful value (Martijn
van Oosterhout)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Declare <link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link>
<function>PQgetssl()</> as returning <literal>void *</>,
rather than <literal>SSL *</> (Martijn van Oosterhout)
</para>
<para>
This allows applications to use the function without including
the OpenSSL headers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
C-language loadable modules must now include a
<link linkend="xfunc-c-dynload"><literal>PG_MODULE_MAGIC</></link>
macro call for version compatibility checking
(Martijn van Oosterhout)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
For security's sake, modules used by a PL/PerlU function are no
longer available to PL/Perl functions (Andrew)
</para>
<note>
<para>
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.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
In <filename>contrib/xml2/</>, rename <function>xml_valid()</> to
<function>xml_is_well_formed()</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<function>xml_valid()</> will remain for backward compatibility,
but its behavior will change to do schema checking in a future
release.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <filename>contrib/ora2pg/</>, now at <ulink
url="http://www.samse.fr/GPL/ora2pg"></ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove contrib modules that have been migrated to PgFoundry:
<filename>adddepend</>, <filename>dbase</>, <filename>dbmirror</>,
<filename>fulltextindex</>, <filename>mac</>, <filename>userlock</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove abandoned contrib modules:
<filename>mSQL-interface</>, <filename>tips</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <acronym>QNX</> and <acronym>BEOS</> ports (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
These ports no longer had active maintainers.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
Below you will find a detailed account of the
changes between <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.2 and
the previous major release.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Performance Improvements</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the planner to reorder <link linkend="queries-join">outer
joins</link> in some circumstances (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve efficiency of <link
linkend="functions-comparisons"><literal>IN</>
(list-of-expressions)</link> clauses (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve sorting speed and reduce memory usage (Simon, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve subtransaction performance (Alvaro, Itagaki Takahiro,
Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>FILLFACTOR</> to <link
linkend="SQL-CREATETABLE">table</link> and <link
linkend="SQL-CREATEINDEX">index</link> creation (ITAGAKI
Takahiro)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Increase default values for <link
linkend="guc-shared-buffers"><varname>shared_buffers</></link>
and <varname>max_fsm_pages</>
(Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve locking performance by breaking the lock manager tables into
sections
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows locking to be more fine-grained, reducing
contention.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reduce locking requirements of sequential scans (Qingqing
Zhou)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reduce locking required for database creation and destruction
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the optimizer's selectivity estimates for <link
linkend="functions-like"><literal>LIKE</></link>, <link
linkend="functions-like"><literal>ILIKE</></link>, and
<link linkend="functions-posix-regexp">regular expression</link>
operations (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve planning of joins to <link linkend="ddl-inherit">inherited
tables</link> and <link linkend="queries-union"><literal>UNION
ALL</></link> views (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="guc-constraint-exclusion">constraint
exclusion</link> to be applied to <link
linkend="ddl-inherit">inherited</link> <command>UPDATE</> and
<command>DELETE</> queries (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<command>SELECT</> already honored constraint exclusion.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve planning of constant <literal>WHERE</> clauses, such as
a condition that depends only on variables inherited from an
outer query level (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Protocol-level unnamed prepared statements are re-planned
for each set of <literal>BIND</> values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves performance because the exact parameter values
can be used in the plan.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Speed up vacuuming of B-Tree indexes (Heikki Linnakangas,
Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid extra scan of tables without indexes during <link
linkend="SQL-VACUUM"><command>VACUUM</></link> (Greg Stark)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve multicolumn <link linkend="GiST"><acronym>GiST</></link>
indexing (Oleg, Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove dead index entries before B-Tree page split (Junji
Teramoto)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow a forced switch to a new transaction log file (Simon, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is valuable for keeping warm standby slave servers
in sync with the master. Transaction log file switching now also happens
automatically during <link
linkend="functions-admin"><function>pg_stop_backup()</></link>.
This ensures that all
transaction log files needed for recovery can be archived immediately.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <acronym>WAL</> informational functions (Simon)
</para>
<para>
Add functions for interrogating the current transaction log insertion
point and determining <acronym>WAL</> filenames from the
hex <acronym>WAL</> locations displayed by <link
linkend="functions-admin"><function>pg_stop_backup()</></link>
and related functions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve recovery from a crash during <acronym>WAL</> replay (Simon)
</para>
<para>
The server now does periodic checkpoints during <acronym>WAL</>
recovery, so if there is a crash, future <acronym>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve reliability of long-term <acronym>WAL</> replay
(Heikki, Simon, Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="guc-archive-timeout"><varname>archive_timeout</></link>
to force transaction log file switches at a given interval (Simon)
</para>
<para>
This enforces a maximum replication delay for warm standby servers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add native <link linkend="auth-ldap"><acronym>LDAP</></link>
authentication (Magnus Hagander)
</para>
<para>
This is particularly useful for platforms that do not
support <acronym>PAM</>, such as Windows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="sql-grant-description-objects"><literal>GRANT
CONNECT ON DATABASE</></link> (Gevik Babakhani)
</para>
<para>
This gives SQL-level control over database access. It works as
an additional filter on top of the existing
<link linkend="auth-pg-hba-conf"><filename>pg_hba.conf</></link>
controls.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <link linkend="ssl-tcp"><acronym>SSL</>
Certificate Revocation List</link> (<acronym>CRL</>) files
(Libor Hoho&scaron;)
</para>
<para>
The server and <application>libpq</> both recognize <acronym>CRL</>
files now.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<link linkend="GiST"><acronym>GiST</></link> indexes are
now clusterable (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove routine autovacuum server log entries (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<link
linkend="monitoring-stats-views-table"><literal>pg_stat_activity</></link>
now shows autovacuum activity.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Track maximum XID age within individual tables, instead of whole databases (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This reduces the overhead involved in preventing transaction
ID wraparound, by avoiding unnecessary VACUUMs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add last vacuum and analyze timestamp columns to the stats
collector (Larry Rosenman)
</para>
<para>
These values now appear in the <link
linkend="monitoring-stats-views-table"><literal>pg_stat_*_tables</></link>
system views.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of statistics monitoring, especially
<varname>stats_command_string</>
(Tom, Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This release enables <varname>stats_command_string</> by
default, now that its overhead is minimal. This means
<link
linkend="monitoring-stats-views-table"><literal>pg_stat_activity</></link>
will now show all active queries by default.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a <literal>waiting</> column to <link
linkend="monitoring-stats-views-table"><literal>pg_stat_activity</></link>
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows <structname>pg_stat_activity</> to show all the
information included in the <application>ps</> display.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add configuration parameter <link
linkend="guc-update-process-title"><varname>update_process_title</></link>
to control whether the <application>ps</> display is updated
for every command (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
On platforms where it is expensive to update the <application>ps</>
display, it might be worthwhile to turn this off and rely solely on
<structname>pg_stat_activity</> for status information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow units to be specified in configuration settings
(Peter)
</para>
<para>
For example, you can now set <link
linkend="guc-shared-buffers"><varname>shared_buffers</></link>
to <literal>32MB</> rather than mentally converting sizes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <link linkend="config-setting">include
directives</link> in <filename>postgresql.conf</> (Joachim
Wieland)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve logging of protocol-level prepare/bind/execute
messages (Bruce, Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <varname>log_min_error_statement</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <link
linkend="guc-max-stack-depth"><varname>max_stack_depth</></link>
from being set to unsafe values
</para>
<para>
On platforms where we can determine the actual kernel stack depth
limit (which is most), make sure that the initial default value of
<varname>max_stack_depth</> is safe, and reject attempts to set it
to unsafely large values.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enable highlighting of error location in query in more
cases (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>failed to re-find parent key</> errors in
<command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean out <filename>pg_internal.init</> cache files during server
restart (Simon)
</para>
<para>
This avoids a hazard that the cache files might contain stale
data after PITR recovery.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a
gigabyte boundary by <command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug causing needless deadlock errors on row-level locks (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Each backend process is now its own process group leader (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows query cancel to abort subprocesses invoked from a
backend or archive/recovery process.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Query Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-INSERT"><command>INSERT</></link>/<link
linkend="SQL-UPDATE"><command>UPDATE</></link>/<link
linkend="SQL-DELETE"><command>DELETE</></link>
<literal>RETURNING</> (Jonah Harris, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows these commands to return values, such as the
computed serial key for a new row. In the <command>UPDATE</>
case, values from the updated version of the row are returned.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for multiple-row <link
linkend="queries-values"><literal>VALUES</></link> clauses,
per SQL standard (Joe, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows <command>INSERT</> to insert multiple rows of
constants, or queries to generate result sets using constants.
For example, <literal>INSERT ... VALUES (...), (...),
....</>, and <literal>SELECT * FROM (VALUES (...), (...),
....) AS alias(f1, ...)</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-UPDATE"><command>UPDATE</></link>
and <link linkend="SQL-DELETE"><command>DELETE</></link>
to use an alias for the target table (Atsushi Ogawa)
</para>
<para>
The SQL standard does not permit an alias in these commands, but
many database systems allow one anyway for notational convenience.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-UPDATE"><command>UPDATE</></link>
to set multiple columns with a list of values (Susanne
Ebrecht)
</para>
<para>
This is basically a short-hand for assigning the columns
and values in pairs. The syntax is <literal>UPDATE tab
SET (<replaceable>column</>, ...) = (<replaceable>val</>, ...)</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make row comparisons work per standard (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The forms &lt;, &lt;=, &gt;, &gt;= 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-TRUNCATE"><literal>CASCADE</></link>
option to <command>TRUNCATE</> (Joachim Wieland)
</para>
<para>
This causes <command>TRUNCATE</> to automatically include all tables
that reference the specified table(s) via foreign keys. While
convenient, this is a dangerous tool &mdash; use with caution!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support <literal>FOR UPDATE</> and <literal>FOR SHARE</>
in the same <link linkend="SQL-INSERT"><literal>SELECT</></link>
command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="functions-comparisons"><literal>IS NOT
DISTINCT FROM</></link> (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
<para>
This operator is similar to equality (<literal>=</>), but
evaluates to true when both left and right operands are
<literal>NULL</>, and to false when just one is, rather than
yielding <literal>NULL</> in these cases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the length output used by <link
linkend="queries-union"><literal>UNION</></link>/<literal>INTERSECT</>/<literal>EXCEPT</>
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
When all corresponding columns are of the same defined length, that
length is used for the result, rather than a generic length.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="functions-like"><literal>ILIKE</></link>
to work for multi-byte encodings (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Internally, <literal>ILIKE</> now calls <function>lower()</>
and then uses <literal>LIKE</>. Locale-specific regular
expression patterns still do not work in these encodings.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enable <link
linkend="guc-standard-conforming-strings"><varname>standard_conforming_strings</></link>
to be turned <literal>on</> (Kevin Grittner)
</para>
<para>
This allows backslash escaping in strings to be disabled,
making <productname>PostgreSQL</> more
standards-compliant. The default is <literal>off</> for backwards
compatibility, but future releases will default this to <literal>on</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not flatten subqueries that contain <literal>volatile</>
functions in their target lists (Jaime Casanova)
</para>
<para>
This prevents surprising behavior due to multiple evaluation
of a <literal>volatile</> function (such as <function>random()</>
or <function>nextval()</>). It might cause performance
degradation in the presence of functions that are unnecessarily
marked as <literal>volatile</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add system views <link
linkend="view-pg-prepared-statements"><literal>pg_prepared_statements</></link>
and <link
linkend="view-pg-cursors"><literal>pg_cursors</></link>
to show prepared statements and open cursors (Joachim Wieland, Neil)
</para>
<para>
These are very useful in pooled connection setups.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support portal parameters in <link
linkend="SQL-EXPLAIN"><command>EXPLAIN</></link> and <link
linkend="SQL-EXECUTE"><command>EXECUTE</></link> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows, for example, <acronym>JDBC</> <literal>?</> parameters to
work in these commands.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
If <acronym>SQL</>-level <link
linkend="SQL-PREPARE"><command>PREPARE</></link> parameters
are unspecified, infer their types from the content of the
query (Neil)
</para>
<para>
Protocol-level <command>PREPARE</> already did this.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>LIMIT</> and <literal>OFFSET</> to exceed
two billion (Dhanaraj M)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>TABLESPACE</> clause to <link
linkend="SQL-CREATETABLEAS"><command>CREATE TABLE AS</></link>
(Neil)
</para>
<para>
This allows a tablespace to be specified for the new table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>ON COMMIT</> clause to <link
linkend="SQL-CREATETABLEAS"><command>CREATE TABLE AS</></link>
(Neil)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>INCLUDING CONSTRAINTS</> to <link
linkend="SQL-CREATETABLE"><command>CREATE TABLE LIKE</></link>
(Greg Stark)
</para>
<para>
This allows easy copying of <literal>CHECK</> constraints to a new
table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the creation of placeholder (shell) <link
linkend="SQL-CREATETYPE">types</link> (Martijn van Oosterhout)
</para>
<para>
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 <quote>for
real</>. The syntax is <command>CREATE TYPE <replaceable
class="parameter">typename</replaceable></>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<link linkend="SQL-CREATEAGGREGATE">Aggregate functions</link>
now support multiple input parameters (Sergey Koposov, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new aggregate creation <link
linkend="SQL-CREATEAGGREGATE">syntax</link> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The new syntax is <command>CREATE AGGREGATE
<replaceable>aggname</> (<replaceable>input_type</>)
(<replaceable>parameter_list</>)</command>. This more
naturally supports the new multi-parameter aggregate
functionality. The previous syntax is still supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="SQL-ALTERROLE"><command>ALTER ROLE PASSWORD NULL</></link>
to remove a previously set role password (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>DROP</> object <literal>IF EXISTS</> for many
object types (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This allows <command>DROP</> operations on non-existent
objects without generating an error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-DROP-OWNED"><literal>DROP OWNED</></link>
to drop all objects owned by a role (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-REASSIGN-OWNED"><literal>REASSIGN
OWNED</></link> to reassign ownership of all objects owned
by a role (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This, and <literal>DROP OWNED</> above, facilitate dropping
roles.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-GRANT"><command>GRANT ON SEQUENCE</></link>
syntax (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This was added for setting sequence-specific permissions.
<literal>GRANT ON TABLE</> for sequences is still supported
for backward compatibility.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-GRANT"><literal>USAGE</></link>
permission for sequences that allows only <function>currval()</>
and <function>nextval()</>, not <function>setval()</>
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<literal>USAGE</> permission allows more fine-grained
control over sequence access. Granting <literal>USAGE</>
allows users to increment
a sequence, but prevents them from setting the sequence to
an arbitrary value using <function>setval()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-ALTERTABLE"><literal>ALTER TABLE
[ NO ] INHERIT</></link> (Greg Stark)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-COMMENT">comments</link> on global
objects to be stored globally (Kris Jurka)
</para>
<para>
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 <link
linkend="catalog-pg-shdescription"><structname>pg_shdescription</structname></link>
and stores comments on databases, roles, and tablespaces therein.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Command Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add option to allow indexes to be created without blocking
concurrent writes to the table (Greg Stark, Tom)
</para>
<para>
The new syntax is <link linkend="SQL-CREATEINDEX"><command>CREATE
INDEX CONCURRENTLY</></link>. The default behavior is
still to block table modification while a index is being
created.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Provide <link linkend="functions-advisory-locks">advisory
locking</link> functionality (Abhijit Menon-Sen, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is a new locking API designed to replace what used to be
in /contrib/userlock. The userlock code is now on pgfoundry.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-COPY"><command>COPY</></link> to
dump a <command>SELECT</> query (Zoltan Boszormenyi, Karel
Zak)
</para>
<para>
This allows <command>COPY</> to dump arbitrary <acronym>SQL</>
queries. The syntax is <literal>COPY (SELECT ...) TO</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make the <link linkend="SQL-COPY"><command>COPY</></link>
command return a command tag that includes the number of
rows copied (Volkan YAZICI)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-VACUUM"><command>VACUUM</></link>
to expire rows without being affected by other concurrent
<command>VACUUM</> operations (Hannu Krossing, Alvaro, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <link linkend="APP-INITDB"><application>initdb</></link>
detect the operating system locale and set the default
<varname>DateStyle</> accordingly (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This makes it more likely that the installed
<filename>postgresql.conf</> <varname>DateStyle</> value will
be as desired.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reduce number of progress messages displayed by <application>initdb</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Date/Time Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow full timezone names in <link
linkend="datatype-datetime"><type>timestamp</></link> input values
(Joachim Wieland)
</para>
<para>
For example, <literal>'2006-05-24 21:11
America/New_York'::timestamptz</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support configurable timezone abbreviations (Joachim Wieland)
</para>
<para>
A desired set of timezone abbreviations can be chosen via the
configuration parameter <link
linkend="guc-timezone-abbreviations"><varname>timezone_abbreviations</></link>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="view-pg-timezone-abbrevs"><varname>pg_timezone_abbrevs</></link>
and <link
linkend="view-pg-timezone-names"><varname>pg_timezone_names</></link>
views to show supported timezones (Magnus Hagander)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="functions-datetime-table"><function>clock_timestamp()</></link>,
<link
linkend="functions-datetime-table"><function>statement_timestamp()</></link>,
and <link
linkend="functions-datetime-table"><function>transaction_timestamp()</></link>
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<function>clock_timestamp()</> is the current wall-clock time,
<function>statement_timestamp()</> is the time the current
statement arrived at the server, and
<function>transaction_timestamp()</> is an alias for
<function>now()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link
linkend="functions-formatting"><function>to_char()</></link>
to print localized month and day names (Euler Taveira de
Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link
linkend="functions-formatting"><function>to_char(time)</></link>
and <link
linkend="functions-formatting"><function>to_char(interval)</></link>
to output <acronym>AM</>/<acronym>PM</> specifications
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Intervals and times are treated as 24-hour periods, e.g.
<literal>25 hours</> is considered <acronym>AM</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new function <link
linkend="functions-datetime-table"><function>justify_interval()</></link>
to adjust interval units (Mark Dilger)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow timezone offsets up to 14:59 away from GMT
</para>
<para>
Kiribati uses GMT+14, so we'd better accept that.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Interval computation improvements (Michael Glaesemann, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Other Data Type and Function Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow arrays to contain <literal>NULL</> elements (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow assignment to array elements not contiguous with the existing
entries (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The intervening array positions will be filled with nulls.
This is per SQL standard.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New built-in <link linkend="functions-array">operators</link>
for array-subset comparisons (<literal>@&gt;</>,
<literal>&lt;@</>, <literal>&amp;&amp;</>) (Teodor, Tom)
</para>
<para>
These operators can be indexed for many data types using
<acronym>GiST</> or <acronym>GIN</> indexes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add convenient arithmetic <link
linkend="cidr-inet-operators-table">operations</link> on
<type>INET</>/<type>CIDR</> values (Stephen R. van den
Berg)
</para>
<para>
The new operators are <literal>&amp;</> (and), <literal>|</>
(or), <literal>~</> (not), <type>inet</> <literal>+</> <type>int8</>,
<type>inet</> <literal>-</> <type>int8</>, and
<type>inet</> <literal>-</> <type>inet</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new <link
linkend="functions-aggregate-statistics-table">aggregate functions</link>
from SQL:2003 (Neil)
</para>
<para>
The new functions are <function>var_pop()</>,
<function>var_samp()</>, <function>stddev_pop()</>, and
<function>stddev_samp()</>. <function>var_samp()</> and
<function>stddev_samp()</> are merely renamings of the
existing aggregates <function>variance()</> and
<function>stddev()</>. The latter names remain available
for backward compatibility.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add SQL:2003 statistical <link
linkend="functions-aggregate-statistics-table">aggregates</link>
(Sergey Koposov)
</para>
<para>
New functions: <function>regr_intercept()</>,
<function>regr_slope()</>, <function>regr_r2()</>,
<function>corr()</>, <function>covar_samp()</>,
<function>covar_pop()</>, <function>regr_avgx()</>,
<function>regr_avgy()</>, <function>regr_sxy()</>,
<function>regr_sxx()</>, <function>regr_syy()</>,
<function>regr_count()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-CREATEDOMAIN">domains</link> to be
based on other domains (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Properly enforce domain <link
linkend="ddl-constraints"><literal>CHECK</></link> constraints
everywhere (Neil, Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix problems with dumping renamed <link
linkend="datatype-serial"><type>SERIAL</></link> columns
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
The fix is to dump a <type>SERIAL</> column by explicitly
specifying its <literal>DEFAULT</> and sequence elements,
and reconstructing the <type>SERIAL</> column on reload
using a new <link linkend="SQL-ALTERSEQUENCE"><command>ALTER
SEQUENCE OWNED BY</></link> command. This also allows
dropping a <type>SERIAL</> column specification.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a server-side sleep function <link
linkend="functions-datetime-delay"><function>pg_sleep()</></link>
(Joachim Wieland)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add all comparison operators for the <link
linkend="datatype-oid"><type>tid</></link> (tuple id) data
type (Mark Kirkwood, Greg Stark, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>TG_table_name</> and <literal>TG_table_schema</> to
trigger parameters (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
<literal>TG_relname</> is now deprecated. Comparable
changes have been made in the trigger parameters for the other
PLs as well.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>FOR</> statements to return values to scalars
as well as records and row types (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a <literal>BY</> clause to the <literal>FOR</> loop,
to control the iteration increment (Jaime Casanova)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>STRICT</> to <link
linkend="plpgsql-statements-sql-onerow"><command>SELECT
INTO</></link> (Matt Miller)
</para>
<para>
<literal>STRICT</> mode throws an exception if more or less
than one row is returned by the <command>SELECT</>, for
<productname>Oracle PL/SQL</> compatibility.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/Perl Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>table_name</> and <literal>table_schema</> to
trigger parameters (Adam Sj&oslash;gren)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add prepared queries (Dmitry Karasik)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <literal>$_TD</> trigger data a global variable (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
Previously, it was lexical, which caused unexpected sharing
violations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Run PL/Perl and PL/PerlU in separate interpreters, for security
reasons (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/Python Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Named parameters are passed as ordinary variables, as well as in the
<literal>args[]</> array (Sven Suursoho)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>table_name</> and <literal>table_schema</> to
trigger parameters (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow returning of composite types and result sets (Sven Suursoho)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Return result-set as <literal>list</>, <literal>iterator</>,
or <literal>generator </>(Sven Suursoho)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow functions to return <literal>void</> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Python 2.5 is now supported (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="APP-PSQL"><application>psql</></link> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new command <literal>\password</> for changing role
password with client-side password encryption (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>\c</> to connect to a new host and port
number (David, Volkan YAZICI)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add tablespace display to <literal>\l+</> (Philip Yarra)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <literal>\df</> slash command to include the argument
names and modes (<literal>OUT</> or <literal>INOUT</>) of
the function (David Fetter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support binary <command>COPY</> (Andreas Pflug)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add option to run the entire session in a single transaction
(Simon)
</para>
<para>
Use option <literal>-1</> or <literal>--single-transaction</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support for automatically retrieving <command>SELECT</>
results in batches using a cursor (Chris Mair)
</para>
<para>
This is enabled using <command>\set FETCH_COUNT
<replaceable>n</></command>. This
feature allows large result sets to be retrieved in
<application>psql</> without attempting to buffer the entire
result set in memory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make multi-line values align in the proper column
(Martijn van Oosterhout)
</para>
<para>
Field values containing newlines are now displayed in a more
readable fashion.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Save multi-line statements as a single entry, rather than
one line at a time (Sergey E. Koposov)
</para>
<para>
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.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make the line counter 64-bit so it can handle files with more
than two billion lines (David Fetter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Report both the returned data and the command status tag
for <command>INSERT</>/<command>UPDATE</>/<command>DELETE
RETURNING</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="APP-PGDUMP"><application>pg_dump</></link> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow complex selection of objects to be included or excluded
by <application>pg_dump</> (Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
<para>
<application>pg_dump</> now supports multiple <literal>-n</>
(schema) and <literal>-t</> (table) options, and adds
<literal>-N</> and <literal>-T</> options to exclude objects.
Also, the arguments of these switches can now be wild-card expressions
rather than single object names, for example
<literal>-t 'foo*'</>, and a schema can be part of
a <literal>-t</> or <literal>-T</> switch, for example
<literal>-t schema1.table1</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="APP-PGRESTORE"><application>pg_restore</></link>
<literal>--no-data-for-failed-tables</> option to suppress
loading data if table creation failed (i.e., the table already
exists) (Martin Pitt)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="APP-PGRESTORE"><application>pg_restore</></link>
option to run the entire session in a single transaction
(Simon)
</para>
<para>
Use option <literal>-1</> or <literal>--single-transaction</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="libpq"><application>libpq</></link> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="libpq-misc"><function>PQencryptPassword()</></link>
to encrypt passwords (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows passwords to be sent pre-encrypted for commands
like <link linkend="SQL-ALTERROLE"><command>ALTER ROLE ...
PASSWORD</></link>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function <link
linkend="libpq-threading"><function>PQisthreadsafe()</></link>
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This allows applications to query the thread-safety status
of the library.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="libpq-exec-main"><function>PQdescribePrepared()</></link>,
<link
linkend="libpq-exec-main"><function>PQdescribePortal()</></link>,
and related functions to return information about previously
prepared statements and open cursors (Volkan YAZICI)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="libpq-ldap"><acronym>LDAP</></link> lookups
from <link
linkend="libpq-pgservice"><filename>pg_service.conf</></link>
(Laurenz Albe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow a hostname in <link
linkend="libpq-pgpass"><filename>~/.pgpass</></link>
to match the default socket directory (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><link linkend="ecpg"><application>ecpg</></link> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <link linkend="SQL-SHOW"><command>SHOW</></link> to
put its result into a variable (Joachim Wieland)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="SQL-COPY"><command>COPY TO STDOUT</></link>
(Joachim Wieland)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add regression tests (Joachim Wieland, Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Major source code cleanups (Joachim Wieland, Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>Windows</> Port</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <acronym>MSVC</> to compile the <productname>PostgreSQL</>
server (Magnus, Hiroshi Saito)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <acronym>MSVC</> support for utility commands and <link
linkend="APP-PGDUMP"><application>pg_dump</></link> (Hiroshi
Saito)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for Windows code pages <literal>1253</>,
<literal>1254</>, <literal>1255</>, and <literal>1257</>
(Kris Jurka)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Drop privileges on startup, so that the server can be started from
an administrative account (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Stability fixes (Qingqing Zhou, Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add native semaphore implementation (Qingqing Zhou)
</para>
<para>
The previous code mimicked SysV semaphores.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link linkend="GIN"><acronym>GIN</></link> (Generalized
Inverted iNdex) index access method (Teodor, Oleg)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove R-tree indexing (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Rtree has been re-implemented using <link
linkend="GiST"><acronym>GiST</></link>. Among other
differences, this means that rtree indexes now have support
for crash recovery via write-ahead logging (WAL).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reduce libraries needlessly linked into the backend (Martijn
van Oosterhout, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a configure flag to allow libedit to be preferred over
<acronym>GNU</> readline (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Use configure <link
linkend="configure"><literal>--with-libedit-preferred</></link>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow installation into directories containing spaces
(Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve ability to relocate installation directories (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <productname>Solaris x86_64</> using the
<productname>Solaris</> compiler (Pierre Girard, Theo
Schlossnagle, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <application>DTrace</> support (Robert Lor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>PG_VERSION_NUM</> for use by third-party
applications wanting to test the backend version in C using &gt;
and &lt; comparisons (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>XLOG_BLCKSZ</> as independent from <literal>BLCKSZ</>
(Mark Wong)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>LWLOCK_STATS</> define to report locking
activity (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Emit warnings for unknown <application>configure</> options
(Martijn van Oosterhout)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add server support for <quote>plugin</> libraries
that can be used for add-on tasks such as debugging and performance
measurement (Korry Douglas)
</para>
<para>
This consists of two features: a table of <quote>rendezvous
variables</> that allows separately-loaded shared libraries to
communicate, and a new configuration parameter <link
linkend="guc-local-preload-libraries"><varname>local_preload_libraries</></link>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename existing configuration parameter
<varname>preload_libraries</> to <link
linkend="guc-shared-preload-libraries"><varname>shared_preload_libraries</></link>
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was done for clarity in comparison to
<varname>local_preload_libraries</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new configuration parameter <link
linkend="guc-server-version-num"><varname>server_version_num</></link>
(Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
<para>
This is like <varname>server_version</varname>, but is an
integer, e.g. <literal>80200</>. This allows applications to
make version checks more easily.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a configuration parameter <link
linkend="guc-seq-page-cost"><varname>seq_page_cost</></link>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Re-implement the <link linkend="regress">regression test</link> script as a C program
(Magnus, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow loadable modules to allocate shared memory and
lightweight locks (Marc Munro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add automatic initialization and finalization of dynamically
loaded libraries (Ralf Engelschall, Tom)
</para>
<para>
New <link linkend="xfunc-c-dynload">functions</link>
<function>_PG_init()</> and <function>_PG_fini()</> are
called if the library defines such symbols. Hence we no
longer need to specify an initialization function in
<varname>shared_preload_libraries</>; we can assume that
the library used the <function>_PG_init()</> convention
instead.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <link
linkend="xfunc-c-dynload"><literal>PG_MODULE_MAGIC</></link>
header block to all shared object files (Martijn van
Oosterhout)
</para>
<para>
The magic block prevents version mismatches between loadable object
files and servers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add shared library support for AIX (Laurenz Albe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <link linkend="datatype-xml"><acronym>XML</></link>
documentation section (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Major tsearch2 improvements (Oleg, Teodor)
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
multibyte encoding support, including <acronym>UTF8</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
query rewriting support
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
improved ranking functions
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
thesaurus dictionary support
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ispell dictionaries now recognize <application>MySpell</>
format, used by <application>OpenOffice</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<acronym>GIN</> support
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add adminpack module containing <application>Pgadmin</> administration
functions (Dave)
</para>
<para>
These functions provide additional file system access
routines not present in the default <productname>PostgreSQL</>
server.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add sslinfo module (Victor Wagner)
</para>
<para>
Reports information about the current connection's <acronym>SSL</>
certificate.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pgrowlocks module (Tatsuo)
</para>
<para>
This shows row locking information for a specified table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add hstore module (Oleg, Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add isn module, replacing isbn_issn (Jeremy Kronuz)
</para>
<para>
This new implementation supports <acronym>EAN13</>, <acronym>UPC</>,
<acronym>ISBN</> (books), <acronym>ISMN</> (music), and
<acronym>ISSN</> (serials).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add index information functions to pgstattuple (ITAGAKI Takahiro,
Satoshi Nagayasu)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add pg_freespacemap module to display free space map information
(Mark Kirkwood)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
pgcrypto now has all planned functionality (Marko Kreen)
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Include iMath library in pgcrypto to have the public-key encryption
functions always available.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add SHA224 algorithm that was missing in OpenBSD code.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Activate builtin code for SHA224/256/384/512 hashes on older
OpenSSL to have those algorithms always available.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New function gen_random_bytes() that returns cryptographically strong
randomness. Useful for generating encryption keys.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove digest_exists(), hmac_exists() and cipher_exists() functions.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improvements to cube module (Joshua Reich)
</para>
<para>
New functions are <function>cube(float[])</>,
<function>cube(float[], float[])</>, and
<function>cube_subset(cube, int4[])</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add async query capability to dblink (Kai Londenberg,
Joe Conway)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New operators for array-subset comparisons (<literal>@&gt;</>,
<literal>&lt;@</>, <literal>&amp;&amp;</>) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add uninstall scripts for all contrib packages that have install
scripts (David, Josh Drake)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-17">
<title>Release 8.1.17</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-03-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.16.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.17</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.15,
see the release notes for 8.1.15.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent error recursion crashes when encoding conversion fails (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change extends fixes made in the last two minor releases for
related failure scenarios. The previous fixes were narrowly tailored
for the original problem reports, but we have now recognized that
<emphasis>any</> error thrown by an encoding conversion function could
potentially lead to infinite recursion while trying to report the
error. The solution therefore is to disable translation and encoding
conversion and report the plain-ASCII form of any error message,
if we find we have gotten into a recursive error reporting situation.
(CVE-2009-0922)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>CREATE CONVERSION</> with the wrong encodings
for the specified conversion function (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This prevents one possible scenario for encoding conversion failure.
The previous change is a backstop to guard against other kinds of
failures in the same area.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump when <function>to_char()</> is given format codes that
are inappropriate for the type of the data argument (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix decompilation of <literal>CASE WHEN</> with an implicit coercion
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
This mistake could lead to Assert failures in an Assert-enabled build,
or an <quote>unexpected CASE WHEN clause</> error message in other
cases, when trying to examine or dump a view.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible misassignment of the owner of a TOAST table's rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If <command>CLUSTER</> or a rewriting variant of <command>ALTER TABLE</>
were executed by someone other than the table owner, the
<structname>pg_type</> entry for the table's TOAST table would end up
marked as owned by that someone. This caused no immediate problems,
since the permissions on the TOAST rowtype aren't examined by any
ordinary database operation. However, it could lead to unexpected
failures if one later tried to drop the role that issued the command
(in 8.1 or 8.2), or <quote>owner of data type appears to be invalid</>
warnings from <application>pg_dump</> after having done so (in 8.3).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean up PL/pgSQL error status variables fully at block exit
(Ashesh Vashi and Dave Page)
</para>
<para>
This is not a problem for PL/pgSQL itself, but the omission could cause
the PL/pgSQL Debugger to crash while examining the state of a function.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>MUST</> (Mauritius Island Summer Time) to the default list
of known timezone abbreviations (Xavier Bugaud)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-16">
<title>Release 8.1.16</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-02-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.15.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.16</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X.
However, if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 8.1.15,
see the release notes for 8.1.15.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash in autovacuum (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
The crash occurs only after vacuuming a whole database for
anti-transaction-wraparound purposes, which means that it occurs
infrequently and is hard to track down.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of URLs in <function>headline()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of overlength headlines in <function>headline()</>
function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible Assert failure or misconversion if an encoding
conversion is created with the wrong conversion function for the
specified pair of encodings (Tom, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid unnecessary locking of small tables in <command>VACUUM</>
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure that the contents of a holdable cursor don't depend on the
contents of TOAST tables (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, large field values in a cursor result might be represented
as TOAST pointers, which would fail if the referenced table got dropped
before the cursor is read, or if the large value is deleted and then
vacuumed away. This cannot happen with an ordinary cursor,
but it could with a cursor that is held past its creating transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix uninitialized variables in <filename>contrib/tsearch2</>'s
<function>get_covers()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>configure</> script to properly report failure when
unable to obtain linkage information for PL/Perl (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make all documentation reference <literal>pgsql-bugs</> and/or
<literal>pgsql-hackers</> as appropriate, instead of the
now-decommissioned <literal>pgsql-ports</> and <literal>pgsql-patches</>
mailing lists (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2009a (for
Kathmandu and historical DST corrections in Switzerland, Cuba)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-15">
<title>Release 8.1.15</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-11-03</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.14.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.15</title>
<para>
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. Also, if you were running a previous
8.1.X release, it is recommended to <command>REINDEX</> all GiST
indexes after the upgrade.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix GiST index corruption due to marking the wrong index entry
<quote>dead</> after a deletion (Teodor)
</para>
<para>
This would result in index searches failing to find rows they
should have found. Corrupted indexes can be fixed with
<command>REINDEX</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix backend crash when the client encoding cannot represent a localized
error message (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We have addressed similar issues before, but it would still fail if
the <quote>character has no equivalent</> message itself couldn't
be converted. The fix is to disable localization and send the plain
ASCII error message when we detect such a situation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash when deeply nested functions are invoked from
a trigger (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix mis-expansion of rule queries when a sub-<literal>SELECT</> appears
in a function call in <literal>FROM</>, a multi-row <literal>VALUES</>
list, or a <literal>RETURNING</> list (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The usual symptom of this problem is an <quote>unrecognized node type</>
error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure an error is reported when a newly-defined PL/pgSQL trigger
function is invoked as a normal function (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible collision of <structfield>relfilenode</> numbers
when moving a table to another tablespace with <command>ALTER SET
TABLESPACE</> (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
The command tried to re-use the existing filename, instead of
picking one that is known unused in the destination directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect tsearch2 headline generation when single query
item matches first word of text (Sushant Sinha)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix improper display of fractional seconds in interval values when
using a non-ISO datestyle in an <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</>
build (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <function>SPI_getvalue</> and <function>SPI_getbinval</>
behave correctly when the passed tuple and tuple descriptor have
different numbers of columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This situation is normal when a table has had columns added or removed,
but these two functions didn't handle it properly.
The only likely consequence is an incorrect error indication.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</>'s parsing of <command>CREATE ROLE</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix recent breakage of <literal>pg_ctl restart</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008i (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Brazil, Mauritius, Syria)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-14">
<title>Release 8.1.14</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-09-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.13.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.14</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Widen local lock counters from 32 to 64 bits (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This responds to reports that the counters could overflow in
sufficiently long transactions, leading to unexpected <quote>lock is
already held</> errors.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible duplicate output of tuples during a GiST index scan (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add checks in executor startup to ensure that the tuples produced by an
<command>INSERT</> or <command>UPDATE</> will match the target table's
current rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<command>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</>, followed by re-use of a previously
cached plan, could produce this type of situation. The check protects
against data corruption and/or crashes that could ensue.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> to first try to interpret its timezone
argument as a timezone abbreviation, and only try it as a full timezone
name if that fails, rather than the other way around as formerly (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The timestamp input functions have always resolved ambiguous zone names
in this order. Making <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> do so as well improves
consistency, and fixes a compatibility bug introduced in 8.1:
in ambiguous cases we now behave the same as 8.0 and before did,
since in the older versions <literal>AT TIME ZONE</> accepted
<emphasis>only</> abbreviations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix datetime input functions to correctly detect integer overflow when
running on a 64-bit platform (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of writing very long log messages to syslog (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in backwards scanning of a cursor on a <literal>SELECT DISTINCT
ON</> query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner bug with nested sub-select expressions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If the outer sub-select has no direct dependency on the parent query,
but the inner one does, the outer value might not get recalculated
for new parent query rows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner to estimate that <literal>GROUP BY</> expressions yielding
boolean results always result in two groups, regardless of the
expressions' contents (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is very substantially more accurate than the regular <literal>GROUP
BY</> estimate for certain boolean tests like <replaceable>col</>
<literal>IS NULL</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/PgSQL to not fail when a <literal>FOR</> loop's target variable
is a record containing composite-type fields (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Tcl to behave correctly with Tcl 8.5, and to be more careful
about the encoding of data sent to or from Tcl (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to work with Python 2.5
</para>
<para>
This is a back-port of fixes made during the 8.2 development cycle.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_restore</>'s
error reporting after failure to send a SQL command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to properly preserve postmaster
command-line arguments across a <literal>restart</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008f (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Mauritius, Morocco,
Pakistan, Palestine, and Paraguay)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-13">
<title>Release 8.1.13</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-06-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one serious and one minor bug fix over 8.1.12.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.13</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> parenthesize negative constants (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Before this fix, a negative constant in a view or rule might be dumped
as, say, <literal>-42::integer</>, which is subtly incorrect: it should
be <literal>(-42)::integer</> due to operator precedence rules.
Usually this would make little difference, but it could interact with
another recent patch to cause
<productname>PostgreSQL</> to reject what had been a valid
<command>SELECT DISTINCT</> view query. Since this could result in
<application>pg_dump</> output failing to reload, it is being treated
as a high-priority fix. The only released versions in which dump
output is actually incorrect are 8.3.1 and 8.2.7.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>ALTER AGGREGATE ... OWNER TO</> update
<structname>pg_shdepend</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This oversight could lead to problems if the aggregate was later
involved in a <command>DROP OWNED</> or <command>REASSIGN OWNED</>
operation.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-12">
<title>Release 8.1.12</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>never released</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.11.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.12</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN ... PRIMARY KEY</> so that the new
column is correctly checked to see if it's been initialized to all
non-nulls (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
<para>
Previous versions neglected to check this requirement at all.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible <command>CREATE TABLE</> failure when inheriting the
<quote>same</> constraint from multiple parent relations that
inherited that constraint from a common ancestor (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix conversions between ISO-8859-5 and other encodings to handle
Cyrillic <quote>Yo</> characters (<literal>e</> and <literal>E</> with
two dots) (Sergey Burladyan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a few datatype input functions
that were allowing unused bytes in their results to contain
uninitialized, unpredictable values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could lead to failures in which two apparently identical literal
values were not seen as equal, resulting in the parser complaining
about unmatched <literal>ORDER BY</> and <literal>DISTINCT</>
expressions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a corner case in regular-expression substring matching
(<literal>substring(<replaceable>string</> from
<replaceable>pattern</>)</literal>) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The problem occurs when there is a match to the pattern overall but
the user has specified a parenthesized subexpression and that
subexpression hasn't got a match. An example is
<literal>substring('foo' from 'foo(bar)?')</>.
This should return NULL, since <literal>(bar)</> isn't matched, but
it was mistakenly returning the whole-pattern match instead (ie,
<literal>foo</>).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008c (for
DST law changes in Morocco, Iraq, Choibalsan, Pakistan, Syria, Cuba,
Argentina/San_Luis, and Chile)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect result from <application>ecpg</>'s
<function>PGTYPEStimestamp_sub()</> function (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump in <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s
<function>xpath_table()</> function when the input query returns a
NULL value (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s makefile to not override
<literal>CFLAGS</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>DatumGetBool</> macro to not fail with <application>gcc</>
4.3 (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This problem affects <quote>old style</> (V0) C functions that
return boolean. The fix is already in 8.3, but the need to
back-patch it was not realized at the time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix longstanding <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</>
race condition (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In rare cases a session that had just executed a
<command>LISTEN</> might not get a notification, even though
one would be expected because the concurrent transaction executing
<command>NOTIFY</> was observed to commit later.
</para>
<para>
A side effect of the fix is that a transaction that has executed
a not-yet-committed <command>LISTEN</> command will not see any
row in <structname>pg_listener</> for the <command>LISTEN</>,
should it choose to look; formerly it would have. This behavior
was never documented one way or the other, but it is possible that
some applications depend on the old behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>LISTEN</> and <command>UNLISTEN</> within a
prepared transaction (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This was formerly allowed but trying to do it had various unpleasant
consequences, notably that the originating backend could not exit
as long as an <command>UNLISTEN</> remained uncommitted.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare crash when an error occurs during a query using a hash index
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix input of datetime values for February 29 in years BC (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The former coding was mistaken about which years were leap years.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>unrecognized node type</> error in some variants of
<command>ALTER OWNER</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to correctly extract the postmaster's port
number from command-line options (Itagaki Takahiro, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, <literal>pg_ctl start -w</> could try to contact the
postmaster on the wrong port, leading to bogus reports of startup
failure.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <option>-fwrapv</> to defend against possible misoptimization
in recent <application>gcc</> versions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is known to be necessary when building <productname>PostgreSQL</>
with <application>gcc</> 4.3 or later.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix display of constant expressions in <literal>ORDER BY</>
and <literal>GROUP BY</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
An explictly casted constant would be shown incorrectly. This could
for example lead to corruption of a view definition during
dump and reload.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>libpq</> to handle NOTICE messages correctly
during COPY OUT (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This failure has only been observed to occur when a user-defined
datatype's output routine issues a NOTICE, but there is no
guarantee it couldn't happen due to other causes.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-11">
<title>Release 8.1.11</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-01-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.10,
including fixes for significant security issues.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<para>
This is the last 8.1.X release for which the <productname>PostgreSQL</>
community will produce binary packages for <productname>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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.11</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of
the user running <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, etc (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <command>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 <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, <command>REINDEX</>,
and <command>CLUSTER</>) to execute as the table owner rather than
the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already
used for <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> functions. To prevent bypassing
this security measure, execution of <command>SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</> and <command>SET ROLE</> is now forbidden within a
<literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> context. (CVE-2007-6600)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry)
</para>
<para>
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)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
<para>
The fix that appeared for this in 8.1.10 was incomplete, as it plugged
the hole for only some <filename>dblink</> functions. (CVE-2007-6601,
CVE-2007-3278)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2007k
(in particular, recent Argentina changes) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve planner's handling of LIKE/regex estimation in non-C locales
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner failure in some cases of <literal>WHERE false AND var IN
(SELECT ...)</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Preserve the tablespace of indexes that are
rebuilt by <command>ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make archive recovery always start a new WAL timeline, rather than only
when a recovery stop time was used (Simon)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>VACUUM</> not use all of <varname>maintenance_work_mem</>
when the table is too small for it to be useful (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential crash in <function>translate()</> when using a multibyte
database encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix overflow in <literal>extract(epoch from interval)</> for intervals
exceeding 68 years (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Perl to not fail when a UTF-8 regular expression is used
in a trusted function (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Perl to cope when platform's Perl defines type <literal>bool</>
as <literal>int</> rather than <literal>char</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
While this could theoretically happen anywhere, no standard build of
Perl did things this way ... until <productname>Mac OS X</> 10.5.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_dump</> to correctly handle inheritance child tables
that have default expressions different from their parent's (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>libpq</> crash when <varname>PGPASSFILE</> refers
to a file that is not a plain file (Martin Pitt)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>ecpg</> parser fixes (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</> defend against
<application>OpenSSL</> libraries that fail on keys longer than 128
bits; which is the case at least on some Solaris versions (Marko Kreen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/tablefunc</>'s <function>crosstab()</> handle
NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <type>tsvector</> and <type>tsquery</> output routines to
escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash of <function>to_tsvector()</> on huge input strings (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require a specific version of <productname>Autoconf</> to be used
when re-generating the <command>configure</> script (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made
to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of
<productname>Autoconf</> and <productname>PostgreSQL</> versions.
You can remove the version check if you really want to use a
different <productname>Autoconf</> version, but it's
your responsibility whether the result works or not.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-10">
<title>Release 8.1.10</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-09-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.9.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.10</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and
then aborts close to the end of a concurrent <command>VACUUM</>
on the same table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL</> work properly (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the <type>interval</> data type to accept input consisting only of
milliseconds or microseconds (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Speed up rtree index insertion (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix excessive logging of <acronym>SSL</> error messages (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using
the syslogger process (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash when <varname>log_min_error_statement</> logging runs out
of memory (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>REINDEX</> and <command>CLUSTER</> from failing
due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Windows socket improvements (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Suppress timezone name (<literal>%Z</>) in log timestamps on Windows
because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-9">
<title>Release 8.1.9</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-04-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.8,
including a security fix.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.9</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within
<varname>search_path</>, and disable searching it for functions
and operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a
truly secure value of <varname>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 <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> for more information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> crash fixes (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require <command>COMMIT PREPARED</> to be executed in the same
database as the transaction was prepared in (Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how <command>VACUUM FULL</> handles
<command>UPDATE</> chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Planner fixes, including improving outer join and bitmap scan
selection logic (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 8.1.6)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-8">
<title>Release 8.1.8</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one fix from 8.1.7.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.8</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and
functional indexes(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-7">
<title>Release 8.1.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.6, including
a security fix.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.7</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users
to read backend memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail
due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <command>VACUUM</> performance for databases with many tables (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix autovacuum to avoid leaving non-permanent transaction IDs in
non-connectable databases (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
This bug affects the 8.1 branch only.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by <literal>UNION</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences
over three bytes long (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bogus <quote>permission denied</> failures occurring on Windows
due to attempts to fsync already-deleted files (Magnus, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crashes when an already-in-use PL/pgSQL function is
updated (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-6">
<title>Release 8.1.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-01-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.5.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.6</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of <function>getaddrinfo()</> on AIX (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector,
among other things.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_restore</> to handle a tar-format backup
that contains large objects (blobs) with comments (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>failed to re-find parent key</> errors in
<command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean out <filename>pg_internal.init</> cache files during server
restart (Simon)
</para>
<para>
This avoids a hazard that the cache files might contain stale
data after PITR recovery.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a
gigabyte boundary by <command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug causing needless deadlock errors on row-level locks (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible deadlock in Windows signal handling (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix error when constructing an <literal>ARRAY[]</> made up of multiple
empty elements (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix ecpg memory leak during connection (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix for Darwin (OS X) compilation (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>to_number()</> and <function>to_char(numeric)</>
are now <literal>STABLE</>, not <literal>IMMUTABLE</>, for
new <application>initdb</> installs (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is because <varname>lc_numeric</> can potentially
change the output of these functions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves <application>psql</> <literal>\d</> performance also.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update timezone database
</para>
<para>
This affects Australian and Canadian daylight-savings rules in
particular.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-5">
<title>Release 8.1.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-10-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.4.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.5</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Disallow aggregate functions in <command>UPDATE</>
commands, except within sub-SELECTs (Tom)</para>
<para>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.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as
ANYARRAY</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump in duration logging for extended query protocol
when a <command>COMMIT</> or <command>ROLLBACK</> is
executed</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix mishandling of AFTER triggers when query contains a SQL
function returning multiple rows (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>ALTER TABLE ... TYPE</> to recheck
<literal>NOT NULL</> for <literal>USING</> clause (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>string_to_array()</> to handle overlapping
matches for the separator string</para>
<para>For example, <literal>string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx')</>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>to_timestamp()</> for
<literal>AM</>/<literal>PM</> formats (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix autovacuum's calculation that decides whether
<command>ANALYZE</> is needed (Alvaro)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix corner cases in pattern matching for
<application>psql</>'s <literal>\d</> commands</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree
(Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Numerous robustness fixes in <application>ecpg</> (Joachim
Wieland)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Minor fixes in /contrib/dblink and /contrib/tsearch2</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Efficiency improvements in hash tables and bitmap index scans
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix instability of statistics collection on Windows (Tom, Andrew)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <varname>statement_timeout</> to use the proper
units on Win32 (Bruce)</para>
<para>In previous Win32 8.1.X versions, the delay was off by a factor of
100.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for <acronym>MSVC</> and <productname>Borland C++</>
compilers (Hiroshi Saito)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for <systemitem class="osname">AIX</> and
<productname>Intel</> compilers (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix rare bug in continuous archiving (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-4">
<title>Release 8.1.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-05-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.3,
including patches for extremely serious security issues.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.4</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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 <application>libpq</>'s
<function>PQescapeStringConn()</>) to perform string escaping,
rather than relying on <foreignphrase>ad hoc</> code to do it.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte
characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom)</para>
<para>While <productname>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reject unsafe uses of <literal>\'</> in string literals</para>
<para>As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type
described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts <literal>''</> and not
<literal>\'</> as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string
literals. By default, <literal>\'</> is rejected only when
<varname>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 <varname>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
<varname>backslash_quote</> is in part to make it obvious that insecure
clients are insecure.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify <application>libpq</>'s string-escaping routines to be
aware of encoding considerations and
<varname>standard_conforming_strings</></para>
<para>This fixes <application>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 <productname>PostgreSQL</> connections
concurrently should migrate to <function>PQescapeStringConn()</> and
<function>PQescapeByteaConn()</> to ensure that escaping is done correctly
for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that
do string escaping <quote>by hand</> should be modified to rely on library
routines instead.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix weak key selection in pgcrypto (Marko Kreen)</para>
<para>Errors in fortuna PRNG reseeding logic could cause a predictable
session key to be selected by <function>pgp_sym_encrypt()</> in some cases.
This only affects non-OpenSSL-using builds.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions</para>
<para><function>win1251_to_iso</>, <function>win866_to_iso</>,
<function>euc_tw_to_big5</>, <function>euc_tw_to_mic</>,
<function>mic_to_euc_tw</> were all broken to varying
extents.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Clean up stray remaining uses of <literal>\'</> in strings
(Bruce, Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make autovacuum visible in <structname>pg_stat_activity</>
(Alvaro)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disable <literal>full_page_writes</> (Tom)</para>
<para>In certain cases, having <literal>full_page_writes</> off would cause
crash recovery to fail. A proper fix will appear in 8.2; for now it's just
disabled.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various planner fixes, particularly for bitmap index scans and
MIN/MAX optimization (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix incorrect optimization in merge join (Tom)</para>
<para>Outer joins could sometimes emit multiple copies of unmatched rows.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix crash from using and modifying a plpgsql function in the
same transaction</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix WAL replay for case where a B-Tree index has been
truncated</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <literal>SIMILAR TO</> for patterns involving
<literal>|</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>SELECT INTO</> and <command>CREATE TABLE AS</> to
create tables in the default tablespace, not the base directory (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael
Fuhr)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve qsort performance (Dann Corbit)</para>
<para>Currently this code is only used on Solaris.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for OS/X Bonjour on x86 systems (Ashley Clark)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix various minor memory leaks</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with password prompting on some Win32 systems
(Robert Kinberg)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve <application>pg_dump</>'s handling of default values
for domains</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_dumpall</> to handle identically-named
users and groups reasonably (only possible when dumping from a pre-8.1 server)
(Tom)</para>
<para>The user and group will be merged into a single role with
<literal>LOGIN</> permission. Formerly the merged role wouldn't have
<literal>LOGIN</> permission, making it unusable as a user.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_restore</> <literal>-n</> to work as
documented (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-3">
<title>Release 8.1.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-02-14</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.2,
including one very serious security issue.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.3</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix bug that allowed any logged-in user to <command>SET
ROLE</> to any other database user id (CVE-2006-0553)</para>
<para>Due to inadequate validity checking, a user could exploit the special
case that <command>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 <command>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted
rows (Tom)</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition that could lead to <quote>file already
exists</> errors during pg_clog and pg_subtrans file creation
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix cases that could lead to crashes if a cache-invalidation
message arrives at just the wrong time (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly check <literal>DOMAIN</> constraints for
<literal>UNKNOWN</> parameters in prepared statements
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure <command>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> will process
<literal>FOREIGN KEY</>, <literal>UNIQUE</>, and <literal>PRIMARY KEY</>
constraints in the proper order (Nakano Yoshihisa)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema
references to custom operators or operator classes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <application>pg_restore</> to continue properly after a
<command>COPY</> failure; formerly it tried to treat the remaining
<command>COPY</> data as SQL commands (Stephen Frost)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_ctl</> <literal>unregister</> crash
when the data directory is not specified (Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>libpq</> <function>PQprint</> HTML tags
(Christoph Zwerschke)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>ecpg</> crash on AMD64 and PPC
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <literal>SETOF</> and <literal>%TYPE</> to be used
together in function result type declarations</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Recover properly if error occurs during argument passing
in <application>PL/python</> (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix memory leak in <function>plperl_return_next</>
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>PL/perl</>'s handling of locales on
Win32 to match the backend (Andrew)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various optimizer fixes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix crash when <literal>log_min_messages</> is set to
<literal>DEBUG3</> or above in <filename>postgresql.conf</> on Win32
(Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pgxs</> <literal>-L</> library path
specification for Win32, Cygwin, OS X, AIX (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check that SID is enabled while checking for Win32 admin
privileges (Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly reject out-of-range date inputs (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Portability fix for testing presence of <function>finite</>
and <function>isinf</> during configure (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve speed of <command>COPY IN</> via libpq, by
avoiding a kernel call per data line (Alon Goldshuv)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve speed of <filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> index
creation (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-2">
<title>Release 8.1.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-01-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.1.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X.
However, you might need to <command>REINDEX</> indexes on textual
columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or
<application>plperl</> issues described below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix Windows code so that postmaster will continue rather
than exit if there is no more room in ShmemBackendArray (Magnus)</para>
<para>The previous behavior could lead to a denial-of-service situation if too
many connection requests arrive close together. This applies
<emphasis>only</> to the Windows port.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued
outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix character string comparison for locales that consider
different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom)</para>
<para>This might require <command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup
to ensure that <application>plperl</> won't change the locale later</para>
<para>This fixes a problem that occurred if the <application>postmaster</> was
started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what
<application>initdb</> had been told. Under these conditions, any use of
<application>plperl</> was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need
<command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns if this has happened to you.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow more flexible relocation of installation
directories (Tom)</para>
<para>Previous releases supported relocation only if all installation
directory paths were the same except for the last component.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent crashes caused by the use of
<literal>ISO-8859-5</> and <literal>ISO-8859-9</> encodings
(Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression
handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug where COPY CSV mode considered any
<literal>\.</> to terminate the copy data</para> <para>The new code
requires <literal>\.</> to appear alone on a line, as per
documentation.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make COPY CSV mode quote a literal data value of
<literal>\.</> to ensure it cannot be interpreted as the
end-of-data marker (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various fixes for functions returning <literal>RECORD</>s
(Tom) </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix processing of <filename>postgresql.conf</> so a
final line with no newline is processed properly (Tom)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in <filename>/contrib/pgcrypto</> gen_salt,
which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and
XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer)</para>
<para>Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix autovacuum crash when processing expression indexes
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>/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)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1-1">
<title>Release 8.1.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-12-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.1.0.
For information about new features in the 8.1 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-1">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.1.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix incorrect optimizations of outer-join conditions
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with wrong reported column names in cases
involving sub-selects flattened by the optimizer (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix update failures in scenarios involving CHECK constraints,
toasted columns, <emphasis>and</> indexes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bgwriter problems after recovering from errors
(Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message
when current transaction is already aborted</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> and <filename>/contrib/ltree</>
fixes (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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)</para>
<para>
These problems only appeared on platforms that were using our
<filename>port/snprintf.c</> code, which includes BSD variants if
<literal>--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 <filename>libintl</> was used.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Re-allow <literal>AM</>/<literal>PM</>, <literal>HH</>,
<literal>HH12</>, and <literal>D</> format specifiers for
<function>to_char(time)</> and <function>to_char(interval)</>.
(<function>to_char(interval)</> should probably use
<literal>HH24</>.) (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AIX, HPUX, and MSVC compile fixes (Tom, Hiroshi
Saito)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Optimizer improvements (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Retry file reads and writes after Windows
NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES error (Qingqing Zhou)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <application>autovacuum</> from crashing during
ANALYZE of expression index (Alvaro)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS temp
tables</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems when a trigger alters the output of a SELECT
DISTINCT query</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add 8.1.0 release note item on how to migrate invalid
<literal>UTF-8</> byte sequences (Paul Lindner)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-1">
<title>Release 8.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-11-08</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Improve concurrent access to the shared buffer cache (Tom)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <quote>clock sweep</quote> replacement
policy.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Allow index scans to use an intermediate in-memory bitmap (Tom)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
In previous releases, only a single index could be used to do
lookups on a table. With this feature, if a query has
<command>WHERE tab.col1 = 4 and tab.col2 = 9</>, and there is
no multicolumn index on <literal>col1</> and <literal>col2</>,
but there is an index on <literal>col1</> and another on
<literal>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 <literal>col1</> and
<literal>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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Add two-phase commit (Heikki Linnakangas, Alvaro, Tom)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <command>PREPARE TRANSACTION</> and
<command>COMMIT/ROLLBACK PREPARED</>. A new system view
<literal>pg_prepared_xacts</> has also been added.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Create a new role system that replaces users and groups
(Stephen Frost)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Have login capability (optionally)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Own objects
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Hold access permissions for database objects
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Inherit permissions from other roles it is a member of
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
Once a user logs into a role, she obtains capabilities of
the login role plus any inherited roles, and can use
<command>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 <structname>pg_shadow</> and
<structname>pg_group</> by new role-capable catalogs
<structname>pg_authid</> and <structname>pg_auth_members</>. The old
tables are redefined as read-only views on the new role tables.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Automatically use indexes for <function>MIN()</> and
<function>MAX()</> (Tom)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
In previous releases, the only way to use an index for
<function>MIN()</> or <function>MAX()</> was to rewrite the
query as <command>SELECT col FROM tab ORDER BY col LIMIT 1</>.
Index usage now happens automatically.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Move <filename>/contrib/pg_autovacuum</> into the main server
(Alvaro)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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
<filename>postgresql.conf</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Add shared row level locks using <command>SELECT ... FOR SHARE</>
(Alvaro)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
While <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'s MVCC locking
allows <command>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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Add dependencies on shared objects, specifically roles
(Alvaro)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <quote>orphan</> objects by
deleting their owner. While this could be recovered from, it
was messy and unpleasant.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Improve performance for partitioned tables (Simon)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The new <varname>constraint_exclusion</varname> configuration
parameter avoids lookups on child tables where constraints indicate
that no matching rows exist in the child table.
</para>
<para>
This allows for a basic type of table partitioning. If child tables
store separate key ranges and this is enforced using appropriate
<command>CHECK</> constraints, the optimizer will skip child
table accesses when the constraint guarantees no matching rows
exist in the child table.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is required
for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.
</para>
<para>
The 8.0 release announced that the <function>to_char()</> function
for intervals would be removed in 8.1. However, since no better API
has been suggested, <function>to_char(interval)</> has been enhanced in
8.1 and will remain in the server.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<varname>add_missing_from</> is now false by default (Neil)
</para>
<para>
By default, we now generate an error if a table is used in a query
without a <literal>FROM</> reference. The old behavior is still
available, but the parameter must be set to 'true' to obtain it.
</para>
<para>
It might be necessary to set <varname>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-<literal>FROM</> syntax.
This should be a one-time annoyance, because
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.1 will convert
such views and rules to standard explicit-<literal>FROM</> syntax.
Subsequent dumps will therefore not have the problem.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Cause input of a zero-length string (<literal>''</literal>) for
<type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type>/<type>oid</type>
to throw an error, rather than treating it as a zero (Neil)
</para>
<para>
This change is consistent with the current handling of
zero-length strings for integers. The schedule for this change
was announced in 8.0.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<varname>default_with_oids</> is now false by default (Neil)
</para>
<para>
With this option set to false, user-created tables no longer
have an OID column unless <command>WITH OIDS</> is specified in
<command>CREATE TABLE</>. Though OIDs have existed in all
releases of <productname>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 <type>SERIAL</> type,
which have been supported since <productname>PostgreSQL</> 6.4.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>E''</> syntax so eventually ordinary strings can
treat backslashes literally (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Currently <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> processes a
backslash in a string literal as introducing a special escape sequence,
e.g. <literal>\n</> or <literal>\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
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 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 <literal>E</> immediately preceding the
single quote that starts the string, e.g. <literal>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:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<varname>standard_conforming_strings</> &mdash; does this release
treat backslashes literally in ordinary strings?
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<varname>escape_string_warning</> &mdash; warn about backslashes in
ordinary (non-E) strings
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The <varname>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 <literal>E''</> string syntax is supported.)
In a future release, <varname>standard_conforming_strings</>
will be true, meaning backslashes will be treated literally in
non-E strings. To prepare for this change, use <literal>E''</>
strings in places that need special backslash processing, and
turn on <varname>escape_string_warning</> to find additional
strings that need to be converted to use <literal>E''</>.
Also, use two single-quotes (<literal>''</>) to embed a literal
single-quote in a string, rather than the
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname>-supported syntax of
backslash single-quote (<literal>\'</>). The former is
standards-conforming and does not require the use of the
<literal>E''</> string syntax. You can also use the
<literal>$$</> string syntax, which does not treat backslashes
specially.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>REINDEX DATABASE</> reindex all indexes in the
database (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Formerly, <command>REINDEX DATABASE</> reindexed only
system tables. This new behavior seems more intuitive. A new
command <command>REINDEX SYSTEM</> provides the old functionality
of reindexing just the system tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Read-only large object descriptors now obey MVCC snapshot semantics
</para>
<para>
When a large object is opened with <literal>INV_READ</> (and not
<literal>INV_WRITE</>), the data read from the descriptor will now
reflect a <quote>snapshot</> of the large object's state at the
time of the transaction snapshot in use by the query that called
<function>lo_open()</>. To obtain the old behavior of always
returning the latest committed data, include <literal>INV_WRITE</>
in the mode flags for <function>lo_open()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add proper dependencies for arguments of sequence functions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In previous releases, sequence names passed to <function>nextval()</>,
<function>currval()</>, and <function>setval()</> were stored as
simple text strings, meaning that renaming or dropping a
sequence used in a <literal>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 <literal>DEFAULT</>
clauses immune to schema renaming and search path changes.
</para>
<para>
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 <type>text</>, for example
<literal>nextval('myseq'::text)</>.
</para>
<para>
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 <literal>DEFAULT</> clauses.
First, save this query into a file, such as <filename>fixseq.sql</>:
<programlisting>
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$$;
</programlisting>
Next, run the query against a database to find what
adjustments are required, like this for database <literal>db1</>:
<programlisting>
psql -t -f fixseq.sql db1
</programlisting>
This will show the <command>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:
<programlisting>
psql -t -f fixseq.sql db1 | psql -e db1
</programlisting>
This process must be repeated in each database to be updated.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
In <application>psql</application>, treat unquoted
<literal>\{digit}+</> sequences as octal (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
In previous releases, <literal>\{digit}+</> sequences were
treated as decimal, and only <literal>\0{digit}+</> were treated
as octal. This change was made for consistency.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove grammar productions for prefix and postfix <literal>%</>
and <literal>^</> operators
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
These have never been documented and complicated the use of the
modulus operator (<literal>%</>) with negative numbers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <literal>&amp;&lt;</> and <literal>&amp;&gt;</> for polygons
consistent with the box "over" operators (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>CREATE LANGUAGE</> can ignore the provided arguments
in favor of information from <structname>pg_pltemplate</>
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
A new system catalog <structname>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,
<command>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,
<application>pg_dump</> will dump procedural language definitions as
just <command>CREATE LANGUAGE <replaceable>name</></command>, relying
on a template entry to exist at load time. We expect this will be a
more future-proof representation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_cancel_backend(int)</function> return a
<type>boolean</type> rather than an <type>integer</type> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <command>iconv -c -f UTF-8 -t
UTF-8 -o cleanfile.sql dumpfile.sql</>. The <literal>-c</> option
removes invalid character sequences. A diff of the two files will
show the sequences that are invalid. <command>iconv</> reads the
entire input file into memory so it might be necessary to use
<application>split</> to break up the dump into multiple smaller
files for processing.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Additional Changes</title>
<para>
Below you will find a detailed account of the additional changes
between <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.1 and the
previous major release.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Performance Improvements</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve GiST and R-tree index performance (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the optimizer, including auto-resizing of hash joins
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Overhaul internal API in several areas
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change WAL record CRCs from 64-bit to 32-bit (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We determined that the extra cost of computing 64-bit CRCs was
significant, and the gain in reliability too marginal to justify it.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent writing large empty gaps in WAL pages (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve spinlock behavior on SMP machines, particularly Opterons (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow nonconsecutive index columns to be used in a multicolumn
index (Tom)
</para>
<para>
For example, this allows an index on columns a,b,c to be used in
a query with <command>WHERE a = 4 and c = 10</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Skip WAL logging for <command>CREATE TABLE AS</> /
<command>SELECT INTO</> (Simon)
</para>
<para>
Since a crash during <command>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.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow concurrent GiST index access (Teodor, Oleg)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add configuration parameter <varname>full_page_writes</> to
control writing full pages to WAL (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
To prevent partial disk writes from corrupting the database,
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <literal>O_DIRECT</> if available when using
<literal>O_SYNC</> for <varname>wal_sync_method</varname>
(Itagaki Takahiro)
</para>
<para>
<literal>O_DIRECT</> causes disk writes to bypass the kernel
cache, and for WAL writes, this improves performance.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <command>COPY FROM</> performance (Alon Goldshuv)
</para>
<para>
This was accomplished by reading <command>COPY</> input in
larger chunks, rather than character by character.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve the performance of <function>COUNT()</function>,
<function>SUM</function>, <function>AVG()</function>,
<function>STDDEV()</function>, and
<function>VARIANCE()</function> (Neil, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent problems due to transaction ID (XID) wraparound (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix problems with object IDs (OIDs) conflicting with existing system
objects after the OID counter has wrapped around (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add warning about the need to increase
<varname>max_fsm_relations</> and <varname>max_fsm_pages</>
during <command>VACUUM</> (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>temp_buffers</> configuration parameter to allow
users to determine the size of the local buffer area for
temporary table access (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add session start time and client IP address to
<literal>pg_stat_activity</> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Adjust <literal>pg_stat</> views for bitmap scans (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The meanings of some of the fields have changed slightly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enhance <literal>pg_locks</> view (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Log queries for client-side <command>PREPARE</> and
<command>EXECUTE</> (Simon)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow Kerberos name and user name case sensitivity to be
specified in <filename>postgresql.conf</> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add configuration parameter <varname>krb_server_hostname</> so
that the server host name can be specified as part of service
principal (Todd Kover)
</para>
<para>
If not set, any service principal matching an entry in the
keytab can be used. This is new Kerberos matching behavior in
this release.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <varname>log_line_prefix</> options for millisecond
timestamps (<literal>%m</>) and remote host (<literal>%h</>) (Ed
L.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add WAL logging for GiST indexes (Teodor, Oleg)
</para>
<para>
GiST indexes are now safe for crash and point-in-time recovery.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove old <filename>*.backup</> files when we do
<function>pg_stop_backup()</> (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This prevents a large number of <filename>*.backup</> files from
existing in <filename>pg_xlog/</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add configuration parameters to control TCP/IP keep-alive
times for idle, interval, and count (Oliver Jowett)
</para>
<para>
These values can be changed to allow more rapid detection of
lost client connections.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add per-user and per-database connection limits (Petr Jelinek)
</para>
<para>
Using <command>ALTER USER</> and <command>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow more than two gigabytes of shared memory and per-backend
work memory on 64-bit machines (Koichi Suzuki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New system catalog <structname>pg_pltemplate</> allows overriding
obsolete procedural-language definitions in dump files (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Query Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add temporary views (Koju Iijima, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>HAVING</> without any aggregate functions or
<command>GROUP BY</> so that the query returns a single group (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, such a case would treat the <command>HAVING</>
clause the same as a <command>WHERE</> clause. This was not per spec.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>USING</> clause to allow additional tables to be
specified to <command>DELETE</> (Euler Taveira de Oliveira, Neil)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, there was no clear method for specifying
additional tables to be used for joins in a <command>DELETE</>
statement. <command>UPDATE</> already has a <literal>FROM</>
clause for this purpose.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <literal>\x</> hex escapes in backend and ecpg
strings (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This is just like the standard C <literal>\x</> escape syntax.
Octal escapes were already supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>BETWEEN SYMMETRIC</> query syntax (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
<para>
This feature allows <command>BETWEEN</> comparisons without
requiring the first value to be less than the second. For
example, <command>2 BETWEEN [ASYMMETRIC] 3 AND 1</> returns
false, while <command>2 BETWEEN SYMMETRIC 3 AND 1</> returns
true. <command>BETWEEN ASYMMETRIC</> was already supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>NOWAIT</> option to <command>SELECT ... FOR
UPDATE/SHARE</> (Hans-Juergen Schoenig)
</para>
<para>
While the <varname>statement_timeout</> configuration
parameter allows a query taking more than a certain amount of
time to be cancelled, the <command>NOWAIT</> option allows a
query to be canceled as soon as a <command>SELECT ... FOR
UPDATE/SHARE</> command cannot immediately acquire a row lock.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Track dependencies of shared objects (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow limited <command>ALTER OWNER</> commands to be performed
by the object owner (Stephen Frost)
</para>
<para>
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).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>ALTER</> object <command>SET SCHEMA</> capability
for some object types (tables, functions, types) (Bernd Helmle)
</para>
<para>
This allows objects to be moved to different schemas.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>ALTER TABLE ENABLE/DISABLE TRIGGER</command> to
disable triggers (Satoshi Nagayasu)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Command Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>TRUNCATE</> to truncate multiple tables in a
single command (Alvaro)
</para>
<para>
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, <command>TRUNCATE</>
can be used to truncate such tables, if both tables involved in
a referential integrity constraint are truncated in a single
<command>TRUNCATE</> command.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Properly process carriage returns and line feeds in
<command>COPY CSV</> mode (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
In release 8.0, carriage returns and line feeds in <command>CSV
COPY TO</> were processed in an inconsistent manner. (This was
documented on the TODO list.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>COPY WITH CSV HEADER</> to allow a header line as
the first line in <command>COPY</> (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This allows handling of the common <command>CSV</> usage of
placing the column names on the first line of the data file. For
<command>COPY TO</>, the first line contains the column names,
and for <command>COPY FROM</>, the first line is ignored.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
On Windows, display better sub-second precision in
<command>EXPLAIN ANALYZE</> (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add trigger duration display to <command>EXPLAIN ANALYZE</>
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <literal>\x</> hex escapes in <command>COPY</>
(Sergey Ten)
</para>
<para>
Previous releases only supported octal escapes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>SHOW ALL</> include variable descriptions
(Matthias Schmidt)
</para>
<para>
<command>SHOW</> varname still only displays the variable's
value and does not include the description.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <application>initdb</application> create a new standard
database called <literal>postgres</>, and convert utilities to
use <literal>postgres</> rather than <literal>template1</> for
standard lookups (Dave)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, <literal>template1</> was used both as a
default connection for utilities like
<application>createuser</application>, and as a template for
new databases. This caused <command>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 <literal>postgres</>,
meaning it is much less likely someone will be using
<literal>template1</> during <command>CREATE DATABASE</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create new <application>reindexdb</application> command-line
utility by moving <filename>/contrib/reindexdb</> into the
server (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Data Type and Function Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>MAX()</> and <function>MIN()</> aggregates for
array types (Koju Iijima)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>to_date()</> and <function>to_timestamp()</> to
behave reasonably when <literal>CC</> and <literal>YY</> fields
are both used (Karel Zak)
</para>
<para>
If the format specification contains <literal>CC</> and a year
specification is <literal>YYY</> or longer, ignore the
<literal>CC</>. If the year specification is <literal>YY</> or
shorter, interpret <literal>CC</> as the previous century.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>md5(bytea)</> (Abhijit Menon-Sen)
</para>
<para>
<function>md5(text)</> already existed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <command>numeric ^ numeric</> based on
<function>power(numeric, numeric)</>
</para>
<para>
The function already existed, but there was no operator assigned
to it.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <type>NUMERIC</> modulus by properly truncating the quotient
during computation (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
In previous releases, modulus for large values sometimes
returned negative results due to rounding of the quotient.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a function <function>lastval()</> (Dennis Bj&ouml;rklund)
</para>
<para>
<function>lastval()</> is a simplified version of
<function>currval()</>. It automatically determines the proper
sequence name based on the most recent <function>nextval()</> or
<function>setval()</> call performed by the current session.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>to_timestamp(DOUBLE PRECISION) (Michael Glaesemann)</>
</para>
<para>
Converts Unix seconds since 1970 to a <type>TIMESTAMP WITH
TIMEZONE</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>pg_postmaster_start_time()</> function (Euler
Taveira de Oliveira, Matthias Schmidt)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the full use of time zone names in <command>AT TIME
ZONE</>, not just the short list previously available (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
Previously, only a predefined list of time zone names were
supported by <command>AT TIME ZONE</>. Now any supported time
zone name can be used, e.g.:
<programlisting>
SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP AT TIME ZONE 'Europe/London';
</programlisting>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>GREATEST()</> and <function>LEAST()</> variadic
functions (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
<para>
These functions take a variable number of arguments and return
the greatest or least value among the arguments.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>pg_column_size()</> (Mark Kirkwood)
</para>
<para>
This returns storage size of a column, which might be compressed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>regexp_replace()</> (Atsushi Ogawa)
</para>
<para>
This allows regular expression replacement, like sed. An optional
flag argument allows selection of global (replace all) and
case-insensitive modes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix interval division and multiplication (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Previous versions sometimes returned unjustified results, like
<command>'4 months'::interval / 5</> returning <command>'1 mon
-6 days'</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix roundoff behavior in timestamp, time, and interval output (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fixes some cases in which the seconds field would be shown as
<literal>60</> instead of incrementing the higher-order fields.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a separate day field to type <type>interval</> so a one day
interval can be distinguished from a 24 hour interval (Michael
Glaesemann)
</para>
<para>
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 <quote>so many days</>
and intervals of <quote>so many hours</>. Adding
<literal>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 <literal>24 hours</> will give a different
local time when this happens. For example, under US DST rules:
<programlisting>
'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'
</programlisting>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>justify_days()</> and <function>justify_hours()</>
(Michael Glaesemann)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move <filename>/contrib/dbsize</> into the backend, and rename
some of the functions (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug)
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_tablespace_size()</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_database_size()</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_relation_size()</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_total_relation_size()</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_size_pretty()</>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
<function>pg_total_relation_size()</> includes indexes and TOAST
tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add functions for read-only file access to the cluster directory
(Dave Page, Andreas Pflug)
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_stat_file()</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_read_file()</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>pg_ls_dir()</>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>pg_reload_conf()</> to force reloading of the
configuration files (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>pg_rotate_logfile()</> to force rotation of the
server log file (Dave Page, Andreas Pflug)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <literal>pg_stat_*</> views to include TOAST tables (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Encoding and Locale Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename some encodings to be more consistent and to follow
international standards (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>UNICODE</> is now <literal>UTF8</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>ALT</> is now <literal>WIN866</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>WIN</> is now <literal>WIN1251</>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>TCVN</> is now <literal>WIN1258</>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
The original names still work.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <literal>WIN1252</> encoding (Roland Volkmann)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for four-byte <literal>UTF8</> characters (John
Hansen)
</para>
<para>
Previously only one, two, and three-byte <literal>UTF8</> characters
were supported. This is particularly important for support for
some Chinese character sets.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow direct conversion between <literal>EUC_JP</> and
<literal>SJIS</> to improve performance (Atsushi Ogawa)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the UTF8 encoding to work on Windows (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
This is done by mapping UTF8 to the Windows-native UTF16
implementation.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>General Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME</> (Sergey Yatskevich)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow function characteristics, like strictness and volatility,
to be modified via <command>ALTER FUNCTION</> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Increase the maximum number of function arguments to 100 (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow SQL and PL/PgSQL functions to use <command>OUT</> and
<command>INOUT</> parameters (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<command>OUT</> is an alternate way for a function to return
values. Instead of using <command>RETURN</>, values can be
returned by assigning to parameters declared as <command>OUT</> or
<command>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.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move language handler functions into the <literal>pg_catalog</> schema
</para>
<para>
This makes it easier to drop the public schema if desired.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>SPI_getnspname()</function> to SPI (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/PgSQL Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Overhaul the memory management of PL/PgSQL functions (Neil)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Check function syntax at <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> time,
rather than at runtime (Neil)
</para>
<para>
Previously, most syntax errors were reported only when the
function was executed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>OPEN</> to open non-<command>SELECT</> queries
like <command>EXPLAIN</> and <command>SHOW</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
No longer require functions to issue a <command>RETURN</>
statement (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is a byproduct of the newly added <command>OUT</> and
<command>INOUT</> functionality. <command>RETURN</> can
be omitted when it is not needed to provide the function's
return value.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for an optional <command>INTO</> clause to
PL/PgSQL's <command>EXECUTE</> statement (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE TABLE AS</> set <command>ROW_COUNT</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Define <literal>SQLSTATE</> and <literal>SQLERRM</> to return
the <literal>SQLSTATE</> and error message of the current
exception (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
</para>
<para>
These variables are only defined inside exception blocks.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the parameters to the <command>RAISE</> statement to be
expressions (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a loop <command>CONTINUE</> statement (Pavel Stehule, Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow block and loop labels (Pavel Stehule)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/Perl Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow large result sets to be returned efficiently (Abhijit
Menon-Sen)
</para>
<para>
This allows functions to use <function>return_next()</> to avoid
building the entire result set in memory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow one-row-at-a-time retrieval of query results (Abhijit Menon-Sen)
</para>
<para>
This allows functions to use <function>spi_query()</> and
<function>spi_fetchrow()</> to avoid accumulating the entire
result set in memory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Force PL/Perl to handle strings as <literal>UTF8</> if the
server encoding is <literal>UTF8</> (David Kamholz)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a validator function for PL/Perl (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This allows syntax errors to be reported at definition time,
rather than execution time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow PL/Perl to return a Perl array when the function returns
an array type (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This basically maps <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> arrays
to Perl arrays.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow Perl nonfatal warnings to generate <command>NOTICE</>
messages (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow Perl's <literal>strict</> mode to be enabled (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>psql</> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>\set ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</> to allow statements in
a transaction to error without affecting the rest of the
transaction (Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
<para>
This is basically implemented by wrapping every statement in a
sub-transaction.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <literal>\x</> hex strings in
<application>psql</> variables (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Octal escapes were already supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <command>troff -ms</> output format (Roger
Leigh)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the history file location to be controlled by
<envar>HISTFILE</> (Andreas Seltenreich)
</para>
<para>
This allows configuration of per-database history storage.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>\x</> (expanded mode) from affecting
the output of <command>\d tablename</> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>-L</> option to <application>psql</application> to
log sessions (Lorne Sunley)
</para>
<para>
This option was added because some operating systems do not have
simple command-line activity logging functionality.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>\d</> show the tablespaces of indexes (Qingqing
Zhou)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>psql</application> help (<command>\h</>) to
make a best guess on the proper help information (Greg Sabino
Mullane)
</para>
<para>
This allows the user to just add <command>\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 <command>\h</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>\pset numericlocale</> to allow numbers to be
output in a locale-aware format (Eugen Nedelcu)
</para>
<para>
For example, using <literal>C</> locale <literal>100000</> would
be output as <literal>100,000.0</> while a European locale might
output this value as <literal>100.000,0</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make startup banner show both server version number and
<application>psql</>'s version number, when they are different (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Also, a warning will be shown if the server and <application>psql</>
are from different major releases.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>pg_dump</> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>-n</> / <option>--schema</> switch to
<application>pg_restore</> (Richard van den Berg)
</para>
<para>
This allows just the objects in a specified schema to be restored.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>pg_dump</> to dump large objects even in
text mode (Tom)
</para>
<para>
With this change, large objects are now always dumped; the former
<option>-b</> switch is a no-op.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>pg_dump</> to dump a consistent snapshot of
large objects (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Dump comments for large objects (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>--encoding</> to <application>pg_dump</>
(Magnus Hagander)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rely on <structname>pg_pltemplate</> for procedural languages (Tom)
</para>
<para>
If the call handler for a procedural language is in the
<literal>pg_catalog</> schema, <application>pg_dump</> does not
dump the handler. Instead, it dumps the language using just
<command>CREATE LANGUAGE <replaceable>name</></command>,
relying on the <structname>pg_pltemplate</> catalog to provide
the language's creation parameters at load time.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>libpq</application> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a <envar>PGPASSFILE</> environment variable to specify the
password file's filename (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>lo_create()</>, that is similar to
<function>lo_creat()</> but allows the OID of the large object
to be specified (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <application>libpq</application> consistently return an error
to the client application on <function>malloc()</function>
failure (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pgxs</> to support building against a relocated
installation
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add spinlock support for the Itanium processor using Intel
compiler (Vikram Kalsi)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add Kerberos 5 support for Windows (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add Chinese FAQ (laser@pgsqldb.com)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename Rendezvous to Bonjour to match OS/X feature renaming
(Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add support for <literal>fsync_writethrough</literal> on
Darwin (Chris Campbell)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Streamline the passing of information within the server, the
optimizer, and the lock system (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>pg_config</> to be compiled using MSVC (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
This is required to build DBD::Pg using <application>MSVC</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove support for Kerberos V4 (Magnus)
</para>
<para>
Kerberos 4 had security vulnerabilities and is no longer
maintained.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Code cleanups (Coverity static analysis performed by
EnterpriseDB)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Modify <filename>postgresql.conf</> to use documentation defaults
<literal>on</>/<literal>off</> rather than
<literal>true</>/<literal>false</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Enhance <application>pg_config</> to be able to report more
build-time values (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>libpq</application> to be built thread-safe
on Windows (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow IPv6 connections to be used on Windows (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add Server Administration documentation about I/O subsystem
reliability (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move private declarations from <filename>gist.h</filename> to
<filename>gist_private.h</filename> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
In previous releases, <filename>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, <filename>gist_private.h</>. Most GiST
index implementations should be unaffected.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Overhaul GiST memory management (Neil)
</para>
<para>
GiST methods are now always invoked in a short-lived memory
context. Therefore, memory allocated via <function>palloc()</>
will be reclaimed automatically, so GiST index implementations
do not need to manually release allocated memory via
<function>pfree()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <filename>/contrib/pg_buffercache</> contrib module (Mark
Kirkwood)
</para>
<para>
This displays the contents of the buffer cache, for debugging and
performance tuning purposes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <filename>/contrib/array</> because it is obsolete (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean up the <filename>/contrib/lo</> module (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Move <filename>/contrib/findoidjoins</> to
<filename>/src/tools</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove the <literal>&lt;&lt;</>, <literal>&gt;&gt;</>,
<literal>&amp;&lt;</>, and <literal>&amp;&gt;</> operators from
<filename>/contrib/cube</>
</para>
<para>
These operators were not useful.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <filename>/contrib/btree_gist</> (Janko Richter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <filename>/contrib/pgbench</> (Tomoaki Sato, Tatsuo)
</para>
<para>
There is now a facility for testing with SQL command scripts given
by the user, instead of only a hard-wired command sequence.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <filename>/contrib/pgcrypto</> (Marko Kreen)
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Implementation of OpenPGP symmetric-key and public-key encryption
</para>
<para>
Both RSA and Elgamal public-key algorithms are supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Stand alone build: include SHA256/384/512 hashes, Fortuna PRNG
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
OpenSSL build: support 3DES, use internal AES with OpenSSL &lt; 0.9.7
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Take build parameters (OpenSSL, zlib) from <filename>configure</> result
</para>
<para>
There is no need to edit the <filename>Makefile</> anymore.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove support for <filename>libmhash</> and <filename>libmcrypt</>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-21">
<title>Release 8.0.21</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-03-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.20.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.21</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent error recursion crashes when encoding conversion fails (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change extends fixes made in the last two minor releases for
related failure scenarios. The previous fixes were narrowly tailored
for the original problem reports, but we have now recognized that
<emphasis>any</> error thrown by an encoding conversion function could
potentially lead to infinite recursion while trying to report the
error. The solution therefore is to disable translation and encoding
conversion and report the plain-ASCII form of any error message,
if we find we have gotten into a recursive error reporting situation.
(CVE-2009-0922)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>CREATE CONVERSION</> with the wrong encodings
for the specified conversion function (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This prevents one possible scenario for encoding conversion failure.
The previous change is a backstop to guard against other kinds of
failures in the same area.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump when <function>to_char()</> is given format codes that
are inappropriate for the type of the data argument (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>MUST</> (Mauritius Island Summer Time) to the default list
of known timezone abbreviations (Xavier Bugaud)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-20">
<title>Release 8.0.20</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-02-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.19.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.20</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of URLs in <function>headline()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of overlength headlines in <function>headline()</>
function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible Assert failure or misconversion if an encoding
conversion is created with the wrong conversion function for the
specified pair of encodings (Tom, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid unnecessary locking of small tables in <command>VACUUM</>
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix uninitialized variables in <filename>contrib/tsearch2</>'s
<function>get_covers()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make all documentation reference <literal>pgsql-bugs</> and/or
<literal>pgsql-hackers</> as appropriate, instead of the
now-decommissioned <literal>pgsql-ports</> and <literal>pgsql-patches</>
mailing lists (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2009a (for
Kathmandu and historical DST corrections in Switzerland, Cuba)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-19">
<title>Release 8.0.19</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-11-03</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.18.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.19</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix backend crash when the client encoding cannot represent a localized
error message (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We have addressed similar issues before, but it would still fail if
the <quote>character has no equivalent</> message itself couldn't
be converted. The fix is to disable localization and send the plain
ASCII error message when we detect such a situation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible crash when deeply nested functions are invoked from
a trigger (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure an error is reported when a newly-defined PL/pgSQL trigger
function is invoked as a normal function (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect tsearch2 headline generation when single query
item matches first word of text (Sushant Sinha)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix improper display of fractional seconds in interval values when
using a non-ISO datestyle in an <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</>
build (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <function>SPI_getvalue</> and <function>SPI_getbinval</>
behave correctly when the passed tuple and tuple descriptor have
different numbers of columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This situation is normal when a table has had columns added or removed,
but these two functions didn't handle it properly.
The only likely consequence is an incorrect error indication.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</>'s parsing of <command>CREATE USER</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix recent breakage of <literal>pg_ctl restart</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008i (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Brazil, Mauritius, Syria)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-18">
<title>Release 8.0.18</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-09-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.17.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.18</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Widen local lock counters from 32 to 64 bits (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This responds to reports that the counters could overflow in
sufficiently long transactions, leading to unexpected <quote>lock is
already held</> errors.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add checks in executor startup to ensure that the tuples produced by an
<command>INSERT</> or <command>UPDATE</> will match the target table's
current rowtype (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<command>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</>, followed by re-use of a previously
cached plan, could produce this type of situation. The check protects
against data corruption and/or crashes that could ensue.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix datetime input functions to correctly detect integer overflow when
running on a 64-bit platform (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of writing very long log messages to syslog (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in backwards scanning of a cursor on a <literal>SELECT DISTINCT
ON</> query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner to estimate that <literal>GROUP BY</> expressions yielding
boolean results always result in two groups, regardless of the
expressions' contents (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is very substantially more accurate than the regular <literal>GROUP
BY</> estimate for certain boolean tests like <replaceable>col</>
<literal>IS NULL</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Tcl to behave correctly with Tcl 8.5, and to be more careful
about the encoding of data sent to or from Tcl (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to work with Python 2.5
</para>
<para>
This is a back-port of fixes made during the 8.2 development cycle.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_restore</>'s
error reporting after failure to send a SQL command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to properly preserve postmaster
command-line arguments across a <literal>restart</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008f (for
DST law changes in Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Mauritius, Morocco,
Pakistan, Palestine, and Paraguay)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-17">
<title>Release 8.0.17</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-06-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one serious bug fix over 8.0.16.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.17</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> parenthesize negative constants (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Before this fix, a negative constant in a view or rule might be dumped
as, say, <literal>-42::integer</>, which is subtly incorrect: it should
be <literal>(-42)::integer</> due to operator precedence rules.
Usually this would make little difference, but it could interact with
another recent patch to cause
<productname>PostgreSQL</> to reject what had been a valid
<command>SELECT DISTINCT</> view query. Since this could result in
<application>pg_dump</> output failing to reload, it is being treated
as a high-priority fix. The only released versions in which dump
output is actually incorrect are 8.3.1 and 8.2.7.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-16">
<title>Release 8.0.16</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>never released</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.15.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.16</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN ... PRIMARY KEY</> so that the new
column is correctly checked to see if it's been initialized to all
non-nulls (Brendan Jurd)
</para>
<para>
Previous versions neglected to check this requirement at all.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible <command>CREATE TABLE</> failure when inheriting the
<quote>same</> constraint from multiple parent relations that
inherited that constraint from a common ancestor (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix conversions between ISO-8859-5 and other encodings to handle
Cyrillic <quote>Yo</> characters (<literal>e</> and <literal>E</> with
two dots) (Sergey Burladyan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a few datatype input functions
that were allowing unused bytes in their results to contain
uninitialized, unpredictable values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could lead to failures in which two apparently identical literal
values were not seen as equal, resulting in the parser complaining
about unmatched <literal>ORDER BY</> and <literal>DISTINCT</>
expressions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a corner case in regular-expression substring matching
(<literal>substring(<replaceable>string</> from
<replaceable>pattern</>)</literal>) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The problem occurs when there is a match to the pattern overall but
the user has specified a parenthesized subexpression and that
subexpression hasn't got a match. An example is
<literal>substring('foo' from 'foo(bar)?')</>.
This should return NULL, since <literal>(bar)</> isn't matched, but
it was mistakenly returning the whole-pattern match instead (ie,
<literal>foo</>).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2008c (for
DST law changes in Morocco, Iraq, Choibalsan, Pakistan, Syria, Cuba,
Argentina/San_Luis, and Chile)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect result from <application>ecpg</>'s
<function>PGTYPEStimestamp_sub()</> function (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump in <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s
<function>xpath_table()</> function when the input query returns a
NULL value (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <filename>contrib/xml2</>'s makefile to not override
<literal>CFLAGS</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>DatumGetBool</> macro to not fail with <application>gcc</>
4.3 (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This problem affects <quote>old style</> (V0) C functions that
return boolean. The fix is already in 8.3, but the need to
back-patch it was not realized at the time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix longstanding <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</>
race condition (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In rare cases a session that had just executed a
<command>LISTEN</> might not get a notification, even though
one would be expected because the concurrent transaction executing
<command>NOTIFY</> was observed to commit later.
</para>
<para>
A side effect of the fix is that a transaction that has executed
a not-yet-committed <command>LISTEN</> command will not see any
row in <structname>pg_listener</> for the <command>LISTEN</>,
should it choose to look; formerly it would have. This behavior
was never documented one way or the other, but it is possible that
some applications depend on the old behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare crash when an error occurs during a query using a hash index
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix input of datetime values for February 29 in years BC (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The former coding was mistaken about which years were leap years.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>unrecognized node type</> error in some variants of
<command>ALTER OWNER</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_ctl</> to correctly extract the postmaster's port
number from command-line options (Itagaki Takahiro, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Previously, <literal>pg_ctl start -w</> could try to contact the
postmaster on the wrong port, leading to bogus reports of startup
failure.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <option>-fwrapv</> to defend against possible misoptimization
in recent <application>gcc</> versions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is known to be necessary when building <productname>PostgreSQL</>
with <application>gcc</> 4.3 or later.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix display of constant expressions in <literal>ORDER BY</>
and <literal>GROUP BY</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
An explictly casted constant would be shown incorrectly. This could
for example lead to corruption of a view definition during
dump and reload.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>libpq</> to handle NOTICE messages correctly
during COPY OUT (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This failure has only been observed to occur when a user-defined
datatype's output routine issues a NOTICE, but there is no
guarantee it couldn't happen due to other causes.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-15">
<title>Release 8.0.15</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-01-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.14,
including fixes for significant security issues.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<para>
This is the last 8.0.X release for which the <productname>PostgreSQL</>
community will produce binary packages for <productname>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.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.15</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of
the user running <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, etc (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <command>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 <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, <command>REINDEX</>,
and <command>CLUSTER</>) to execute as the table owner rather than
the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already
used for <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> functions. To prevent bypassing
this security measure, execution of <command>SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</> and <command>SET ROLE</> is now forbidden within a
<literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> context. (CVE-2007-6600)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry)
</para>
<para>
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)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
<para>
The fix that appeared for this in 8.0.14 was incomplete, as it plugged
the hole for only some <filename>dblink</> functions. (CVE-2007-6601,
CVE-2007-3278)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update time zone data files to <application>tzdata</> release 2007k
(in particular, recent Argentina changes) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner failure in some cases of <literal>WHERE false AND var IN
(SELECT ...)</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Preserve the tablespace of indexes that are
rebuilt by <command>ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make archive recovery always start a new WAL timeline, rather than only
when a recovery stop time was used (Simon)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>VACUUM</> not use all of <varname>maintenance_work_mem</>
when the table is too small for it to be useful (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential crash in <function>translate()</> when using a multibyte
database encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Perl to cope when platform's Perl defines type <literal>bool</>
as <literal>int</> rather than <literal>char</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
While this could theoretically happen anywhere, no standard build of
Perl did things this way ... until <productname>Mac OS X</> 10.5.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>pg_dump</> to correctly handle inheritance child tables
that have default expressions different from their parent's (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>ecpg</> parser fixes (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/tablefunc</>'s <function>crosstab()</> handle
NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <type>tsvector</> and <type>tsquery</> output routines to
escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash of <function>to_tsvector()</> on huge input strings (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require a specific version of <productname>Autoconf</> to be used
when re-generating the <command>configure</> script (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made
to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of
<productname>Autoconf</> and <productname>PostgreSQL</> versions.
You can remove the version check if you really want to use a
different <productname>Autoconf</> version, but it's
your responsibility whether the result works or not.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-14">
<title>Release 8.0.14</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-09-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.13.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.14</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and
then aborts close to the end of a concurrent <command>VACUUM</>
on the same table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL</> work properly (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix excessive logging of <acronym>SSL</> error messages (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix logging so that log messages are never interleaved when using
the syslogger process (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash when <varname>log_min_error_statement</> logging runs out
of memory (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect handling of some foreign-key corner cases (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>CLUSTER</> from failing
due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update the time zone database rules, particularly New Zealand's upcoming changes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Windows socket improvements (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Suppress timezone name (<literal>%Z</>) in log timestamps on Windows
because of possible encoding mismatches (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-13">
<title>Release 8.0.13</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-04-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.12,
including a security fix.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.13</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within
<varname>search_path</>, and disable searching it for functions
and operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a
truly secure value of <varname>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 <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> for more information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> crash fixes (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how <command>VACUUM FULL</> handles
<command>UPDATE</> chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 8.0.10)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix POSIX-style timezone specs to follow new USA DST rules (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-12">
<title>Release 8.0.12</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one fix from 8.0.11.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.12</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove overly-restrictive check for type length in constraints and
functional indexes(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-11">
<title>Release 8.0.11</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.10, including
a security fix.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.11</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove security vulnerabilities that allowed connected users
to read backend memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail
due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by <literal>UNION</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences
over three bytes long (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-10">
<title>Release 8.0.10</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-01-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.9.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.10</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of <function>getaddrinfo()</> on AIX (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector,
among other things.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>failed to re-find parent key</> errors in
<command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix race condition for truncation of a large relation across a
gigabyte boundary by <command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix possible deadlock in Windows signal handling (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix error when constructing an <literal>ARRAY[]</> made up of multiple
empty elements (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix ecpg memory leak during connection (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>to_number()</> and <function>to_char(numeric)</>
are now <literal>STABLE</>, not <literal>IMMUTABLE</>, for
new <application>initdb</> installs (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is because <varname>lc_numeric</> can potentially
change the output of these functions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves <application>psql</> <literal>\d</> performance also.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update timezone database
</para>
<para>
This affects Australian and Canadian daylight-savings rules in
particular.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-9">
<title>Release 8.0.9</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-10-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.8.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.9</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix crash when referencing <literal>NEW</> row
values in rule WHERE expressions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as
ANYARRAY</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix mishandling of AFTER triggers when query contains a SQL
function returning multiple rows (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>ALTER TABLE ... TYPE</> to recheck
<literal>NOT NULL</> for <literal>USING</> clause (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>string_to_array()</> to handle overlapping
matches for the separator string</para>
<para>For example, <literal>string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx')</>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix corner cases in pattern matching for
<application>psql</>'s <literal>\d</> commands</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree
(Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Numerous robustness fixes in <application>ecpg</> (Joachim
Wieland)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix instability of statistics collection on Win32 (Tom, Andrew)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for <systemitem class="osname">AIX</> and
<productname>Intel</> compilers (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-8">
<title>Release 8.0.8</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-05-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.7,
including patches for extremely serious security issues.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.8</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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 <application>libpq</>'s
<function>PQescapeStringConn()</>) to perform string escaping,
rather than relying on <foreignphrase>ad hoc</> code to do it.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte
characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom)</para>
<para>While <productname>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reject unsafe uses of <literal>\'</> in string literals</para>
<para>As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type
described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts <literal>''</> and not
<literal>\'</> as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string
literals. By default, <literal>\'</> is rejected only when
<varname>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 <varname>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
<varname>backslash_quote</> is in part to make it obvious that insecure
clients are insecure.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify <application>libpq</>'s string-escaping routines to be
aware of encoding considerations and
<varname>standard_conforming_strings</></para>
<para>This fixes <application>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 <productname>PostgreSQL</> connections
concurrently should migrate to <function>PQescapeStringConn()</> and
<function>PQescapeByteaConn()</> to ensure that escaping is done correctly
for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that
do string escaping <quote>by hand</> should be modified to rely on library
routines instead.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions</para>
<para><function>win1251_to_iso</>, <function>alt_to_iso</>,
<function>euc_tw_to_big5</>, <function>euc_tw_to_mic</>,
<function>mic_to_euc_tw</> were all broken to varying
extents.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Clean up stray remaining uses of <literal>\'</> in strings
(Bruce, Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug that sometimes caused OR'd index scans to
miss rows they should have returned</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix WAL replay for case where a btree index has been
truncated</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <literal>SIMILAR TO</> for patterns involving
<literal>|</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>SELECT INTO</> and <command>CREATE TABLE AS</> to
create tables in the default tablespace, not the base directory (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael
Fuhr)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for Bonjour on Intel Macs (Ashley Clark)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix various minor memory leaks</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with password prompting on some Win32 systems
(Robert Kinberg)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-7">
<title>Release 8.0.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-02-14</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.6.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.7</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix potential crash in <command>SET
SESSION AUTHORIZATION</> (CVE-2006-0553)</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted
rows (Tom)</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition that could lead to <quote>file already
exists</> errors during pg_clog and pg_subtrans file creation
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix cases that could lead to crashes if a cache-invalidation
message arrives at just the wrong time (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly check <literal>DOMAIN</> constraints for
<literal>UNKNOWN</> parameters in prepared statements
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure <command>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> will process
<literal>FOREIGN KEY</>, <literal>UNIQUE</>, and <literal>PRIMARY KEY</>
constraints in the proper order (Nakano Yoshihisa)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema
references to custom operators or operator classes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <application>pg_restore</> to continue properly after a
<command>COPY</> failure; formerly it tried to treat the remaining
<command>COPY</> data as SQL commands (Stephen Frost)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_ctl</> <literal>unregister</> crash
when the data directory is not specified (Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>ecpg</> crash on AMD64 and PPC
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Recover properly if error occurs during argument passing
in <application>PL/python</> (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>PL/perl</>'s handling of locales on
Win32 to match the backend (Andrew)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix crash when <literal>log_min_messages</> is set to
<literal>DEBUG3</> or above in <filename>postgresql.conf</> on Win32
(Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pgxs</> <literal>-L</> library path
specification for Win32, Cygwin, OS X, AIX (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check that SID is enabled while checking for Win32 admin
privileges (Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly reject out-of-range date inputs (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Portability fix for testing presence of <function>finite</>
and <function>isinf</> during configure (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-6">
<title>Release 8.0.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-01-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.5.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.6</title>
<para>
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 <command>REINDEX</> indexes on textual
columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or
<application>plperl</> issues described below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix Windows code so that postmaster will continue rather
than exit if there is no more room in ShmemBackendArray (Magnus)</para>
<para>The previous behavior could lead to a denial-of-service situation if too
many connection requests arrive close together. This applies
<emphasis>only</> to the Windows port.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued
outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix character string comparison for locales that consider
different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom)</para>
<para>This might require <command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup
to ensure that <application>plperl</> won't change the locale later</para>
<para>This fixes a problem that occurred if the <application>postmaster</> was
started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what
<application>initdb</> had been told. Under these conditions, any use of
<application>plperl</> was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need
<command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns if this has happened to you.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow more flexible relocation of installation
directories (Tom)</para>
<para>Previous releases supported relocation only if all installation
directory paths were the same except for the last component.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression
handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various fixes for functions returning <literal>RECORD</>s
(Tom) </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in <filename>/contrib/pgcrypto</> gen_salt,
which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and
XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer)</para>
<para>Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>/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)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-5">
<title>Release 8.0.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-12-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.4.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.5</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition in transaction log management</para>
<para>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.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bgwriter problems after recovering from errors
(Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message
when current transaction is already aborted</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><filename>/contrib/ltree</> fixes (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AIX and HPUX compile fixes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Retry file reads and writes after Windows
NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES error (Qingqing Zhou)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix intermittent failure when <varname>log_line_prefix</>
includes <literal>%i</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>psql</> performance issue with long scripts
on Windows (Merlin Moncure)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix missing updates of <filename>pg_group</> flat
file</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins</para>
<para>This bug sometimes caused a bogus error <quote>RIGHT JOIN is
only supported with merge-joinable join conditions</>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Postpone timezone initialization until after
<filename>postmaster.pid</> is created</para>
<para>This avoids confusing startup scripts that expect the pid file to appear
quickly.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent core dump in <application>pg_autovacuum</> when a
table has been dropped</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with whole-row references (<literal>foo.*</>)
to subquery results</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-4">
<title>Release 8.0.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-10-04</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.3.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.4</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix error that allowed <command>VACUUM</> to remove
<literal>ctid</> chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows
<literal>ctid</> links</para>
<para>This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare
circumstances.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <type>CHAR()</> to properly pad spaces to the specified
length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba)</para>
<para>In prior releases, the padding of <type>CHAR()</> was incorrect
because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without
considering how many characters were stored.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Force a checkpoint before committing <command>CREATE
DATABASE</></para>
<para>This should fix recent reports of <quote>index is not a btree</>
failures when a crash occurs shortly after <command>CREATE
DATABASE</>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix the sense of the test for read-only transaction
in <command>COPY</></para>
<para>The code formerly prohibited <command>COPY TO</>, where it should
prohibit <command>COPY FROM</>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle consecutive embedded newlines in <command>COPY</>
CSV-mode input</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>date_trunc(week)</> for dates near year
end</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planning problem with outer-join ON clauses that reference
only the inner-side relation</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Further fixes for <literal>x FULL JOIN y ON true</> corner
cases</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix overenthusiastic optimization of <literal>x IN (SELECT
DISTINCT ...)</> and related cases</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix mis-planning of queries with small <literal>LIMIT</>
values due to poorly thought out <quote>fuzzy</> cost
comparison</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <function>array_in</> and <function>array_recv</> more
paranoid about validating their OID parameter</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix missing rows in queries like <literal>UPDATE a=... WHERE
a...</> with GiST index on column <literal>a</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve robustness of datetime parsing</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve checking for partially-written WAL
pages</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is
enabled</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve MIPS and M68K spinlock code</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Don't try to open more than <literal>max_files_per_process</>
files during postmaster startup</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various memory leakage fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various portability improvements</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update timezone data files</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve handling of DLL load failures on Windows</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve random-number generation on Windows</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <literal>psql -f filename</> return a nonzero exit code
when opening the file fails</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change <application>pg_dump</> to handle inherited check
constraints more reliably</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix password prompting in <application>pg_restore</> on
Windows</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PL/PgSQL to handle <literal>var := var</> correctly when
the variable is of pass-by-reference type</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PL/Perl <literal>%_SHARED</> so it's actually
shared</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/pg_autovacuum</> to allow sleep
intervals over 2000 sec</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> to use current Snowball
code</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-3">
<title>Release 8.0.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-05-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.2, including several
security-related issues.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.3</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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.)
</para>
<para>
The lesser problem is that the <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> module
creates several functions that are improperly declared to return
<type>internal</> when they do not accept <type>internal</> arguments.
This breaks type safety for all functions using <type>internal</>
arguments.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the same manual repair
procedures shown in the <link linkend="release-7-4-8">7.4.8 release
notes</link>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change encoding function signature to prevent
misuse</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> to avoid unsafe use of
<type>INTERNAL</> function results</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Guard against incorrect second parameter to
<function>record_out</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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</para>
<para>This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent
data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair race condition between relation extension and
VACUUM</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix comparisons of <type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para>
<para>
The comparison code was wrong in the case where the
<literal>--enable-integer-datetimes</> configuration switch had been used.
NOTE: if you have an index on a <type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> column,
it will need to be <command>REINDEX</>ed after installing this update, because
the fix corrects the sort order of column values.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>EXTRACT(EPOCH)</> for
<type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in
<type>INTERVAL</> values</para>
<para>
This error only occurred when the
<literal>--enable-integer-datetimes</> configuration switch had been used.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing <literal>%</>
correctly (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Still more 64-bit fixes for
<filename>contrib/intagg</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning
<type>RECORD</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent crash on <literal>COALESCE(NULL,NULL)</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix Borland makefile for libpq</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/btree_gist</> for <type>timetz</> type
(Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <command>pg_ctl</> check the PID found in
<filename>postmaster.pid</> to see if it is still a live
process</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>pg_dump</>/<command>pg_restore</> problems caused
by addition of dump timestamps</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix interaction between materializing holdable cursors and
firing deferred triggers during transaction commit</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix memory leak in SQL functions returning pass-by-reference
data types</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-2">
<title>Release 8.0.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-04-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.1.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.*.
This release updates the major version number of the
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> libraries, so it might be
necessary to re-link some user applications if they cannot
find the properly-numbered shared library.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Increment the major version number of all interface
libraries (Bruce)</para>
<para>
This should have been done in 8.0.0. It is required so 7.4.X versions
of PostgreSQL client applications, like <application>psql</>,
can be used on the same machine as 8.0.X applications. This might require
re-linking user applications that use these libraries.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add Windows-only <varname>wal_sync_method</> setting of
<option>fsync_writethrough</> (Magnus, Bruce)</para>
<para>
This setting causes <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> to write through
any disk-drive write cache when writing to WAL.
This behavior was formerly called <option>fsync</>, but was
renamed because it acts quite differently from <option>fsync</> on other
platforms.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable the <varname>wal_sync_method</> setting of
<option>open_datasync</> on Windows, and make it the default for that
platform (Magnus, Bruce)</para>
<para>
Because the default is no longer <option>fsync_writethrough</>,
data loss is possible during a power failure if the disk drive has
write caching enabled. To turn off the write cache on Windows,
from the <application>Device Manager</>, choose the drive properties,
then <literal>Policies</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New cache management algorithm <acronym>2Q</> replaces
<acronym>ARC</> (Tom)</para>
<para>
This was done to avoid a pending US patent on <acronym>ARC</>. The
<acronym>2Q</> code might be a few percentage points slower than
<acronym>ARC</> for some work loads. A better cache management algorithm
will appear in 8.1.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Planner adjustments to improve behavior on freshly-created
tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow plpgsql to assign to an element of an array that is
initially <literal>NULL</> (Tom)</para>
<para>
Formerly the array would remain <literal>NULL</>, but now it becomes a
single-element array. The main SQL engine was changed to handle
<command>UPDATE</> of a null array value this way in 8.0, but the similar
case in plpgsql was overlooked.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Convert <literal>\r\n</> and <literal>\r</> to <literal>\n</>
in plpython function bodies (Michael Fuhr)</para>
<para>
This prevents syntax errors when plpython code is written on a Windows or
Mac client.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow SPI cursors to handle utility commands that return rows,
such as <command>EXPLAIN</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>CLUSTER</> failure after <command>ALTER TABLE
SET WITHOUT OIDS</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reduce memory usage of <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN</>
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Document the Windows-only <literal>register</> and
<literal>unregister</> options of <application>pg_ctl</> (Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by
statistics collector</para>
<para>
This is expected to resolve reports of <application>pg_autovacuum</>
not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough &mdash; it was not being
told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during
backend exit.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change the Windows default for configuration parameter
<varname>log_destination</> to <option>eventlog</> (Magnus)</para>
<para>
By default, a server running on Windows will now send log output to the
Windows event logger rather than standard error.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make Kerberos authentication work on Windows (Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <command>ALTER DATABASE RENAME</> by superusers
who aren't flagged as having CREATEDB privilege (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify WAL log entries for <command>CREATE</> and
<command>DROP DATABASE</> to not specify absolute paths (Tom)</para>
<para>This allows point-in-time recovery on a different machine with possibly
different database location. Note that <command>CREATE TABLESPACE</> still
poses a hazard in such situations.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix crash from a backend exiting with an open transaction
that created a table and opened a cursor on it (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>array_map()</> so it can call PL functions
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Several <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> and
<filename>contrib/btree_gist</> fixes (Teodor)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix crash of some <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</>
functions on some platforms (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/intagg</> for 64-bit platforms
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix ecpg bugs in parsing of <command>CREATE</> statement
(Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Work around gcc bug on powerpc and amd64 causing problems in
ecpg (Christof Petig)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Do not use locale-aware versions of <function>upper()</>,
<function>lower()</>, and <function>initcap()</> when the locale is
<literal>C</> (Bruce)</para>
<para>
This allows these functions to work on platforms that generate errors
for non-7-bit data when the locale is <literal>C</>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>quote_ident()</> to quote names that match keywords (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>to_date()</> to behave reasonably when
<literal>CC</> and <literal>YY</> fields are both used (Karel)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <function>to_char(interval)</> from failing
when given a zero-month interval (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix wrong week returned by <function>date_trunc('week')</>
(Bruce)</para>
<para>
<function>date_trunc('week')</>
returned the wrong year for the first few days of January in some years.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Use the correct default mask length for class <literal>D</>
addresses in <type>INET</> data types (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0-1">
<title>Release 8.0.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-01-31</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 8.0.0, including several
security-related issues.
For information about new features in the 8.0 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-8-0">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.0.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Disallow <command>LOAD</> to non-superusers</para>
<para>
On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a
shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen),
<command>LOAD</> can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code.
Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to
execute the specified transition functions</para>
<para>
This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE
permission on a function.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix security and 64-bit issues in
contrib/intagg</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too
many parameters (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN</> enforce domain
constraints in all cases</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve planning of grouped aggregate queries</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>ROLLBACK TO <replaceable>savepoint</></command>
closes cursors created since the savepoint</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix inadequate backend stack size on Windows</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid SHGetSpecialFolderPath() on Windows
(Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix some problems in running pg_autovacuum as a Windows
service (Dave Page)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Multiple minor bug fixes in
pg_dump/pg_restore</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix ecpg segfault with named structs used in
typedefs (Michael)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-8-0">
<title>Release 8.0</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-01-19</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Microsoft Windows Native Server
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This is the first <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> release
to run natively on <trademark class="registered">Microsoft Windows</> as
a server. It can run as a <productname>Windows</> service. This
release supports NT-based Windows releases like
<productname>Windows 2000 SP4</>, <productname>Windows XP</>, and
<productname>Windows 2003</>. Older releases like
<productname>Windows 95</>, <productname>Windows 98</>, and
<productname>Windows ME</> are not supported because these operating
systems do not have the infrastructure to support
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname>. A separate installer
project has been created to ease installation on
<productname>Windows</> &mdash; see <ulink
url="http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/win32/"></ulink>.
</para>
<para>
Although tested throughout our release cycle, the Windows port
does not have the benefit of years of use in production
environments that <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> has on
Unix platforms. Therefore it should be treated with the same
level of caution as you would a new product.
</para>
<para>
Previous releases required the Unix emulation toolkit
<productname>Cygwin</> in order to run the server on Windows
operating systems. <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> has
supported native clients on Windows for many years.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Savepoints
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Point-In-Time Recovery
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Tablespaces
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <application>initlocation</> and
manual symlink management for such tasks.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Improved Buffer Management, <command>CHECKPOINT</command>,
<command>VACUUM</command>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Change Column Types
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A column's data type can now be changed with <command>ALTER
TABLE</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
New Perl Server-Side Language
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A new version of the <application>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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Comma-separated-value (CSV) support in <command>COPY</command>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>COPY</command> can now read and write
comma-separated-value files. It has the flexibility to
interpret nonstandard quoting and separation characters too.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 8.0</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is
required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous
release.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
In <option>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Functions declared <option>STABLE</> or <option>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
<command>SELECT</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Nondeferred <option>AFTER</> triggers are now fired immediately
after completion of the triggering query, rather than upon
finishing the current interactive command. This makes a
difference when the triggering query occurred within a function:
the trigger is invoked before the function proceeds to its next
operation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameters <varname>virtual_host</> and
<varname>tcpip_socket</> have been replaced with a more general
parameter <varname>listen_addresses</>. Also, the server now listens on
<literal>localhost</> by default, which eliminates the need for the
<literal>-i</> postmaster switch in many scenarios.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameters <varname>SortMem</> and
<varname>VacuumMem</> have been renamed to <varname>work_mem</>
and <varname>maintenance_work_mem</> to better reflect their
use. The original names are still supported in
<command>SET</command> and <command>SHOW</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameters <varname>log_pid</>,
<varname>log_timestamp</>, and <varname>log_source_port</> have been
replaced with a more general parameter <varname>log_line_prefix</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameter <varname>syslog</> has been
replaced with a more logical <varname>log_destination</> variable to
control the log output destination.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameter <varname>log_statement</> has been
changed so it can selectively log just database modification or
data definition statements. Server configuration parameter
<varname>log_duration</> now prints only when <varname>log_statement</>
prints the query.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Server configuration parameter <varname>max_expr_depth</> parameter has
been replaced with <varname>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The <function>length()</> function no longer counts trailing spaces in
<type>CHAR(n)</> values.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Casting an integer to <type>BIT(N)</> selects the rightmost N bits of the
integer, not the leftmost N bits as before.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <literal>""</>, 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).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Overflow in integer arithmetic operations is now detected and
reported as an error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The arithmetic operators associated with the single-byte
<type>"char"</> data type have been removed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The <function>extract()</> function (also called
<function>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<type>CIDR</> values now must have their nonmasked bits be zero.
For example, we no longer allow
<literal>204.248.199.1/31</literal> as a <type>CIDR</> value. Such
values should never have been accepted by
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> and will now be rejected.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>EXECUTE</command> now returns a completion tag that
matches the executed statement.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>psql</>'s <command>\copy</> command now reads or
writes to the query's <literal>stdin/stdout</>, rather than
<application>psql</>'s <literal>stdin/stdout</>. The previous
behavior can be accessed via new
<option>pstdin</>/<option>pstdout</> parameters.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The JDBC client interface has been removed from the core
distribution, and is now hosted at <ulink url=
"http://jdbc.postgresql.org"></ulink>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The Tcl client interface has also been removed. There are several
Tcl interfaces now hosted at <ulink url=
"http://gborg.postgresql.org"></ulink>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <command>SET</>/<command>SHOW</>
<varname>TimeZone</> might be different from what your platform provides.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>Configure</>'s threading option no longer requires
users to run tests or edit configuration files; threading options
are now detected automatically.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now that tablespaces have been implemented,
<application>initlocation</> has been removed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The API for user-defined GiST indexes has been changed. The
Union and PickSplit methods are now passed a pointer to a
special <structname>GistEntryVector</structname> structure,
rather than a <type>bytea</type>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Deprecated Features</title>
<para>
Some aspects of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'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.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The 8.1 release will remove the <function>to_char()</> function
for intervals.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The server now warns of empty strings passed to
<type>oid</type>/<type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type> 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
By default, tables in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.0
and earlier are created with <type>OID</>s. In the next release,
this will <emphasis>not</emphasis> be the case: to create a table
that contains <type>OID</>s, the <option>WITH OIDS</> clause must
be specified or the <varname>default_with_oids</varname>
configuration parameter must be set. Users are encouraged to
explicitly specify <option>WITH OIDS</> if their tables
require OIDs for compatibility with future releases of
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between
release 8.0 and the previous major release.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Performance Improvements</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support cross-data-type index usage (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New buffer replacement strategy that improves caching (Jan)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add subprocess to write dirty buffers periodically to reduce
checkpoint writes (Jan)
</para>
<para>
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
<function>sync()</> call, but instead <function>fsync()</>s just
the files written since the last checkpoint. This should improve
performance and minimize degradation during checkpoints.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ability to prolong vacuum to reduce performance impact (Jan)
</para>
<para>
On busy systems, <command>VACUUM</command> performs many I/O
requests which can hurt performance for other users. This
release allows you to slow down <command>VACUUM</command> to
reduce its impact on other users, though this increases the
total duration of <command>VACUUM</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve B-tree index performance for duplicate keys (Dmitry Tkach, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves the way indexes are scanned when many duplicate
values exist in the index.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use dynamically-generated table size estimates while planning (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Formerly the planner estimated table sizes using the values seen
by the last <command>VACUUM</command> or <command>ANALYZE</command>,
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
<command>VACUUM</command> or <command>ANALYZE</command>. This should
produce more reliable estimates in cases where the table size has
changed significantly since the last housekeeping command.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improved index usage with <literal>OR</> clauses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <literal>OR</> clause.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve matching of partial index clauses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The server is now smarter about using partial indexes in queries
involving complex <option>WHERE</> clauses.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of the GEQO optimizer (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Miscellaneous optimizer improvements
</para>
<para>
There is not room here to list all the minor improvements made, but
numerous special cases work better than in prior releases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve lookup speed for C functions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add type-specific <command>ANALYZE</command> statistics
capability (Mark Cave-Ayland)
</para>
<para>
This feature allows more flexibility in generating statistics
for nonstandard data types.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>ANALYZE</command> now collects statistics for
expression indexes (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New two-stage sampling method for <command>ANALYZE</command>
(Manfred Koizar)
</para>
<para>
This gives better statistics when the density of valid rows is very
different in different regions of a table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Speed up <command>TRUNCATE</command> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This buys back some of the performance loss observed in 7.4, while still
keeping <command>TRUNCATE</command> transaction-safe.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add WAL file archiving and point-in-time recovery (Simon Riggs)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add tablespaces so admins can control disk layout (Gavin)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add a built-in log rotation program (Andreas Pflug)
</para>
<para>
It is now possible to log server messages conveniently without
relying on either <application>syslog</> or an external log
rotation program.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new read-only server configuration parameters to show server
compile-time settings: <varname>block_size</>,
<varname>integer_datetimes</>, <varname>max_function_args</>,
<varname>max_identifier_length</>, <varname>max_index_keys</> (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make quoting of <literal>sameuser</>, <literal>samegroup</>, and
<literal>all</> remove special meaning of these terms in
<filename>pg_hba.conf</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use clearer IPv6 name <literal>::1/128</> for
<literal>localhost</> in default <filename>pg_hba.conf</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use CIDR format in <filename>pg_hba.conf</> examples (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Rename server configuration parameters <varname>SortMem</> and
<varname>VacuumMem</> to <varname>work_mem</> and
<varname>maintenance_work_mem</> (Old names still supported) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change was made to clarify that bulk operations such as index and
foreign key creation use <varname>maintenance_work_mem</>, while
<varname>work_mem</> is for workspaces used during query execution.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow logging of session disconnections using server configuration
<varname>log_disconnections</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new server configuration parameter <varname>log_line_prefix</> to
allow control of information emitted in each log line (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
Available information includes user name, database name, remote IP
address, and session start time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove server configuration parameters <varname>log_pid</>,
<varname>log_timestamp</>, <varname>log_source_port</>; functionality
superseded by <varname>log_line_prefix</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Replace the <varname>virtual_host</> and <varname>tcpip_socket</>
parameters with a unified <varname>listen_addresses</> parameter
(Andrew, Tom)
</para>
<para>
<varname>virtual_host</> could only specify a single IP address to
listen on. <varname>listen_addresses</> allows multiple addresses
to be specified.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Listen on localhost by default, which eliminates the need for the
<option>-i</> postmaster switch in many scenarios (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
Listening on localhost (<literal>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <varname>syslog</> server configuration parameter, and add more
logical <varname>log_destination</> variable to control log output
location (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change server configuration parameter <varname>log_statement</> to take
values <varname>all</>, <varname>mod</>, <varname>ddl</>, or
<varname>none</> to select which queries are logged (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This allows administrators to log only data definition changes or
only data modification statements.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Some logging-related configuration parameters could formerly be adjusted
by ordinary users, but only in the <quote>more verbose</> direction.
They are now treated more strictly: only superusers can set them.
However, a superuser can use <command>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 <literal>PGOPTIONS</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow configuration files to be placed outside the data directory (mlw)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Plan prepared queries only when first executed so constants can be
used for statistics (Oliver Jowett)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>DECLARE CURSOR</command> to take parameters
(Oliver Jowett)
</para>
<para>
It is now useful to issue <command>DECLARE CURSOR</command> in a
<function>Parse</> message with parameters. The parameter values
sent at <function>Bind</> time will be substituted into the
execution of the cursor's query.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix hash joins and aggregates of <type>inet</type> and
<type>cidr</type> data types (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Release 7.4 handled hashing of mixed <type>inet</type> and
<type>cidr</type> values incorrectly. (This bug did not exist
in prior releases because they wouldn't try to hash either
data type.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <varname>log_duration</> print only when <varname>log_statement</>
prints the query (Ed L.)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Query Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add savepoints (nested transactions) (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Unsupported isolation levels are now accepted and promoted to the
nearest supported level (Peter)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>BEGIN WORK</command> to specify transaction
isolation levels like <command>START TRANSACTION</command> does
(Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix table permission checking for cases in which rules generate
a query type different from the originally submitted query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement dollar quoting to simplify single-quote usage (Andrew, Tom,
David Fetter)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <literal>CASE val WHEN compval1 THEN ...</> evaluate <literal>val</> only once (Tom)
</para>
<para>
<option>CASE</> no longer evaluates the tested expression multiple
times. This has benefits when the expression is complex or is
volatile.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Test <option>HAVING</> before computing target list of an
aggregate query (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Fixes improper failure of cases such as <literal>SELECT SUM(win)/SUM(lose)
... GROUP BY ... HAVING SUM(lose) &gt; 0</>. This should work but formerly
could fail with divide-by-zero.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Replace <varname>max_expr_depth</> parameter with
<varname>max_stack_depth</> parameter, measured in kilobytes of stack
size (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow arbitrary row expressions (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <option>LIKE</>/<option>ILIKE</> to be used as the operator
in row and subselect comparisons (Fabien Coelho)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid locale-specific case conversion of basic ASCII letters in
identifiers and keywords (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This solves the <quote>Turkish problem</> with mangling of words
containing <literal>I</> and <literal>i</>. Folding of characters
outside the 7-bit-ASCII set is still locale-aware.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve syntax error reporting (Fabien, Tom)
</para>
<para>
Syntax error reports are more useful than before.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <command>EXECUTE</command> to return a completion tag
matching the executed statement (Kris Jurka)
</para>
<para>
Previous releases return an <command>EXECUTE</command> tag for
any <command>EXECUTE</command> call. In this release, the tag
returned will reflect the command executed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid emitting <option>NATURAL CROSS JOIN</> in rule listings (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Such a clause makes no logical sense, but in some cases the rule
decompiler formerly produced this syntax.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>COMMENT ON</> for casts, conversions, languages,
operator classes, and large objects (Christopher)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new server configuration parameter <varname>default_with_oids</> to
control whether tables are created with <type>OID</>s by default (Neil)
</para>
<para>
This allows administrators to control whether <command>CREATE
TABLE</command> commands create tables with or without <type>OID</>
columns by default. (Note: the current factory default setting for
<varname>default_with_oids</> is <literal>TRUE</>, but the default
will become <literal>FALSE</> in future releases.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>WITH</> / <option>WITHOUT OIDS</> clause to
<command>CREATE TABLE AS</command> (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN</> to drop an <type>OID</>
column (<command>ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS</> still works)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow composite types as table columns (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>ALTER ... ADD COLUMN</> with defaults and
<option>NOT NULL</> constraints; works per SQL spec (Rod)
</para>
<para>
It is now possible for <option>ADD COLUMN</> to create a column
that is not initially filled with NULLs, but with a specified
default value.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> to change column's type (Rod)
</para>
<para>
It is now possible to alter a column's data type without dropping
and re-adding the column.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow multiple <command>ALTER</> actions in a single <command>ALTER
TABLE</command> command (Rod)
</para>
<para>
This is particularly useful for <command>ALTER</> commands that
rewrite the table (which include <option>ALTER COLUMN TYPE</> and
<option>ADD COLUMN</> with a default). By grouping
<command>ALTER</> commands together, the table need be rewritten
only once.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>ALTER TABLE</command> to add <type>SERIAL</type>
columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This falls out from the new capability of specifying defaults for new
columns.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow changing the owners of aggregates, conversions, databases,
functions, operators, operator classes, schemas, types, and tablespaces
(Christopher, Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
<para>
Previously this required modifying the system tables directly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow temporary object creation to be limited to <option>SECURITY
DEFINER</> functions (Sean Chittenden)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>ALTER TABLE ... SET WITHOUT CLUSTER</> (Christopher)
</para>
<para>
Prior to this release, there was no way to clear an auto-cluster
specification except to modify the system tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Constraint/Index/<type>SERIAL</> names are now
<replaceable>table_column_type</>
with numbers appended to guarantee uniqueness within the schema
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
The SQL specification states that such names should be unique
within a schema.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>pg_get_serial_sequence()</> to return a
<type>SERIAL</> column's sequence name (Christopher)
</para>
<para>
This allows automated scripts to reliably find the <type>SERIAL</>
sequence name.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Warn when primary/foreign key data type mismatch requires costly lookup
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <command>ALTER INDEX</> command to allow moving of indexes
between tablespaces (Gavin)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>ALTER TABLE OWNER</> change dependent sequence
ownership too (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Command Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>CREATE SCHEMA</command> to create triggers,
indexes, and sequences (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>ALSO</> keyword to <command>CREATE RULE</command> (Fabien
Coelho)
</para>
<para>
This allows <option>ALSO</> to be added to rule creation to contrast it with
<option>INSTEAD</> rules.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>NOWAIT</> option to <command>LOCK</command> (Tatsuo)
</para>
<para>
This allows the <command>LOCK</command> command to fail if it
would have to wait for the requested lock.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <command>COPY</command> to read and write
comma-separated-value (CSV) files (Andrew, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Generate error if the <command>COPY</command> delimiter and NULL
string conflict (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>GRANT</command>/<command>REVOKE</command> behavior
follows the SQL spec more closely
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid locking conflict between <command>CREATE INDEX</command>
and <command>CHECKPOINT</command> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In 7.3 and 7.4, a long-running B-tree index build could block concurrent
<command>CHECKPOINT</>s from completing, thereby causing WAL bloat because the
WAL log could not be recycled.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Database-wide <command>ANALYZE</command> does not hold locks
across tables (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <command>ANALYZE</command>
inside a transaction block (<command>BEGIN</command> block); it
must be able to commit and start a new transaction for each
table.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>REINDEX</command> does not exclusively lock the index's
parent table anymore
</para>
<para>
The index itself is still exclusively locked, but readers of the
table can continue if they are not using the particular index
being rebuilt.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Erase MD5 user passwords when a user is renamed (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <application>pg_ctl</> <option>kill</> option for Windows (Andrew)
</para>
<para>
Windows does not have a <literal>kill</> command to send signals to
backends so this capability was added to <application>pg_ctl</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Information schema improvements
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>--pwfile</> option to
<application>initdb</application> so the initial password can be
set by GUI tools (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Detect locale/encoding mismatch in
<application>initdb</application> (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>register</> command to <application>pg_ctl</> to
register Windows operating system service (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Data Type and Function Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
More complete support for composite types (row types) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Composite values can be used in many places where only scalar values
worked before.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reject nonrectangular array values as erroneous (Joe)
</para>
<para>
Formerly, <function>array_in</> would silently build a
surprising result.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Overflow in integer arithmetic operations is now detected (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The arithmetic operators associated with the single-byte
<type>"char"</> data type have been removed.
</para>
<para>
Formerly, the parser would select these operators in many situations
where an <quote>unable to select an operator</> error would be more
appropriate, such as <literal>null * null</>. If you actually want
to do arithmetic on a <type>"char"</> column, you can cast it to
integer explicitly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Syntax checking of array input values considerably tightened up (Joe)
</para>
<para>
Junk that was previously allowed in odd places with odd results
now causes an <literal>ERROR</>, for example, non-whitespace
after the closing right brace.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Empty-string array element values must now be written as
<literal>""</>, rather than writing nothing (Joe)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Array element trailing whitespace is now ignored (Joe)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Emit array values with explicit array bounds when lower bound is not one
(Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Accept <literal>YYYY-monthname-DD</> as a date string (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>netmask</> and <function>hostmask</> functions
return maximum-length mask length (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change factorial function to return <type>numeric</type> (Gavin)
</para>
<para>
Returning <type>numeric</type> allows the factorial function to
work for a wider range of input values.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>to_char</>/<function>to_date()</> date conversion
improvements (Kurt Roeckx, Fabien Coelho)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>length()</> disregard trailing spaces in
<type>CHAR(n)</> (Gavin)
</para>
<para>
This change was made to improve consistency: trailing spaces are
semantically insignificant in <type>CHAR(n)</> data, so they
should not be counted by <function>length()</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Warn about empty string being passed to
<type>OID</>/<type>float4</>/<type>float8</> data types (Neil)
</para>
<para>
8.1 will throw an error instead.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow leading or trailing whitespace in
<type>int2</>/<type>int4</>/<type>int8</>/<type>float4</>/<type>float8</>
input routines
(Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Better support for IEEE <literal>Infinity</> and <literal>NaN</>
values in <type>float4</type>/<type>float8</type> (Neil)
</para>
<para>
These should now work on all platforms that support IEEE-compliant
floating point arithmetic.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>week</> option to <function>date_trunc()</> (Robert Creager)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>to_char</function> for <literal>1 BC</>
(previously it returned <literal>1 AD</>) (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>date_part(year)</> for BC dates (previously it
returned one less than the correct year) (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>date_part()</> to return the proper millennium and
century (Fabien Coelho)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>ceiling()</> as an alias for <function>ceil()</>,
and <function>power()</> as an alias for <function>pow()</> for
standards compliance (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <function>ln()</>, <function>log()</>,
<function>power()</>, and <function>sqrt()</> to emit the correct
<literal>SQLSTATE</> error codes for certain error conditions, as
specified by SQL:2003 (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>width_bucket()</> function as defined by SQL:2003 (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>generate_series()</> functions to simplify working
with numeric sets (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <function>upper/lower/initcap()</> functions to work with
multibyte encodings (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add boolean and bitwise integer <option>AND</>/<option>OR</>
aggregates (Fabien Coelho)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New session information functions to return network addresses for client
and server (Sean Chittenden)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function to determine the area of a closed path (Sean Chittenden)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function to send cancel request to other backends (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <type>interval</> plus <type>datetime</> operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The reverse ordering, <type>datetime</> plus <type>interval</>,
was already supported, but both are required by the SQL standard.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Casting an integer to <type>BIT(N)</> selects the rightmost N bits
of the integer
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, the leftmost N bits were selected, but this was
deemed unhelpful, not to mention inconsistent with casting from bit
to int.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require <type>CIDR</> values to have all nonmasked bits be zero
(Kevin Brintnall)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
In <literal>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Functions declared <literal>STABLE</> or <literal>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
<command>SELECT</>. There is a considerable performance gain from
declaring a function <literal>STABLE</> or <literal>IMMUTABLE</>
rather than <literal>VOLATILE</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Nondeferred <option>AFTER</> triggers are now fired immediately
after completion of the triggering query, rather than upon
finishing the current interactive command. This makes a difference
when the triggering query occurred within a function: the trigger
is invoked before the function proceeds to its next operation. For
example, if a function inserts a new row into a table, any
nondeferred foreign key checks occur before proceeding with the
function.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow function parameters to be declared with names (Dennis Bj&ouml;rklund)
</para>
<para>
This allows better documentation of functions. Whether the names
actually do anything depends on the specific function language
being used.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow PL/pgSQL parameter names to be referenced in the function (Dennis Bj&ouml;rklund)
</para>
<para>
This basically creates an automatic alias for each named parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Do minimal syntax checking of PL/pgSQL functions at creation time (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows us to catch simple syntax errors sooner.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
More support for composite types (row and record variables) in PL/pgSQL
</para>
<para>
For example, it now works to pass a rowtype variable to another function
as a single variable.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Default values for PL/pgSQL variables can now reference previously
declared variables
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve parsing of PL/pgSQL FOR loops (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Parsing is now driven by presence of <literal>".."</> rather than
data type of <option>FOR</> variable. This makes no difference for
correct functions, but should result in more understandable error
messages when a mistake is made.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Major overhaul of PL/Perl server-side language (Command Prompt, Andrew Dunstan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <literal>catch</>.
Formerly, it was not possible to catch such errors.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Accept <command>ELSEIF</> in PL/pgSQL (Neil)
</para>
<para>
Previously PL/pgSQL only allowed <command>ELSIF</>, but many people
are accustomed to spelling this keyword <command>ELSEIF</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>psql</> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <application>psql</> information display about database
objects (Christopher)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>psql</> to display group membership in
<command>\du</> and <command>\dg</> (Markus Bertheau)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <application>psql</> <command>\dn</command> from showing
temporary schemas (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>psql</> to handle tilde user expansion for file
names (Zach Irmen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>psql</> to display fancy prompts, including
color, via <application>readline</> (Reece Hart, Chet Ramey)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <application>psql</> <command>\copy</> match <command>COPY</command> command syntax
fully (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Show the location of syntax errors (Fabien Coelho, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <command>CLUSTER</command> information to <application>psql</>
<command>\d</> display
(Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <application>psql</> <command>\copy stdin/stdout</> to read
from command input/output (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>pstdin</>/<option>pstdout</> to read from
<application>psql</>'s <literal>stdin</>/<literal>stdout</> (Mark
Feit)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add global <application>psql</> configuration file, <filename>psqlrc.sample</filename>
(Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This allows a central file where global <application>psql</> startup commands can
be stored.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <application>psql</> <command>\d+</> indicate if the table
has an <type>OID</> column (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
On Windows, use binary mode in <application>psql</> when reading files so control-Z
is not seen as end-of-file
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <command>\dn+</> show permissions and description for schemas (Dennis
Bj&ouml;rklund)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve tab completion support (Stefan Kaltenbrunn, Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow boolean settings to be set using upper or lower case (Michael Paesold)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>pg_dump</> Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Use dependency information to improve the reliability of
<application>pg_dump</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This should solve the longstanding problems with related objects
sometimes being dumped in the wrong order.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <application>pg_dump</> output objects in alphabetical order if possible (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This should make it easier to identify changes between
dump files.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <application>pg_restore</> to ignore some SQL errors (Fabien Coelho)
</para>
<para>
This makes <application>pg_restore</>'s behavior similar to the
results of feeding a <application>pg_dump</> output script to
<application>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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>pg_restore</> <option>-l</> display now includes
objects' schema names
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New begin/end markers in <application>pg_dump</> text output (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add start/stop times for
<application>pg_dump</>/<application>pg_dumpall</> in verbose mode
(Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow most <application>pg_dump</> options in
<application>pg_dumpall</> (Christopher)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <application>pg_dump</> use <command>ALTER OWNER</> rather
than <command>SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION</> by default
(Christopher)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>libpq Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make libpq's <option>SIGPIPE</> handling thread-safe (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>PQmbdsplen()</> which returns the display length
of a character (Tatsuo)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add thread locking to <application>SSL</> and
<application>Kerberos</> connections (Manfred Spraul)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <function>PQoidValue()</>, <function>PQcmdTuples()</>, and
<function>PQoidStatus()</> to work on <command>EXECUTE</command>
commands (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>PQserverVersion()</> to provide more convenient
access to the server version number (Greg Sabino Mullane)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <function>PQprepare/PQsendPrepared()</> functions to support
preparing statements without necessarily specifying the data types
of their parameters (Abhijit Menon-Sen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Many ECPG improvements, including <command>SET DESCRIPTOR</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow the database server to run natively on Windows (Claudio, Magnus, Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Shell script commands converted to C versions for Windows support (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Create an extension makefile framework (Fabien Coelho, Peter)
</para>
<para>
This simplifies the task of building extensions outside the original
source tree.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support relocatable installations (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Directory paths for installed files (such as the
<filename>/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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <option>--with-docdir</> to choose installation location of documentation; also
allow <option>--infodir</> (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <option>--without-docdir</> to prevent installation of documentation (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Upgrade to <application>DocBook</> V4.2 SGML (Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <literal>PostgreSQL</> <application>CVS</> tag (Marc)
</para>
<para>
This was done to make it easier for organizations to manage their
own copies of the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
<application>CVS</> repository. File version stamps from the master
repository will not get munged by checking into or out of a copied
repository.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clarify locking code (Manfred Koizar)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Buffer manager cleanup (Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Decouple platform tests from CPU spinlock code (Bruce, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add inlined test-and-set code on PA-RISC for <application>gcc</>
(ViSolve, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve i386 spinlock code (Manfred Spraul)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Clean up spinlock assembly code to avoid warnings from newer
<application>gcc</> releases (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove JDBC from source tree; now a separate project
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove the libpgtcl client interface; now a separate project
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
More accurately estimate memory and file descriptor usage (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improvements to the Mac OS X startup scripts (Ray A.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <function>fsync()</> test program (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Major documentation improvements (Neil, Peter)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <application>pg_encoding</application>; not needed
anymore
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <application>pg_id</application>; not needed anymore
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove <application>initlocation</application>; not needed
anymore
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Auto-detect thread flags (no more manual testing) (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use Olson's public domain <application>timezone</> library (Magnus)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
With threading enabled, use thread flags on Unixware for
backend executables too (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Unixware cannot mix threaded and nonthreaded object files in the
same executable, so everything must be compiled as threaded.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>psql</> now uses a <application>flex</>-generated
lexical analyzer to process command strings
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Reimplement the linked list data structure used throughout the
backend (Neil)
</para>
<para>
This improves performance by allowing list append and length
operations to be more efficient.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow dynamically loaded modules to create their own server configuration
parameters (Thomas Hallgren)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New Brazilian version of FAQ (Euler Taveira de Oliveira)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add French FAQ (Guillaume Lelarge)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <application>pgevent</> for Windows logging
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make libpq and ECPG build as proper shared libraries on OS X (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Overhaul of <filename>contrib/dblink</> (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>contrib/dbmirror</> improvements (Steven Singer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <filename>contrib/xml2</> (John Gray, Torchbox)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Updated <filename>contrib/mysql</filename>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New version of <filename>contrib/btree_gist</> (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <filename>contrib/trgm</>, trigram matching for
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Many <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> improvements (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add double metaphone to <filename>contrib/fuzzystrmatch</> (Andrew)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <filename>contrib/pg_autovacuum</> to run as a Windows service (Dave Page)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add functions to <filename>contrib/dbsize</> (Andreas Pflug)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Removed <filename>contrib/pg_logger</>: obsoleted by integrated logging
subprocess
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Removed <filename>contrib/rserv</>: obsoleted by various separate projects
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-25">
<title>Release 7.4.25</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-03-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.24.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.25</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent error recursion crashes when encoding conversion fails (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This change extends fixes made in the last two minor releases for
related failure scenarios. The previous fixes were narrowly tailored
for the original problem reports, but we have now recognized that
<emphasis>any</> error thrown by an encoding conversion function could
potentially lead to infinite recursion while trying to report the
error. The solution therefore is to disable translation and encoding
conversion and report the plain-ASCII form of any error message,
if we find we have gotten into a recursive error reporting situation.
(CVE-2009-0922)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow <command>CREATE CONVERSION</> with the wrong encodings
for the specified conversion function (Heikki)
</para>
<para>
This prevents one possible scenario for encoding conversion failure.
The previous change is a backstop to guard against other kinds of
failures in the same area.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix core dump when <function>to_char()</> is given format codes that
are inappropriate for the type of the data argument (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>MUST</> (Mauritius Island Summer Time) to the default list
of known timezone abbreviations (Xavier Bugaud)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-24">
<title>Release 7.4.24</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2009-02-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.23.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.24</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of URLs in <function>headline()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of overlength headlines in <function>headline()</>
function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent possible Assert failure or misconversion if an encoding
conversion is created with the wrong conversion function for the
specified pair of encodings (Tom, Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid unnecessary locking of small tables in <command>VACUUM</>
(Heikki)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix uninitialized variables in <filename>contrib/tsearch2</>'s
<function>get_covers()</> function (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in <function>to_char()</>'s handling of <literal>TH</>
format codes (Andreas Scherbaum)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make all documentation reference <literal>pgsql-bugs</> and/or
<literal>pgsql-hackers</> as appropriate, instead of the
now-decommissioned <literal>pgsql-ports</> and <literal>pgsql-patches</>
mailing lists (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-23">
<title>Release 7.4.23</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-11-03</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.22.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.23</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix backend crash when the client encoding cannot represent a localized
error message (Tom)
</para>
<para>
We have addressed similar issues before, but it would still fail if
the <quote>character has no equivalent</> message itself couldn't
be converted. The fix is to disable localization and send the plain
ASCII error message when we detect such a situation.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect tsearch2 headline generation when single query
item matches first word of text (Sushant Sinha)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix improper display of fractional seconds in interval values when
using a non-ISO datestyle in an <option>--enable-integer-datetimes</>
build (Ron Mayer)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ensure <function>SPI_getvalue</> and <function>SPI_getbinval</>
behave correctly when the passed tuple and tuple descriptor have
different numbers of columns (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This situation is normal when a table has had columns added or removed,
but these two functions didn't handle it properly.
The only likely consequence is an incorrect error indication.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>ecpg</>'s parsing of <command>CREATE USER</> (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-22">
<title>Release 7.4.22</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-09-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.21.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.22</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix datetime input functions to correctly detect integer overflow when
running on a 64-bit platform (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of writing very long log messages to syslog (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bug in backwards scanning of a cursor on a <literal>SELECT DISTINCT
ON</> query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner to estimate that <literal>GROUP BY</> expressions yielding
boolean results always result in two groups, regardless of the
expressions' contents (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is very substantially more accurate than the regular <literal>GROUP
BY</> estimate for certain boolean tests like <replaceable>col</>
<literal>IS NULL</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <application>pg_dump</> and <application>pg_restore</>'s
error reporting after failure to send a SQL command (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-21">
<title>Release 7.4.21</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-06-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one serious bug fix over 7.4.20.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.21</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_get_ruledef()</> parenthesize negative constants (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Before this fix, a negative constant in a view or rule might be dumped
as, say, <literal>-42::integer</>, which is subtly incorrect: it should
be <literal>(-42)::integer</> due to operator precedence rules.
Usually this would make little difference, but it could interact with
another recent patch to cause
<productname>PostgreSQL</> to reject what had been a valid
<command>SELECT DISTINCT</> view query. Since this could result in
<application>pg_dump</> output failing to reload, it is being treated
as a high-priority fix. The only released versions in which dump
output is actually incorrect are 8.3.1 and 8.2.7.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-20">
<title>Release 7.4.20</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>never released</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.19.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.20</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix conversions between ISO-8859-5 and other encodings to handle
Cyrillic <quote>Yo</> characters (<literal>e</> and <literal>E</> with
two dots) (Sergey Burladyan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a few datatype input functions
that were allowing unused bytes in their results to contain
uninitialized, unpredictable values (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This could lead to failures in which two apparently identical literal
values were not seen as equal, resulting in the parser complaining
about unmatched <literal>ORDER BY</> and <literal>DISTINCT</>
expressions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix a corner case in regular-expression substring matching
(<literal>substring(<replaceable>string</> from
<replaceable>pattern</>)</literal>) (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The problem occurs when there is a match to the pattern overall but
the user has specified a parenthesized subexpression and that
subexpression hasn't got a match. An example is
<literal>substring('foo' from 'foo(bar)?')</>.
This should return NULL, since <literal>(bar)</> isn't matched, but
it was mistakenly returning the whole-pattern match instead (ie,
<literal>foo</>).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix incorrect result from <application>ecpg</>'s
<function>PGTYPEStimestamp_sub()</> function (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <literal>DatumGetBool</> macro to not fail with <application>gcc</>
4.3 (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This problem affects <quote>old style</> (V0) C functions that
return boolean. The fix is already in 8.3, but the need to
back-patch it was not realized at the time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix longstanding <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</>
race condition (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In rare cases a session that had just executed a
<command>LISTEN</> might not get a notification, even though
one would be expected because the concurrent transaction executing
<command>NOTIFY</> was observed to commit later.
</para>
<para>
A side effect of the fix is that a transaction that has executed
a not-yet-committed <command>LISTEN</> command will not see any
row in <structname>pg_listener</> for the <command>LISTEN</>,
should it choose to look; formerly it would have. This behavior
was never documented one way or the other, but it is possible that
some applications depend on the old behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix display of constant expressions in <literal>ORDER BY</>
and <literal>GROUP BY</> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
An explictly casted constant would be shown incorrectly. This could
for example lead to corruption of a view definition during
dump and reload.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <application>libpq</> to handle NOTICE messages correctly
during COPY OUT (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This failure has only been observed to occur when a user-defined
datatype's output routine issues a NOTICE, but there is no
guarantee it couldn't happen due to other causes.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-19">
<title>Release 7.4.19</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-01-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.18,
including fixes for significant security issues.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.19</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of
the user running <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, etc (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <command>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 <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, <command>REINDEX</>,
and <command>CLUSTER</>) to execute as the table owner rather than
the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already
used for <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> functions. To prevent bypassing
this security measure, execution of <command>SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</> and <command>SET ROLE</> is now forbidden within a
<literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> context. (CVE-2007-6600)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair assorted bugs in the regular-expression package (Tom, Will Drewry)
</para>
<para>
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)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
<para>
The fix that appeared for this in 7.4.18 was incomplete, as it plugged
the hole for only some <filename>dblink</> functions. (CVE-2007-6601,
CVE-2007-3278)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix planner failure in some cases of <literal>WHERE false AND var IN
(SELECT ...)</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential crash in <function>translate()</> when using a multibyte
database encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PL/Python to not crash on long exception messages (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>ecpg</> parser fixes (Michael)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/tablefunc</>'s <function>crosstab()</> handle
NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <type>tsvector</> and <type>tsquery</> output routines to
escape backslashes correctly (Teodor, Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash of <function>to_tsvector()</> on huge input strings (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require a specific version of <productname>Autoconf</> to be used
when re-generating the <command>configure</> script (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made
to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of
<productname>Autoconf</> and <productname>PostgreSQL</> versions.
You can remove the version check if you really want to use a
different <productname>Autoconf</> version, but it's
your responsibility whether the result works or not.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-18">
<title>Release 7.4.18</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-09-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains fixes from 7.4.17.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.18</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and
then aborts close to the end of a concurrent <command>VACUUM</>
on the same table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL</> work properly (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix excessive logging of <acronym>SSL</> error messages (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash when <varname>log_min_error_statement</> logging runs out
of memory (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent <command>CLUSTER</> from failing
due to attempting to process temporary tables of other sessions (Alvaro)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-17">
<title>Release 7.4.17</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-04-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains fixes from 7.4.16,
including a security fix.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.17</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within
<varname>search_path</>, and disable searching it for functions
and operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a
truly secure value of <varname>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 <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> for more information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>/contrib/tsearch2</> crash fixes (Teodor)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how <command>VACUUM FULL</> handles
<command>UPDATE</> chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix PANIC during enlargement of a hash index (bug introduced in 7.4.15)
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-16">
<title>Release 7.4.16</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.15, including
a security fix.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.16</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove security vulnerability that allowed connected users
to read backend memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail
due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix for rare Assert() crash triggered by <literal>UNION</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences
over three bytes long (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-15">
<title>Release 7.4.15</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-01-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.14.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.15</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve handling of <function>getaddrinfo()</> on AIX (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This fixes a problem with starting the statistics collector,
among other things.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix <quote>failed to re-find parent key</> errors in
<command>VACUUM</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix bugs affecting multi-gigabyte hash indexes (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix error when constructing an <literal>ARRAY[]</> made up of multiple
empty elements (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>to_number()</> and <function>to_char(numeric)</>
are now <literal>STABLE</>, not <literal>IMMUTABLE</>, for
new <application>initdb</> installs (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is because <varname>lc_numeric</> can potentially
change the output of these functions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves <application>psql</> <literal>\d</> performance also.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-14">
<title>Release 7.4.14</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-10-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.13.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.14</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump when an untyped literal is taken as
ANYARRAY</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>string_to_array()</> to handle overlapping
matches for the separator string</para>
<para>For example, <literal>string_to_array('123xx456xxx789', 'xx')</>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix corner cases in pattern matching for
<application>psql</>'s <literal>\d</> commands</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree
(Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Adjust regression tests for recent changes in US DST laws
</para> </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-13">
<title>Release 7.4.13</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-05-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.12,
including patches for extremely serious security issues.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.13</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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 <application>libpq</>'s
<function>PQescapeStringConn()</>) to perform string escaping,
rather than relying on <foreignphrase>ad hoc</> code to do it.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte
characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom)</para>
<para>While <productname>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reject unsafe uses of <literal>\'</> in string literals</para>
<para>As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type
described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts <literal>''</> and not
<literal>\'</> as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string
literals. By default, <literal>\'</> is rejected only when
<varname>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 <varname>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
<varname>backslash_quote</> is in part to make it obvious that insecure
clients are insecure.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify <application>libpq</>'s string-escaping routines to be
aware of encoding considerations and
<varname>standard_conforming_strings</></para>
<para>This fixes <application>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 <productname>PostgreSQL</> connections
concurrently should migrate to <function>PQescapeStringConn()</> and
<function>PQescapeByteaConn()</> to ensure that escaping is done correctly
for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that
do string escaping <quote>by hand</> should be modified to rely on library
routines instead.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions</para>
<para><function>win1251_to_iso</>, <function>alt_to_iso</>,
<function>euc_tw_to_big5</>, <function>euc_tw_to_mic</>,
<function>mic_to_euc_tw</> were all broken to varying
extents.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Clean up stray remaining uses of <literal>\'</> in strings
(Bruce, Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug that sometimes caused OR'd index scans to
miss rows they should have returned</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix WAL replay for case where a btree index has been
truncated</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <literal>SIMILAR TO</> for patterns involving
<literal>|</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael
Fuhr)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for Bonjour on Intel Macs (Ashley Clark)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix various minor memory leaks</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-12">
<title>Release 7.4.12</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-02-14</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.11.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.12</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix potential crash in <command>SET
SESSION AUTHORIZATION</> (CVE-2006-0553)</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted
rows (Tom)</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition that could lead to <quote>file already
exists</> errors during pg_clog file creation
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly check <literal>DOMAIN</> constraints for
<literal>UNKNOWN</> parameters in prepared statements
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema
references to custom operators (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Portability fix for testing presence of <function>finite</>
and <function>isinf</> during configure (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-11">
<title>Release 7.4.11</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-01-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.10.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.11</title>
<para>
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 <command>REINDEX</> indexes on textual
columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or
<application>plperl</> issues described below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix for protocol-level Describe messages issued
outside a transaction or in a failed transaction (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix character string comparison for locales that consider
different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom)</para>
<para>This might require <command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup
to ensure that <application>plperl</> won't change the locale later</para>
<para>This fixes a problem that occurred if the <application>postmaster</> was
started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what
<application>initdb</> had been told. Under these conditions, any use of
<application>plperl</> was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need
<command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns if this has happened to you.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression
handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in <filename>/contrib/pgcrypto</> gen_salt,
which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and
XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer)</para>
<para>Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>/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)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-10">
<title>Release 7.4.10</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-12-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.9.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.10</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition in transaction log management</para>
<para>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.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent failure if client sends Bind protocol message
when current transaction is already aborted</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><filename>/contrib/ltree</> fixes (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AIX and HPUX compile fixes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins</para>
<para>This bug sometimes caused a bogus error <quote>RIGHT JOIN is
only supported with merge-joinable join conditions</>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent core dump in <application>pg_autovacuum</> when a
table has been dropped</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-9">
<title>Release 7.4.9</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-10-04</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.8.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.9</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix error that allowed <command>VACUUM</> to remove
<literal>ctid</> chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows
<literal>ctid</> links</para>
<para>This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare
circumstances.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <type>CHAR()</> to properly pad spaces to the specified
length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba)</para>
<para>In prior releases, the padding of <type>CHAR()</> was incorrect
because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without
considering how many characters were stored.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix the sense of the test for read-only transaction
in <command>COPY</></para>
<para>The code formerly prohibited <command>COPY TO</>, where it should
prohibit <command>COPY FROM</>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planning problem with outer-join ON clauses that reference
only the inner-side relation</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Further fixes for <literal>x FULL JOIN y ON true</> corner
cases</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <function>array_in</> and <function>array_recv</> more
paranoid about validating their OID parameter</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix missing rows in queries like <literal>UPDATE a=... WHERE
a...</> with GiST index on column <literal>a</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve robustness of datetime parsing</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve checking for partially-written WAL
pages</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is
enabled</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Don't try to open more than <literal>max_files_per_process</>
files during postmaster startup</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various memory leakage fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various portability improvements</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PL/PgSQL to handle <literal>var := var</> correctly when
the variable is of pass-by-reference type</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> to use current Snowball
code</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-8">
<title>Release 7.4.8</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-05-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.7, including several
security-related issues.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.8</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
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.)
</para>
<para>
The lesser problem is that the <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> module
creates several functions that are misdeclared to return
<type>internal</> when they do not accept <type>internal</> arguments.
This breaks type safety for all functions using <type>internal</>
arguments.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the following procedures instead.
As the database superuser, do:
<programlisting>
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;
</programlisting>
Next, if you have installed <filename>contrib/tsearch2</>, do:
<programlisting>
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;
</programlisting>
If this command fails with a message like <quote>function
"dex_init(text)" does not exist</>, then either <filename>tsearch2</>
is not installed in this database, or you already did the update.
</para>
<para>
The above procedures must be carried out in <emphasis>each</> database
of an installation, including <literal>template1</>, and ideally
including <literal>template0</> as well. If you do not fix the
template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain
the same errors. <literal>template1</> can be fixed in the same way
as any other database, but fixing <literal>template0</> requires
additional steps. First, from any database issue:
<programlisting>
UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = true WHERE datname = 'template0';
</programlisting>
Next connect to <literal>template0</> and perform the above repair
procedures. Finally, do:
<programlisting>
-- re-freeze template0:
VACUUM FREEZE;
-- and protect it against future alterations:
UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false WHERE datname = 'template0';
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change encoding function signature to prevent
misuse</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> to avoid unsafe use of
<type>INTERNAL</> function results</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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</para>
<para>This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent
data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair race condition between relation extension and
VACUUM</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix comparisons of <type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para>
<para>
The comparison code was wrong in the case where the
<literal>--enable-integer-datetimes</> configuration switch had been used.
NOTE: if you have an index on a <type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> column,
it will need to be <command>REINDEX</>ed after installing this update, because
the fix corrects the sort order of column values.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>EXTRACT(EPOCH)</> for
<type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in
<type>INTERVAL</> values</para>
<para>
This error only occurred when the
<literal>--enable-integer-datetimes</> configuration switch had been used.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by
statistics collector</para>
<para>
This is expected to resolve reports of <application>pg_autovacuum</>
not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough &mdash; it was not being
told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during
backend exit.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Additional buffer overrun checks in plpgsql
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing <literal>%</>
correctly (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</> for newer OpenSSL builds
(Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Still more 64-bit fixes for
<filename>contrib/intagg</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning
<type>RECORD</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <function>to_char(interval)</> from dumping core for
month-related formats</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent crash on <literal>COALESCE(NULL,NULL)</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>array_map</> to call PL functions correctly</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix permission checking in <command>ALTER DATABASE RENAME</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <function>RemoveFromWaitQueue</> clean up after itself</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with untyped parameter appearing in
<command>INSERT ... SELECT</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <command>CLUSTER</> failure after
<command>ALTER TABLE SET WITHOUT OIDS</></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-7">
<title>Release 7.4.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-01-31</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.6, including several
security-related issues.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.7</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Disallow <command>LOAD</> to non-superusers</para>
<para>
On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a
shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen),
<command>LOAD</> can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code.
Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to
execute the specified transition functions</para>
<para>
This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE
permission on a function.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix security and 64-bit issues in
contrib/intagg</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too
many parameters (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix plperl for quote marks in tuple fields</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix display of negative intervals in SQL and GERMAN
datestyles</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make age(timestamptz) do calculation in local timezone not
GMT</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-6">
<title>Release 7.4.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-10-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.5.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.6</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Repair possible failure to update hint bits on disk</para>
<para>
Under rare circumstances this oversight could lead to
<quote>could not access transaction status</> failures, which qualifies
it as a potential-data-loss bug.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure that hashed outer join does not miss tuples</para>
<para>
Very large left joins using a hash join plan could fail to output unmatched
left-side rows given just the right data distribution.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow running <application>pg_ctl</> as root</para>
<para>
This is to guard against any possible security issues.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid using temp files in <filename>/tmp</> in <command>make_oidjoins_check</command></para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent forced backend shutdown from re-emitting prior command
result</para>
<para>
In rare cases, a client might think that its last command had succeeded when
it really had been aborted by forced database shutdown.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair bug in <function>pg_stat_get_backend_idset</function></para>
<para>
This could lead to misbehavior in some of the system-statistics views.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix small memory leak in postmaster</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <quote>expected both swapped tables to have TOAST
tables</> bug</para>
<para>
This could arise in cases such as CLUSTER after ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <literal>pg_ctl restart</> from adding <literal>-D</> multiple times</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with NULL values in GiST indexes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><literal>::</> is no longer interpreted as a variable in an
ECPG prepare statement</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-5">
<title>Release 7.4.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-08-18</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one serious bug fix over 7.4.4.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.5</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Repair possible crash during concurrent B-tree index insertions</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-4">
<title>Release 7.4.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-08-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.3.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Prevent possible loss of committed transactions during crash</para>
<para>
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 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 7.1.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check HAVING restriction before evaluating result list of an
aggregate plan</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid crash when session's current user ID is deleted</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix hashed crosstab for zero-rows case (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Force cache update after renaming a column in a foreign key</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Pretty-print UNION queries correctly</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make psql handle <literal>\r\n</> newlines properly in COPY IN</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><application>pg_dump</> handled ACLs with grant options incorrectly</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix thread support for OS X and Solaris</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Updated JDBC driver (build 215) with various fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ECPG fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Translation updates (various contributors)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-3">
<title>Release 7.4.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-06-14</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.2.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.4.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix temporary memory leak when using non-hashed aggregates (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ECPG fixes, including some for Informix compatibility (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for compiling with thread-safety, particularly Solaris (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix error in COPY IN termination when using the old network protocol (ljb)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Several important fixes in pg_autovacuum, including fixes for
large tables, unsigned oids, stability, temp tables, and debug mode
(Matthew T. O'Connor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with reading tar-format dumps on NetBSD and BSD/OS (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Several JDBC fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix ALTER SEQUENCE RESTART where last_value equals the restart value (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair failure to recalculate nested sub-selects (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with non-constant expressions in LIMIT/OFFSET</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Support FULL JOIN with no join clause, such as X FULL JOIN Y ON TRUE (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix another zero-column table bug (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve handling of non-qualified identifiers in GROUP BY clauses in sub-selects (Tom)</para>
<para>
Select-list aliases within the sub-select will now take precedence over
names from outer query levels.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Do not generate <quote>NATURAL CROSS JOIN</> when decompiling rules (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add checks for invalid field length in binary COPY (Tom)</para>
<para>
This fixes a difficult-to-exploit security hole.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid locking conflict between <command>ANALYZE</command> and <command>LISTEN</command>/<command>NOTIFY</command></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Numerous translation updates (various contributors)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-2">
<title>Release 7.4.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-03-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.1.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.2</title>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
The more severe of the two errors is that data type <type>anyarray</>
has the wrong alignment label; this is a problem because the
<structname>pg_statistic</> system catalog uses <type>anyarray</>
columns. The mislabeling can cause planner misestimations and even
crashes when planning queries that involve <literal>WHERE</> clauses on
double-aligned columns (such as <type>float8</> and <type>timestamp</>).
It is strongly recommended that all installations repair this error,
either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedure given
below.
</para>
<para>
The lesser error is that the system view <structname>pg_settings</>
ought to be marked as having public update access, to allow
<literal>UPDATE pg_settings</> to be used as a substitute for
<command>SET</>. This can also be fixed either by initdb or manually,
but it is not necessary to fix unless you want to use <literal>UPDATE
pg_settings</>.
</para>
<para>
If you wish not to do an initdb, the following procedure will work
for fixing <structname>pg_statistic</>. As the database superuser,
do:
<programlisting>
-- 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;
</programlisting>
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 <structname>pg_statistic</>.
</para>
<para>
To repair the <structname>pg_settings</> error, simply do:
<programlisting>
GRANT SELECT, UPDATE ON pg_settings TO PUBLIC;
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
The above procedures must be carried out in <emphasis>each</> database
of an installation, including <literal>template1</>, and ideally
including <literal>template0</> as well. If you do not fix the
template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain
the same errors. <literal>template1</> can be fixed in the same way
as any other database, but fixing <literal>template0</> requires
additional steps. First, from any database issue:
<programlisting>
UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = true WHERE datname = 'template0';
</programlisting>
Next connect to <literal>template0</> and perform the above repair
procedures. Finally, do:
<programlisting>
-- re-freeze template0:
VACUUM FREEZE;
-- and protect it against future alterations:
UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false WHERE datname = 'template0';
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
Release 7.4.2 incorporates all the fixes included in release 7.3.6,
plus the following fixes:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix <structname>pg_statistics</> alignment bug that could crash optimizer</para>
<para>See above for details about this problem.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow non-super users to update <structname>pg_settings</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix several optimizer bugs, most of which led to
<quote>variable not found in subplan target lists</> errors</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid out-of-memory failure during startup of large multiple
index scan</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix multibyte problem that could lead to <quote>out of
memory</> error during <command>COPY IN</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with <command>SELECT INTO</> / <command>CREATE
TABLE AS</> from tables without OIDs</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with <filename>alter_table</> regression test
during parallel testing</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with hitting open file limit, especially on OS X (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Partial fix for Turkish-locale issues</para>
<para>initdb will succeed now in Turkish locale, but there are still some
inconveniences associated with the <literal>i/I</> problem.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pg_dump set client encoding on restore</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Other minor pg_dump fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow ecpg to again use C keywords as column names (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Added ecpg <literal>WHENEVER NOT_FOUND</> to
<literal>SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE</> (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix ecpg crash for queries calling set-returning functions (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various other ecpg fixes (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for Borland compiler</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Thread build improvements (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various other build fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various JDBC fixes</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4-1">
<title>Release 7.4.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-12-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.4.
For information about new features in the 7.4 major release, see
<xref linkend="release-7-4">.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running 7.4.
</para>
<para>
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 <command>initdb</command>, or by running the following
sequence of SQL commands in each database (ideally including
<literal>template1</literal>) as a superuser in
<application>psql</application>, after installing the new release:
<programlisting>
DROP SCHEMA information_schema CASCADE;
\i /usr/local/pgsql/share/information_schema.sql
</programlisting>
Substitute your installation path in the second command.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fixed bug in <command>CREATE SCHEMA</command> parsing in ECPG (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix compile error when <option>--enable-thread-safety</option> and <option>--with-perl</option> are used together (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for subqueries that used hash joins (Tom)</para>
<para>
Certain subqueries that used hash joins would crash because of
improperly shared structures.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix free space map compaction bug (Tom)</para>
<para>
This fixes a bug where compaction of the free space map could lead
to a database server shutdown.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for Borland compiler build of libpq (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>netmask()</function> and <function>hostmask()</function> to return the maximum-length masklen (Tom)</para>
<para>
Fix these functions to return values consistent with pre-7.4
releases.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Several <filename>contrib/pg_autovacuum</filename> fixes</para>
<para>
Fixes include improper variable initialization, missing vacuum after
<command>TRUNCATE</command>, and duration computation overflow for long vacuums.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow compile of <filename>contrib/cube</filename> under Cygwin (Jason Tishler)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix Solaris use of password file when no passwords are defined (Tom)</para>
<para>
Fix crash on Solaris caused by use of any type of password
authentication when no passwords were defined.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>JDBC fix for thread problems, other fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for <type>bytea</type> index lookups (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix information schema for bit data types (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Force zero_damaged_pages to be on during recovery from WAL</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent some obscure cases of <quote>variable not in subplan target lists</quote></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <function>PQescapeBytea</function> and <function>byteaout</function> consistent with each other (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Escape <type>bytea</type> output for bytes &gt; 0x7e(Joe)</para>
<para>
If different client encodings are used for <type>bytea</type> output and input, it
is possible for <type>bytea</type> values to be corrupted by the differing
encodings. This fix escapes all bytes that might be affected.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Added missing <function>SPI_finish()</function> calls to dblink's <function>get_tuple_of_interest()</function> (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New Czech FAQ</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix information schema view <literal>constraint_column_usage</literal> for foreign keys (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ECPG fixes (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug with multiple <literal>IN</literal> subqueries and joins in the subqueries (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <literal>COUNT('x')</literal> to work (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Install ECPG include files for Informix compatibility into separate directory (Peter)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix SSL memory leak (Neil)</para>
<para>
This release fixes a bug in 7.4 where SSL didn't free all memory it allocated.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <filename>pg_service.conf</filename> from using service name as default dbname (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix local ident authentication on FreeBSD (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-4">
<title>Release 7.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-11-17</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<literal>IN</literal> / <literal>NOT IN</literal> subqueries are
now much more efficient
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
In previous releases, <literal>IN</literal>/<literal>NOT
IN</literal> 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
<literal>IN</literal> will now usually be as fast as or faster
than an equivalent <literal>EXISTS</literal> subquery; this
reverses the conventional wisdom that applied to previous
releases.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Improved <literal>GROUP BY</literal> processing by using hash buckets
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
In previous releases, rows to be grouped had to be sorted
first. The 7.4 code can do <literal>GROUP BY</literal>
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 <varname>sort_mem</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
New multikey hash join capability
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
In previous releases, hash joins could only occur on single
keys. This release allows multicolumn hash joins.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Queries using the explicit <literal>JOIN</literal> syntax are
now better optimized
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Prior releases evaluated queries using the explicit
<literal>JOIN</literal> 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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Faster and more powerful regular expression code
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Function-inlining for simple SQL functions
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Full support for IPv6 connections and IPv6 address data types
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Major improvements in SSL performance and reliability
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Several people very familiar with the SSL API have overhauled
our SSL code to improve SSL key negotiation and error
recovery.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Make free space map efficiently reuse empty index pages,
and other free space management improvements
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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, <command>VACUUM</command> records empty index
pages and allows them to be reused for any future index rows.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
SQL-standard information schema
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The information schema provides a standardized and stable way
to access information about the schema objects defined in a
database.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Cursors conform more closely to the SQL standard
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The commands <command>FETCH</command> and
<command>MOVE</command> have been overhauled to conform more
closely to the SQL standard.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Cursors can exist outside transactions
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
These cursors are also called holdable cursors.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
New client-to-server protocol
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <command>COPY</command> failures. The older
protocol is still supported by both server and clients.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
<application>libpq</application> and
<application>ECPG</application> applications are now fully
thread-safe
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
While previous <application>libpq</application> releases
already supported threads, this release improves thread safety
by fixing some non-thread-safe code that was used during
database connection startup. The <command>configure</command>
option <option>--enable-thread-safety</option> must be used to
enable this feature.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
New version of full-text indexing
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A new full-text indexing suite is available in
<filename>contrib/tsearch2</filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
New autovacuum tool
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The new autovacuum tool in
<filename>contrib/autovacuum</filename> monitors the database
statistics tables for
<command>INSERT</command>/<command>UPDATE</command>/<command>DELETE</command>
activity and automatically vacuums tables when needed.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Array handling has been improved and moved into the server core
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Many array limitations have been removed, and arrays behave
more like fully-supported data types.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application> is
required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous
release.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Inner joins using the explicit <literal>JOIN</literal> syntax
might behave differently because they are now better
optimized.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
A number of server configuration parameters have been renamed
for clarity, primarily those related to
logging.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>FETCH 0</literal> or <literal>MOVE 0</literal> now
does nothing. In prior releases, <literal>FETCH 0</literal>
would fetch all remaining rows, and <literal>MOVE 0</literal>
would move to the end of the cursor.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>FETCH</command> and <command>MOVE</command> 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>COPY</command> 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 <literal>\r</literal> and
<literal>\n</literal> instead.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Trailing spaces are now trimmed when converting from type
<type>char(<replaceable>n</>)</type> to
<type>varchar(<replaceable>n</>)</type> or <type>text</type>.
This is what most people always expected to happen anyway.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The data type <type>float(<replaceable>p</>)</type> now
measures <replaceable>p</> in binary digits, not decimal
digits. The new behavior follows the SQL standard.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ambiguous date values now must match the ordering specified by
the <varname>datestyle</varname> setting. In prior releases, a
date specification of <literal>10/20/03</> was interpreted as a
date in October even if <varname>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
<varname>datestyle</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The functions <function>oidrand</function>,
<function>oidsrand</function>, and
<function>userfntest</function> have been removed. These
functions were determined to be no longer useful.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
String literals specifying time-varying date/time values, such
as <literal>'now'</literal> or <literal>'today'</literal> 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
<function>now()</>, <function>current_timestamp</>, or
<function>current_date</function> should be used instead.
</para>
<para>
In previous releases, there was special code so that strings
such as <literal>'now'</literal> were interpreted at
<command>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 <function>now()</> or <function>current_timestamp</>. These
will work in all situations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The dollar sign (<literal>$</>) is no longer allowed in
operator names. It can instead be a non-first character in
identifiers. This was done to improve compatibility with other
database systems, and to avoid syntax problems when parameter
placeholders (<literal>$<replaceable>n</></>) are written
adjacent to operators.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
Below you will find a detailed account of the changes between
release 7.4 and the previous major release.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Server Operation Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow IPv6 server connections (Nigel Kukard, Johan Jordaan,
Bruce, Tom, Kurt Roeckx, Andrew Dunstan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix SSL to handle errors cleanly (Nathan Mueller)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, certain SSL API error reports were not
handled correctly. This release fixes those problems.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
SSL protocol security and performance improvements (Sean Chittenden)
</para>
<para>
SSL key renegotiation was happening too frequently, causing poor
SSL performance. Also, initial key handling was improved.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Print lock information when a deadlock is detected (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This allows easier debugging of deadlock situations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Update <filename>/tmp</filename> socket modification times
regularly to avoid their removal (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This should help prevent <filename>/tmp</filename> directory
cleaner administration scripts from removing server socket
files.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable PAM for Mac OS X (Aaron Hillegass)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Make B-tree indexes fully WAL-safe (Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow B-tree index compaction and empty page reuse (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix inconsistent index lookups during split of first root page (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve free space map allocation logic (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Preserve free space information between server restarts (Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add start time to <literal>pg_stat_activity</literal> (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New code to detect corrupt disk pages; erase with <varname>zero_damaged_pages</varname> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New client/server protocol: faster, no username length limit, allow clean exit from <command>COPY</command> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add transaction status, table ID, column ID to client/server protocol (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add binary I/O to client/server protocol (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove autocommit server setting; move to client applications (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New error message wording, error codes, and three levels of error detail (Tom, Joe, Peter)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Performance Improvements</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add hashing for <literal>GROUP BY</literal> aggregates (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make nested-loop joins be smarter about multicolumn indexes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow multikey hash joins (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve constant folding (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ability to inline simple SQL functions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Reduce memory usage for queries using complex functions (Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Improve GEQO optimizer performance (Tom)</para>
<para>
This release fixes several inefficiencies in the way the GEQO optimizer
manages potential query paths.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>IN</>/<literal>NOT IN</> to be handled via hash
tables (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve <literal>NOT IN (<replaceable>subquery</>)</literal>
performance (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow most <literal>IN</literal> subqueries to be processed as
joins (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Pattern matching operations can use indexes regardless of
locale (Peter)
</para>
<para>
There is no way for non-ASCII locales to use the standard
indexes for <literal>LIKE</literal> comparisons. This release
adds a way to create a special index for
<literal>LIKE</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow the postmaster to preload libraries using <varname>preload_libraries</varname> (Joe)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve optimizer cost computations, particularly for subqueries (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Avoid sort when subquery <literal>ORDER BY</literal> matches upper query (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Deduce that <literal>WHERE a.x = b.y AND b.y = 42</literal> also
means <literal>a.x = 42</literal> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow hash/merge joins on complex joins (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow hash joins for more data types (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow join optimization of explicit inner joins, disable with
<varname>join_collapse_limit</varname> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add parameter <varname>from_collapse_limit</varname> to control
conversion of subqueries to joins (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use faster and more powerful regular expression code from Tcl
(Henry Spencer, Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use bit-mapped relation sets in the optimizer (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Improve connection startup time (Tom)</para>
<para>
The new client/server protocol requires fewer network packets to
start a database session.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve trigger/constraint performance (Stephan)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve speed of <literal>col IN (const, const, const, ...)</literal> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix hash indexes which were broken in rare cases (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve hash index concurrency and speed (Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Align shared buffers on 32-byte boundary for copy speed improvement (Manfred Spraul)</para>
<para>
Certain CPU's perform faster data copies when addresses are
32-byte aligned.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Data type <type>numeric</type> reimplemented for better performance (Tom)</para>
<para>
<type>numeric</type> used to be stored in base 100. The new code
uses base 10000, for significantly better performance.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Configuration Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Rename server parameter <varname>server_min_messages</> to <varname>log_min_messages</> (Bruce)</para>
<para>
This was done so most parameters that control the server logs
begin with <literal>log_</>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename <varname>show_*_stats</> to <varname>log_*_stats</> (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename <varname>show_source_port</> to <varname>log_source_port</> (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename <varname>hostname_lookup</> to <varname>log_hostname</> (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add <varname>checkpoint_warning</> to warn of excessive checkpointing (Bruce)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New read-only server parameters for localization (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change debug server log messages to output as <literal>DEBUG</>
rather than <literal>LOG</> (Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Prevent server log variables from being turned off by non-superusers (Bruce)</para>
<para>
This is a security feature so non-superusers cannot disable
logging that was enabled by the administrator.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<varname>log_min_messages</>/<varname>client_min_messages</> now
controls <varname>debug_*</> output (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This centralizes client debug information so all debug output
can be sent to either the client or server logs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add Mac OS X Rendezvous server support (Chris Campbell)</para>
<para>
This allows Mac OS X hosts to query the network for available
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> servers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add ability to print only slow statements using
<varname>log_min_duration_statement</varname>
(Christopher)
</para>
<para>
This is an often requested debugging feature that allows
administrators to see only slow queries in their server logs.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> to accept netmasks in CIDR format (Andrew Dunstan)</para>
<para>
This allows administrators to merge the host IP address and
netmask fields into a single CIDR field in <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New read-only parameter <varname>is_superuser</varname> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>New parameter <varname>log_error_verbosity</varname> to control error detail (Tom)</para>
<para>
This works with the new error reporting feature to supply
additional error information like hints, file names and line
numbers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><literal>postgres --describe-config</literal> now dumps server config variables (Aizaz Ahmed, Peter)</para>
<para>
This option is useful for administration tools that need to know
the configuration variable names and their minimums, maximums,
defaults, and descriptions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new columns in <literal>pg_settings</literal>:
<literal>context</>, <literal>type</>, <literal>source</>,
<literal>min_val</>, <literal>max_val</> (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make default <varname>shared_buffers</> 1000 and
<varname>max_connections</> 100, if possible (Tom)
</para>
<para>
Prior versions defaulted to 64 shared buffers so <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
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
<varname>shared_buffers</varname> accordingly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> record type
<literal>hostnossl</> to prevent SSL connections (Jon
Jensen)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, there was no way to prevent SSL connections
if both the client and server supported SSL. This option allows
that capability.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove parameter <varname>geqo_random_seed</varname>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add server parameter <varname>regex_flavor</varname> to control regular expression processing (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>pg_ctl</command> better handle nonstandard ports (Greg)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Query Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New SQL-standard information schema (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add read-only transactions (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Print key name and value in foreign-key violation messages (Dmitry Tkach)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow users to see their own queries in <literal>pg_stat_activity</literal> (Kevin Brown)</para>
<para>
In prior releases, only the superuser could see query strings
using <literal>pg_stat_activity</literal>. Now ordinary users
can see their own query strings.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Fix aggregates in subqueries to match SQL standard (Tom)</para>
<para>
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
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> releases did not handle
this fine point correctly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add option to prevent auto-addition of tables referenced in query (Nigel J. Andrews)</para>
<para>
By default, tables mentioned in the query are automatically
added to the <literal>FROM</> clause if they are not already
there. This is compatible with historic
<productname>POSTGRES</productname> behavior but is contrary to
the SQL standard. This option allows selecting
standard-compatible behavior.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow <literal>UPDATE ... SET col = DEFAULT</literal> (Rod)</para>
<para>
This allows <command>UPDATE</command> to set a column to its
declared default value.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow expressions to be used in <literal>LIMIT</>/<literal>OFFSET</> (Tom)</para>
<para>
In prior releases, <literal>LIMIT</>/<literal>OFFSET</> could
only use constants, not expressions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Implement <literal>CREATE TABLE AS EXECUTE</literal> (Neil, Peter)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Make <command>CREATE SEQUENCE</command> grammar more conforming to SQL:2003 (Neil)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add statement-level triggers (Neil)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add check constraints for domains (Rod)</para>
<para>
This greatly increases the usefulness of domains by allowing
them to use check constraints.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add <command>ALTER DOMAIN</command> (Rod)</para>
<para>
This allows manipulation of existing domains.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Fix several zero-column table bugs (Tom)</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> supports zero-column tables. This fixes various bugs
that occur when using such tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Have <literal>ALTER TABLE ... ADD PRIMARY KEY</literal> add not-null constraint (Rod)</para>
<para>
In prior releases, <literal>ALTER TABLE ... ADD
PRIMARY</literal> would add a unique index, but not a not-null
constraint. That is fixed in this release.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add <literal>ALTER TABLE ... WITHOUT OIDS</literal> (Rod)</para>
<para>
This allows control over whether new and updated rows will have
an OID column. This is most useful for saving storage space.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>ALTER SEQUENCE</literal> to modify minimum, maximum,
increment, cache, cycle values (Rod)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add <literal>ALTER TABLE ... CLUSTER ON</literal> (Alvaro Herrera)</para>
<para>
This command is used by <command>pg_dump</command> to record the
cluster column for each table previously clustered. This
information is used by database-wide cluster to cluster all
previously clustered tables.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve automatic type casting for domains (Rod, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow dollar signs in identifiers, except as first character (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow dollar signs in operator names, so <literal>x=$1</> works (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow copying table schema using <literal>LIKE
<replaceable>subtable</replaceable></literal>, also SQL:2003
feature <literal>INCLUDING DEFAULTS</literal> (Rod)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add <literal>WITH GRANT OPTION</literal> clause to
<command>GRANT</command> (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This enabled <command>GRANT</command> to give other users the
ability to grant privileges on a object.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Command Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Add <literal>ON COMMIT</literal> clause to <command>CREATE TABLE</command> for temporary tables (Gavin)</para>
<para>
This adds the ability for a table to be dropped or all rows
deleted on transaction commit.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow cursors outside transactions using <literal>WITH HOLD</literal> (Neil)</para>
<para>
In previous releases, cursors were removed at the end of the
transaction that created them. Cursors can now be created with
the <literal>WITH HOLD</literal> option, which allows them to
continue to be accessed after the creating transaction has
committed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><literal>FETCH 0</literal> and <literal>MOVE 0 </literal> now do nothing (Bruce)</para>
<para>
In previous releases, <literal>FETCH 0</literal> fetched all
remaining rows, and <literal>MOVE 0</literal> moved to the end
of the cursor.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Cause <command>FETCH</command> and <command>MOVE</command> to
return the number of rows fetched/moved, or zero if at the
beginning/end of cursor, per SQL standard (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
In prior releases, the row count returned by
<command>FETCH</command> and <command>MOVE</command> did not
accurately reflect the number of rows processed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Properly handle <literal>SCROLL</literal> with cursors, or
report an error (Neil)</para>
<para>
Allowing random access (both forward and backward scrolling) to
some kinds of queries cannot be done without some additional
work. If <literal>SCROLL</literal> is specified when the cursor
is created, this additional work will be performed. Furthermore,
if the cursor has been created with <literal>NO SCROLL</literal>,
no random access is allowed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Implement SQL-compatible options <literal>FIRST</>,
<literal>LAST</>, <literal>ABSOLUTE <replaceable>n</></>,
<literal>RELATIVE <replaceable>n</></> for
<command>FETCH</command> and <command>MOVE</command> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow <command>EXPLAIN</command> on <command>DECLARE CURSOR</command> (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow <command>CLUSTER</command> to use index marked as pre-clustered by default (Alvaro Herrera)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow <command>CLUSTER</command> to cluster all tables (Alvaro Herrera)</para>
<para>
This allows all previously clustered tables in a database to be
reclustered with a single command.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <command>CLUSTER</command> on partial indexes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow DOS and Mac line-endings in <command>COPY</> files (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Disallow literal carriage return as a data value,
backslash-carriage-return and <literal>\r</> are still allowed
(Bruce)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><command>COPY</> changes (binary, <literal>\.</>) (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Recover from <command>COPY</command> failure cleanly (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Prevent possible memory leaks in <command>COPY</command> (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Make <command>TRUNCATE</command> transaction-safe (Rod)</para>
<para>
<command>TRUNCATE</command> can now be used inside a
transaction. If the transaction aborts, the changes made by the
<command>TRUNCATE</command> are automatically rolled back.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow prepare/bind of utility commands like
<command>FETCH</command> and <command>EXPLAIN</command> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add <command>EXPLAIN EXECUTE</command> (Neil)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Improve <command>VACUUM</command> performance on indexes by reducing WAL traffic (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Functional indexes have been generalized into indexes on expressions (Tom)</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <command>SHOW TRANSACTION ISOLATION</command> match input
to <command>SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION</command>
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <command>COMMENT ON DATABASE</command> on nonlocal
database generate a warning, rather than an error (Rod)
</para>
<para>
Database comments are stored in database-local tables so
comments on a database have to be stored in each database.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve reliability of <command>LISTEN</>/<command>NOTIFY</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow <command>REINDEX</command> to reliably reindex nonshared system catalog indexes (Tom)</para>
<para>
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
<literal>pg_database</>, <literal>pg_shadow</>, and
<literal>pg_group</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Data Type and Function Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
New server parameter <varname>extra_float_digits</varname> to
control precision display of floating-point numbers (Pedro
Ferreira, Tom)
</para>
<para>
This controls output precision which was causing regression
testing problems.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <literal>+1300</literal> as a numeric time-zone specifier, for FJST (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove rarely used functions <function>oidrand</>,
<function>oidsrand</>, and <function>userfntest</> functions
(Neil)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add <function>md5()</> function to main server, already in <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</filename> (Joe)</para>
<para>
An MD5 function was frequently requested. For more complex
encryption capabilities, use
<filename>contrib/pgcrypto</filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Increase date range of <type>timestamp</type> (John Cochran)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change <literal>EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM timestamp)</literal> so
<type>timestamp without time zone</type> is assumed to be in
local time, not GMT (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Trap division by zero in case the operating system doesn't prevent it (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change the <type>numeric</type> data type internally to base 10000 (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New <function>hostmask()</function> function (Greg Wickham)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for <function>to_char()</function> and <function>to_timestamp()</function> (Karel)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow functions that can take any argument data type and return
any data type, using <type>anyelement</type> and
<type>anyarray</type> (Joe)
</para>
<para>
This allows the creation of functions that can work with any
data type.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Arrays can now be specified as <literal>ARRAY[1,2,3]</literal>,
<literal>ARRAY[['a','b'],['c','d']]</literal>, or
<literal>ARRAY[ARRAY[ARRAY[2]]]</literal> (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow proper comparisons for arrays, including <literal>ORDER
BY</literal> and <literal>DISTINCT</literal> support
(Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow indexes on array columns (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow array concatenation with <literal>||</literal> (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow <literal>WHERE</literal> qualification
<literal><replaceable>expr</> <replaceable>op</> ANY/SOME/ALL
(<replaceable>array_expr</>)</literal> (Joe)
</para>
<para>
This allows arrays to behave like a list of values, for purposes
like <literal>SELECT * FROM tab WHERE col IN
(array_val)</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New array functions <function>array_append</>,
<function>array_cat</>, <function>array_lower</>,
<function>array_prepend</>, <function>array_to_string</>,
<function>array_upper</>, <function>string_to_array</> (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow user defined aggregates to use polymorphic functions (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow assignments to empty arrays (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow 60 in seconds fields of <type>time</type>,
<type>timestamp</type>, and <type>interval</type> input values
(Tom)
</para>
<para>
Sixty-second values are needed for leap seconds.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <type>cidr</type> data type to be cast to <type>text</type> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow invalid time zone names in SET TIMEZONE</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Trim trailing spaces when <type>char</type> is cast to
<type>varchar</> or <type>text</> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <type>float(<replaceable>p</>)</> measure the precision
<replaceable>p</> in binary digits, not decimal digits
(Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add IPv6 support to the <type>inet</type> and <type>cidr</type> data types (Michael Graff)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add <function>family()</function> function to report whether address is IPv4 or IPv6 (Michael Graff)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have <literal>SHOW datestyle</literal> generate output similar
to that used by <literal>SET datestyle</literal> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <literal>EXTRACT(TIMEZONE)</literal> and <literal>SET/SHOW
TIME ZONE</literal> follow the SQL convention for the sign of
time zone offsets, i.e., positive is east from UTC (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Fix <literal>date_trunc('quarter', ...)</literal> (B<>jthe Zolt<6C>n)</para>
<para>
Prior releases returned an incorrect value for this function call.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Make <function>initcap()</function> more compatible with Oracle (Mike Nolan)</para>
<para>
<function>initcap()</function> now uppercases a letter appearing
after any non-alphanumeric character, rather than only after
whitespace.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow only <varname>datestyle</varname> field order for date values not in ISO-8601 format (Greg)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new <varname>datestyle</varname> values <literal>MDY</>,
<literal>DMY</>, and <literal>YMD</> to set input field order;
honor <literal>US</> and <literal>European</> for backward
compatibility (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
String literals like <literal>'now'</literal> or
<literal>'today'</literal> will no longer work as a column
default. Use functions such as <function>now()</function>,
<function>current_timestamp</function> instead. (change
required for prepared statements) (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Treat NaN as larger than any other value in <function>min()</>/<function>max()</> (Tom)</para>
<para>
NaN was already sorted after ordinary numeric values for most
purposes, but <function>min()</> and <function>max()</> didn't
get this right.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Prevent interval from suppressing <literal>:00</literal>
seconds display</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
New functions <function>pg_get_triggerdef(prettyprint)</function>
and <function>pg_conversion_is_visible()</function> (Christopher)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow time to be specified as <literal>040506</> or <literal>0405</> (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Input date order must now be <literal>YYYY-MM-DD</literal> (with 4-digit year) or
match <varname>datestyle</varname>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>pg_get_constraintdef</function> support
unique, primary-key, and check constraints (Christopher)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server-Side Language Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent PL/pgSQL crash when <literal>RETURN NEXT</literal> is
used on a zero-row record variable (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make PL/Python's <function>spi_execute</function> interface
handle null values properly (Andrew Bosma)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow PL/pgSQL to declare variables of composite types without <literal>%ROWTYPE</literal> (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Fix PL/Python's <function>_quote()</function> function to handle big integers</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Make PL/Python an untrusted language, now called <literal>plpythonu</literal> (Kevin Jacobs, Tom)</para>
<para>
The Python language no longer supports a restricted execution
environment, so the trusted version of PL/Python was removed. If
this situation changes, a version of PL/Python that can be used
by non-superusers will be readded.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow polymorphic PL/pgSQL functions (Joe, Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow polymorphic SQL functions (Joe)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improved compiled function caching mechanism in PL/pgSQL with
full support for polymorphism (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add new parameter <literal>$0</> in PL/pgSQL representing the
function's actual return type (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow PL/Tcl and PL/Python to use the same trigger on multiple tables (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fixed PL/Tcl's <function>spi_prepare</function> to accept fully
qualified type names in the parameter type list
(Jan)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>psql Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Add <literal>\pset pager always</literal> to always use pager (Greg)</para>
<para>
This forces the pager to be used even if the number of rows is
less than the screen height. This is valuable for rows that
wrap across several screen rows.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve tab completion (Rod, Ross Reedstrom, Ian Barwick)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reorder <literal>\?</> help into groupings (Harald Armin Massa, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add backslash commands for listing schemas, casts, and conversions (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>\encoding</> now changes based on the server parameter
<varname>client_encoding</varname> (Tom)
</para>
<para>
In previous versions, <command>\encoding</command> was not aware
of encoding changes made using <literal>SET
client_encoding</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Save editor buffer into readline history (Ross)</para>
<para>
When <command>\e</> is used to edit a query, the result is saved
in the readline history for retrieval using the up arrow.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve <command>\d</command> display (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enhance HTML mode to be more standards-conforming (Greg)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>New <command>\set AUTOCOMMIT off</command> capability (Tom)</para>
<para>
This takes the place of the removed server parameter <varname>autocommit</varname>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>New <command>\set VERBOSITY</command> to control error detail (Tom)</para>
<para>
This controls the new error reporting details.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New prompt escape sequence <literal>%x</literal> to show transaction status (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Long options for <application>psql</application> are now available on all platforms</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>pg_dump Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Multiple pg_dump fixes, including tar format and large objects</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_dump to dump specific schemas (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Make pg_dump preserve column storage characteristics (Christopher)</para>
<para>
This preserves <literal>ALTER TABLE ... SET STORAGE</literal> information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pg_dump preserve <command>CLUSTER</command> characteristics (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Have pg_dumpall use <command>GRANT</>/<command>REVOKE</> to dump database-level privileges (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow pg_dumpall to support the options <option>-a</>,
<option>-s</>, <option>-x</> of pg_dump (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent pg_dump from lowercasing identifiers specified on the command line (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
pg_dump options <option>--use-set-session-authorization</option>
and <option>--no-reconnect</option> now do nothing, all dumps
use <command>SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION</command>
</para>
<para>
pg_dump no longer reconnects to switch users, but instead always
uses <command>SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION</command>. This will
reduce password prompting during restores.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Long options for <application>pg_dump</application> are now available on all platforms</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> now includes its own
long-option processing routines.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>libpq Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function <function>PQfreemem</function> for freeing memory on
Windows, suggested for <command>NOTIFY</command> (Bruce)
</para>
<para>
Windows requires that memory allocated in a library be freed by
a function in the same library, hence
<function>free()</function> doesn't work for freeing memory
allocated by libpq. <function>PQfreemem</function> is the proper
way to free libpq memory, especially on Windows, and is
recommended for other platforms as well.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Document service capability, and add sample file (Bruce)</para>
<para>
This allows clients to look up connection information in a
central file on the client machine.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <function>PQsetdbLogin</function> have the same defaults as
<function>PQconnectdb</function> (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow libpq to cleanly fail when result sets are too large (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve performance of function <function>PQunescapeBytea</function> (Ben Lamb)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow thread-safe libpq with <filename>configure</filename>
option <option>--enable-thread-safety</option> (Lee Kindness,
Philip Yarra)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow function <function>pqInternalNotice</function> to accept a
format string and arguments instead of just a preformatted
message (Tom, Sean Chittenden)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Control SSL negotiation with <literal>sslmode</literal> values
<literal>disable</literal>, <literal>allow</literal>,
<literal>prefer</literal>, and <literal>require</literal> (Jon
Jensen)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow new error codes and levels of text (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Allow access to the underlying table and column of a query result (Tom)</para>
<para>
This is helpful for query-builder applications that want to know
the underlying table and column names associated with a specific
result set.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow access to the current transaction status (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ability to pass binary data directly to the server (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Add function <function>PQexecPrepared</function> and
<function>PQsendQueryPrepared</function> functions which perform
bind/execute of previously prepared statements (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>JDBC Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Allow <function>setNull</function> on updateable result sets</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <function>executeBatch</function> on a prepared statement (Barry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Support SSL connections (Barry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle schema names in result sets (Paul Sorenson)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add refcursor support (Nic Ferrier)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Miscellaneous Interface Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Prevent possible memory leak or core dump during libpgtcl shutdown (Tom)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add Informix compatibility to ECPG (Michael)</para>
<para>
This allows ECPG to process embedded C programs that were
written using certain Informix extensions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add type <type>decimal</type> to ECPG that is fixed length, for Informix (Michael)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow thread-safe embedded SQL programs with
<filename>configure</filename> option
<option>--enable-thread-safety</option> (Lee Kindness, Bruce)
</para>
<para>
This allows multiple threads to access the database at the same
time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Moved Python client PyGreSQL to <ulink url="http://www.pygresql.org"></ulink> (Marc)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Prevent need for separate platform geometry regression result files (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improved PPC locking primitive (Reinhard Max)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New function <function>palloc0</function> to allocate and clear memory (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix locking code for s390x CPU (64-bit) (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow OpenBSD to use local ident credentials (William Ahern)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make query plan trees read-only to executor (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add Darwin startup scripts (David Wheeler)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow libpq to compile with Borland C++ compiler (Lester Godwin, Karl Waclawek)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Use our own version of <function>getopt_long()</function> if needed (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Convert administration scripts to C (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para> Bison &gt;= 1.85 is now required to build the <productname>PostgreSQL</> grammar, if building from CVS</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Merge documentation into one book (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add Windows compatibility functions (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow client interfaces to compile under MinGW (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New <function>ereport()</function> function for error reporting (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Support Intel compiler on Linux (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve Linux startup scripts (Slawomir Sudnik, Darko Prenosil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add support for AMD Opteron and Itanium (Jeffrey W. Baker, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Remove <option>--enable-recode</option> option from <command>configure</command></para>
<para>
This was no longer needed now that we have <command>CREATE CONVERSION</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Generate a compile error if spinlock code is not found (Bruce)</para>
<para>
Platforms without spinlock code will now fail to compile, rather
than silently using semaphores. This failure can be disabled
with a new <command>configure</command> option.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change dbmirror license to BSD</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve earthdistance (Bruno Wolff III)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Portability improvements to pgcrypto (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent crash in xml (John Gray, Michael Richards)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update oracle</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update mysql</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update cube (Bruno Wolff III)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update earthdistance to use cube (Bruno Wolff III)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update btree_gist (Oleg)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New tsearch2 full-text search module (Oleg, Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add hash-based crosstab function to tablefuncs (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add serial column to order <function>connectby()</> siblings in tablefuncs (Nabil Sayegh,Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add named persistent connections to dblink (Shridhar Daithanka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pg_autovacuum allows automatic <command>VACUUM</command> (Matthew T. O'Connor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pgbench honor environment variables <envar>PGHOST</>, <envar>PGPORT</>, <envar>PGUSER</> (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve intarray (Teodor Sigaev)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve pgstattuple (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in <function>metaphone()</function> in fuzzystrmatch</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve adddepend (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update spi/timetravel (B<>jthe Zolt<6C>n)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix dbase <option>-s</> option and improve non-ASCII handling (Thomas Behr, M<>rcio Smiderle)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove array module because features now included by default (Joe)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-21">
<title>Release 7.3.21</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2008-01-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.20,
including fixes for significant security issues.
</para>
<para>
This is expected to be the last <productname>PostgreSQL</> release
in the 7.3.X series. Users are encouraged to update to a newer
release branch soon.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.21</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent functions in indexes from executing with the privileges of
the user running <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, etc (Tom)
</para>
<para>
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 <command>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 <command>VACUUM</>, <command>ANALYZE</>, <command>REINDEX</>,
and <command>CLUSTER</>) to execute as the table owner rather than
the calling user, using the same privilege-switching mechanism already
used for <literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> functions. To prevent bypassing
this security measure, execution of <command>SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</> and <command>SET ROLE</> is now forbidden within a
<literal>SECURITY DEFINER</> context. (CVE-2007-6600)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
<para>
The fix that appeared for this in 7.3.20 was incomplete, as it plugged
the hole for only some <filename>dblink</> functions. (CVE-2007-6601,
CVE-2007-3278)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential crash in <function>translate()</> when using a multibyte
database encoding (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <filename>contrib/tablefunc</>'s <function>crosstab()</> handle
NULL rowid as a category in its own right, rather than crashing (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require a specific version of <productname>Autoconf</> to be used
when re-generating the <command>configure</> script (Peter)
</para>
<para>
This affects developers and packagers only. The change was made
to prevent accidental use of untested combinations of
<productname>Autoconf</> and <productname>PostgreSQL</> versions.
You can remove the version check if you really want to use a
different <productname>Autoconf</> version, but it's
your responsibility whether the result works or not.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-20">
<title>Release 7.3.20</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-09-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains fixes from 7.3.19.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.20</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent index corruption when a transaction inserts rows and
then aborts close to the end of a concurrent <command>VACUUM</>
on the same table (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Make <command>CREATE DOMAIN ... DEFAULT NULL</> work properly (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix crash when <varname>log_min_error_statement</> logging runs out
of memory (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Require non-superusers who use <filename>/contrib/dblink</> to use only
password authentication, as a security measure (Joe)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-19">
<title>Release 7.3.19</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-04-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains fixes from 7.3.18,
including a security fix.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.19</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Support explicit placement of the temporary-table schema within
<varname>search_path</>, and disable searching it for functions
and operators (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is needed to allow a security-definer function to set a
truly secure value of <varname>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 <command>CREATE FUNCTION</> for more information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix potential-data-corruption bug in how <command>VACUUM FULL</> handles
<command>UPDATE</> chains (Tom, Pavan Deolasee)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-18">
<title>Release 7.3.18</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-02-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.17, including
a security fix.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.18</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Remove security vulnerability that allowed connected users
to read backend memory (Tom)
</para>
<para>
The vulnerability involves 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.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Fix rare bug wherein btree index page splits could fail
due to choosing an infeasible split point (Heikki Linnakangas)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Tighten security of multi-byte character processing for UTF8 sequences
over three bytes long (Tom)
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-17">
<title>Release 7.3.17</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2007-01-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.16.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.17</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<function>to_number()</> and <function>to_char(numeric)</>
are now <literal>STABLE</>, not <literal>IMMUTABLE</>, for
new <application>initdb</> installs (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This is because <varname>lc_numeric</> can potentially
change the output of these functions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improve index usage of regular expressions that use parentheses (Tom)
</para>
<para>
This improves <application>psql</> <literal>\d</> performance also.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-16">
<title>Release 7.3.16</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-10-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.15.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.16</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix corner cases in pattern matching for
<application>psql</>'s <literal>\d</> commands</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix index-corrupting bugs in /contrib/ltree
(Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Back-port 7.4 spinlock code to improve performance and support
64-bit architectures better</para> </listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix SSL-related memory leak in libpq</para> </listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix backslash escaping in /contrib/dbmirror</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Adjust regression tests for recent changes in US DST laws
</para> </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-15">
<title>Release 7.3.15</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-05-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.14,
including patches for extremely serious security issues.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.15</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
<para>
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 <application>libpq</>'s
<function>PQescapeStringConn()</>) to perform string escaping,
rather than relying on <foreignphrase>ad hoc</> code to do it.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change the server to reject invalidly-encoded multibyte
characters in all cases (Tatsuo, Tom)</para>
<para>While <productname>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reject unsafe uses of <literal>\'</> in string literals</para>
<para>As a server-side defense against SQL-injection attacks of the type
described in CVE-2006-2314, the server now only accepts <literal>''</> and not
<literal>\'</> as a representation of ASCII single quote in SQL string
literals. By default, <literal>\'</> is rejected only when
<varname>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 <varname>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
<varname>backslash_quote</> is in part to make it obvious that insecure
clients are insecure.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify <application>libpq</>'s string-escaping routines to be
aware of encoding considerations</para>
<para>This fixes <application>libpq</>-using applications for the security
issues described in CVE-2006-2313 and CVE-2006-2314.
Applications that use multiple <productname>PostgreSQL</> connections
concurrently should migrate to <function>PQescapeStringConn()</> and
<function>PQescapeByteaConn()</> to ensure that escaping is done correctly
for the settings in use in each database connection. Applications that
do string escaping <quote>by hand</> should be modified to rely on library
routines instead.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix some incorrect encoding conversion functions</para>
<para><function>win1251_to_iso</>, <function>alt_to_iso</>,
<function>euc_tw_to_big5</>, <function>euc_tw_to_mic</>,
<function>mic_to_euc_tw</> were all broken to varying
extents.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Clean up stray remaining uses of <literal>\'</> in strings
(Bruce, Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix server to use custom DH SSL parameters correctly (Michael
Fuhr)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix various minor memory leaks</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-14">
<title>Release 7.3.14</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-02-14</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.13.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.14</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.13, see the release
notes for 7.3.13.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix potential crash in <command>SET
SESSION AUTHORIZATION</> (CVE-2006-0553)</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug with row visibility logic in self-inserted
rows (Tom)</para>
<para>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 7.3.11 release.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition that could lead to <quote>file already
exists</> errors during pg_clog file creation
(Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix to allow restoring dumps that have cross-schema
references to custom operators (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Portability fix for testing presence of <function>finite</>
and <function>isinf</> during configure (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-13">
<title>Release 7.3.13</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2006-01-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.12.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.13</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.10, see the release
notes for 7.3.10.
Also, you might need to <command>REINDEX</> indexes on textual
columns after updating, if you are affected by the locale or
<application>plperl</> issues described below.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix character string comparison for locales that consider
different character combinations as equal, such as Hungarian (Tom)</para>
<para>This might require <command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Set locale environment variables during postmaster startup
to ensure that <application>plperl</> won't change the locale later</para>
<para>This fixes a problem that occurred if the <application>postmaster</> was
started with environment variables specifying a different locale than what
<application>initdb</> had been told. Under these conditions, any use of
<application>plperl</> was likely to lead to corrupt indexes. You might need
<command>REINDEX</> to fix existing indexes on
textual columns if this has happened to you.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding bug in strpos() and regular expression
handling in certain rarely used Asian multi-byte character sets (Tatsuo)
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in <filename>/contrib/pgcrypto</> gen_salt,
which caused it not to use all available salt space for MD5 and
XDES algorithms (Marko Kreen, Solar Designer)</para>
<para>Salts for Blowfish and standard DES are unaffected.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>/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)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-12">
<title>Release 7.3.12</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-12-12</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.11.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.12</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.10, see the release
notes for 7.3.10.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix race condition in transaction log management</para>
<para>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.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para><filename>/contrib/ltree</> fixes (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix longstanding planning error for outer joins</para>
<para>This bug sometimes caused a bogus error <quote>RIGHT JOIN is
only supported with merge-joinable join conditions</>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent core dump in <application>pg_autovacuum</> when a
table has been dropped</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-11">
<title>Release 7.3.11</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-10-04</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.10.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.11</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
if you are upgrading from a version earlier than 7.3.10, see the release
notes for 7.3.10.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix error that allowed <command>VACUUM</> to remove
<literal>ctid</> chains too soon, and add more checking in code that follows
<literal>ctid</> links</para>
<para>This fixes a long-standing problem that could cause crashes in very rare
circumstances.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <type>CHAR()</> to properly pad spaces to the specified
length when using a multiple-byte character set (Yoshiyuki Asaba)</para>
<para>In prior releases, the padding of <type>CHAR()</> was incorrect
because it only padded to the specified number of bytes without
considering how many characters were stored.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix missing rows in queries like <literal>UPDATE a=... WHERE
a...</> with GiST index on column <literal>a</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve checking for partially-written WAL
pages</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve robustness of signal handling when SSL is
enabled</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various memory leakage fixes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various portability improvements</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PL/PgSQL to handle <literal>var := var</> correctly when
the variable is of pass-by-reference type</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-10">
<title>Release 7.3.10</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-05-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.9, including several
security-related issues.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.10</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X. However,
it is one possible way of handling a significant security problem
that has been found in the initial contents of 7.3.X system
catalogs. A dump/initdb/reload sequence using 7.3.10's initdb will
automatically correct this problem.
</para>
<para>
The 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.)
It is strongly recommended that all installations repair this error,
either by initdb or by following the manual repair procedure given
below. The error at least allows unprivileged database users to crash
their server process, and might allow unprivileged users to gain the
privileges of a database superuser.
</para>
<para>
If you wish not to do an initdb, perform the following procedure instead.
As the database superuser, do:
<programlisting>
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;
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
The above procedure must be carried out in <emphasis>each</> database
of an installation, including <literal>template1</>, and ideally
including <literal>template0</> as well. If you do not fix the
template databases then any subsequently created databases will contain
the same error. <literal>template1</> can be fixed in the same way
as any other database, but fixing <literal>template0</> requires
additional steps. First, from any database issue:
<programlisting>
UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = true WHERE datname = 'template0';
</programlisting>
Next connect to <literal>template0</> and perform the above repair
procedure. Finally, do:
<programlisting>
-- re-freeze template0:
VACUUM FREEZE;
-- and protect it against future alterations:
UPDATE pg_database SET datallowconn = false WHERE datname = 'template0';
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change encoding function signature to prevent
misuse</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>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</para>
<para>This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent
data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair race condition between relation extension and
VACUUM</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix comparisons of <type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para>
<para>
The comparison code was wrong in the case where the
<literal>--enable-integer-datetimes</> configuration switch had been used.
NOTE: if you have an index on a <type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> column,
it will need to be <command>REINDEX</>ed after installing this update, because
the fix corrects the sort order of column values.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>EXTRACT(EPOCH)</> for
<type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix mis-display of negative fractional seconds in
<type>INTERVAL</> values</para>
<para>
This error only occurred when the
<literal>--enable-integer-datetimes</> configuration switch had been used.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Additional buffer overrun checks in plpgsql
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix pg_dump to dump trigger names containing <literal>%</>
correctly (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <function>to_char(interval)</> from dumping core for
month-related formats</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</> for newer OpenSSL builds
(Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Still more 64-bit fixes for
<filename>contrib/intagg</></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent incorrect optimization of functions returning
<type>RECORD</></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-9">
<title>Release 7.3.9</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-01-31</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.8, including several
security-related issues.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.9</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Disallow <command>LOAD</> to non-superusers</para>
<para>
On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a
shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen),
<command>LOAD</> can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code.
Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Check that creator of an aggregate function has the right to
execute the specified transition functions</para>
<para>
This oversight made it possible to bypass denial of EXECUTE
permission on a function.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix security and 64-bit issues in
contrib/intagg</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too
many parameters (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix plperl for quote marks in tuple fields</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix display of negative intervals in SQL and GERMAN
datestyles</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-8">
<title>Release 7.3.8</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-10-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.7.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.8</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Repair possible failure to update hint bits on disk</para>
<para>
Under rare circumstances this oversight could lead to
<quote>could not access transaction status</> failures, which qualifies
it as a potential-data-loss bug.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure that hashed outer join does not miss tuples</para>
<para>
Very large left joins using a hash join plan could fail to output unmatched
left-side rows given just the right data distribution.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow running pg_ctl as root</para>
<para>
This is to guard against any possible security issues.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid using temp files in /tmp in make_oidjoins_check</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-7">
<title>Release 7.3.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-08-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains one critical fix over 7.3.6, and some minor items.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.7</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.3.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Prevent possible loss of committed transactions during crash</para>
<para>
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 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 7.1.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove asymmetrical word processing in tsearch (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly schema-qualify function names when pg_dump'ing a CAST</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-6">
<title>Release 7.3.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-03-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.3.5.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.6</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running 7.3.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Revert erroneous changes in rule permissions checking</para>
<para>A patch applied in 7.3.3 to fix a corner case in rule permissions checks
turns out to have disabled rule-related permissions checks in many
not-so-corner cases. This would for example allow users to insert into views
they weren't supposed to have permission to insert into. We have therefore
reverted the 7.3.3 patch. The original bug will be fixed in 8.0.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair incorrect order of operations in
GetNewTransactionId()</para>
<para>
This bug could result in failure under out-of-disk-space conditions, including
inability to restart even after disk space is freed.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure configure selects -fno-strict-aliasing even when
an external value for CFLAGS is supplied</para>
<para>
On some platforms, building with -fstrict-aliasing causes bugs.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pg_restore handle 64-bit off_t correctly</para>
<para>
This bug prevented proper restoration from archive files exceeding 4 GB.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make contrib/dblink not assume that local and remote type OIDs
match (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Quote connectby()'s start_with argument properly (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Don't crash when a rowtype argument to a plpgsql function is
NULL</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid generating invalid character encoding sequences in
corner cases when planning LIKE operations</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure text_position() cannot scan past end of source string
in multibyte cases (Korea PostgreSQL Users' Group)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix index optimization and selectivity estimates for LIKE
operations on bytea columns (Joe)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-5">
<title>Release 7.3.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-12-03</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This has a variety of fixes from 7.3.4.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.5</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running 7.3.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Force zero_damaged_pages to be on during recovery from WAL</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent some obscure cases of <quote>variable not in subplan target lists</quote></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Force stats processes to detach from shared memory, ensuring cleaner shutdown</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make PQescapeBytea and byteaout consistent with each other (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Added missing SPI_finish() calls to dblink's get_tuple_of_interest() (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for possible foreign key violation when rule rewrites INSERT (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Support qualified type names in PL/Tcl's spi_prepare command (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pg_dump handle a procedural language handler located in pg_catalog</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pg_dump handle cases where a custom opclass is in another schema</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make pg_dump dump binary-compatible casts correctly (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix insertion of expressions containing subqueries into rule bodies</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix incorrect argument processing in clusterdb script (Anand Ranganathan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with dropped columns in plpython triggers</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair problems with to_char() reading past end of its input string (Karel)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix GB18030 mapping errors (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix several problems with SSL error handling and asynchronous SSL I/O</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove ability to bind a list of values to a single parameter in JDBC
(prevents possible SQL-injection attacks)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix some errors in HAVE_INT64_TIMESTAMP code paths</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix corner case for btree search in parallel with first root page split</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-4">
<title>Release 7.3.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-07-24</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This has a variety of fixes from 7.3.3.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running 7.3.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Repair breakage in timestamp-to-date conversion for dates before 2000</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent rare possibility of server startup failure (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bugs in interval-to-time conversion (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add constraint names in a few places in pg_dump (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve performance of functions with many parameters (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix to_ascii() buffer overruns (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent restore of database comments from throwing an error (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Work around buggy strxfrm() present in some Solaris releases (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly escape jdbc setObject() strings to improve security (Barry)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-3">
<title>Release 7.3.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-05-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.3.2.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.3.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Repair sometimes-incorrect computation of StartUpID after a crash</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid slowness with lots of deferred triggers in one transaction (Stephan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Don't lock referenced row when <command>UPDATE</command> doesn't change foreign key's value (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Use <command>-fPIC</command> not <command>-fpic</command> on Sparc (Tom Callaway)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair lack of schema-awareness in contrib/reindexdb</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix contrib/intarray error for zero-element result array (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure createuser script will exit on control-C (Oliver)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix errors when the type of a dropped column has itself been dropped</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>CHECKPOINT</command> does not cause database panic on failure in noncritical steps</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Accept 60 in seconds fields of timestamp, time, interval input values</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Issue notice, not error, if <type>TIMESTAMP</type>,
<type> TIME</type>, or <type>INTERVAL</type> precision too large</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>abstime-to-time</function> cast function (fix is
not applied unless you <application>initdb</application>)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_proc</application> entry for
<type>timestampt_izone</type> (fix is not applied unless you
<application>initdb</application>)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <function>EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM timestamp without time zone)</function> treat input as local time</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>'now'::timestamptz</command> gave wrong answer if timezone changed earlier in transaction</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><envar>HAVE_INT64_TIMESTAMP</envar> code for time with timezone overwrote its input</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Accept <command>GLOBAL TEMP/TEMPORARY</command> as a
synonym for <command>TEMPORARY</command></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid improper schema-privilege-check failure in foreign-key triggers</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bugs in foreign-key triggers for <command>SET DEFAULT</command> action</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix incorrect time-qual check in row fetch for
<command>UPDATE</command> and <command>DELETE</command> triggers</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Foreign-key clauses were parsed but ignored in
<command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN</command></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix createlang script breakage for case where handler function already exists</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix misbehavior on zero-column tables in <application>pg_dump</application>, COPY, ANALYZE, other places</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix misbehavior of <function>func_error()</function> on type names containing '%'</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix misbehavior of <function>replace()</function> on strings containing '%'</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Regular-expression patterns containing certain multibyte characters failed</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Account correctly for <command>NULL</command>s in more cases in join size estimation</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid conflict with system definition of <function>isblank()</function> function or macro</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix failure to convert large code point values in EUC_TW conversions (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix error recovery for <function>SSL_read</function>/<function>SSL_write</function> calls</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Don't do early constant-folding of type coercion expressions</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Validate page header fields immediately after reading in any page</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair incorrect check for ungrouped variables in unnamed joins</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix buffer overrun in <function>to_ascii</function> (Guido Notari)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/ltree fixes (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump in deadlock detection on machines where char is unsigned</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid running out of buffers in many-way indexscan (bug introduced in 7.3)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planner's selectivity estimation functions to handle domains properly</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>dbmirror</application> memory-allocation bug (Steven Singer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent infinite loop in <function>ln(numeric)</function> due to roundoff error</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><command>GROUP BY</command> got confused if there were multiple equal GROUP BY items</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bad plan when inherited <command>UPDATE</command>/<command>DELETE</command> references another inherited table</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent clustering on incomplete (partial or non-NULL-storing) indexes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Service shutdown request at proper time if it arrives while still starting up</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix left-links in temporary indexes (could make backwards scans miss entries)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix incorrect handling of client_encoding setting in postgresql.conf (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix failure to respond to <command>pg_ctl stop -m fast</command> after Async_NotifyHandler runs</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix SPI for case where rule contains multiple statements of the same type</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with checking for wrong type of access privilege in rule query</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with <command>EXCEPT</command> in <command>CREATE RULE</command></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent problem with dropping temp tables having serial columns</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix replace_vars_with_subplan_refs failure in complex views</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix regexp slowness in single-byte encodings (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow qualified type names in <command>CREATE CAST</command>
and <command> DROP CAST</command></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Accept <function>SETOF type[]</function>, which formerly had to
be written <function>SETOF _type</function></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_dump</application> core dump in some cases with procedural languages</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Force ISO datestyle in <application>pg_dump</application> output, for portability (Oliver)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><application>pg_dump</application> failed to handle error return
from <function>lo_read</function> (Oleg Drokin)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><application>pg_dumpall</application> failed with groups having no members (Nick Eskelinen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><application>pg_dumpall</application> failed to recognize --globals-only switch</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>pg_restore failed to restore blobs if -X disable-triggers is specified</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair intrafunction memory leak in plpgsql</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>pltcl's <command>elog</command> command dumped core if given wrong parameters (Ian Harding)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>plpython used wrong value of <envar>atttypmod</envar> (Brad McLean)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix improper quoting of boolean values in Python interface (D'Arcy)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Added <function>addDataType()</function> method to PGConnection interface for JDBC</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixed various problems with updateable ResultSets for JDBC (Shawn Green)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixed various problems with DatabaseMetaData for JDBC (Kris Jurka, Peter Royal)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixed problem with parsing table ACLs in JDBC</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Better error message for character set conversion problems in JDBC</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-2">
<title>Release 7.3.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-02-04</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.3.1.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.3.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Restore creation of OID column in CREATE TABLE AS / SELECT INTO</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_dump</> core dump when dumping views having comments</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Dump DEFERRABLE/INITIALLY DEFERRED constraints properly</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix UPDATE when child table's column numbering differs from parent</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Increase default value of max_fsm_relations</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem when fetching backwards in a cursor for a single-row query</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make backward fetch work properly with cursor on SELECT DISTINCT query</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problems with loading <application>pg_dump</> files containing contrib/lo usage</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with all-numeric user names</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix possible memory leak and core dump during disconnect in libpgtcl</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make plpython's spi_execute command handle nulls properly (Andrew Bosma)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Adjust plpython error reporting so that its regression test passes again</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Work with bison 1.875</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle mixed-case names properly in plpgsql's %type (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump in pltcl when executing a query rewritten by a rule</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair array subscript overruns (per report from Yichen Xie)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reduce MAX_TIME_PRECISION from 13 to 10 in floating-point case</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Correctly case-fold variable names in per-database and per-user settings</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix coredump in plpgsql's RETURN NEXT when SELECT into record returns no rows</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix outdated use of pg_type.typprtlen in python client interface</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Correctly handle fractional seconds in timestamps in JDBC driver</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve performance of getImportedKeys() in JDBC</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make shared-library symlinks work standardly on HPUX (Giles)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair inconsistent rounding behavior for timestamp, time, interval</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>SSL negotiation fixes (Nathan Mueller)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make libpq's ~/.pgpass feature work when connecting with PQconnectDB</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update my2pg, ora2pg</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Translation updates</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add casts between types lo and oid in contrib/lo</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>fastpath code now checks for privilege to call function</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3-1">
<title>Release 7.3.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2002-12-18</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.3.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.3. However, it should be noted that the main
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> interface library, libpq,
has a new major version number for this release, which might require
recompilation of client code in certain cases.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix a core dump of COPY TO when client/server encodings don't match (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow <application>pg_dump</> to work with pre-7.2 servers (Philip)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/adddepend fixes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with deletion of per-user/per-database config settings (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/vacuumlo fix (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow 'password' encryption even when pg_shadow contains MD5 passwords (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/dbmirror fix (Steven Singer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Optimizer fixes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/tsearch fixes (Teodor Sigaev, Magnus)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow locale names to be mixed case (Nicolai Tufar)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Increment libpq library's major version number (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>pg_hba.conf error reporting fixes (Bruce, Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add SCO Openserver 5.0.4 as a supported platform (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent EXPLAIN from crashing server (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>SSL fixes (Nathan Mueller)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent composite column creation via ALTER TABLE (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-3">
<title>Release 7.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2002-11-27</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Schemas</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Schemas allow users to create objects in separate namespaces,
so two people or applications can have tables with the same
name. There is also a public schema for shared tables.
Table/index creation can be restricted by removing privileges
on the public schema.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Drop Column</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> now supports the
<literal>ALTER TABLE ... DROP COLUMN</literal> functionality.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Table Functions</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Functions returning multiple rows and/or multiple columns are
now much easier to use than before. You can call such a
<quote>table function</quote> in the <literal>SELECT</literal>
<literal>FROM</literal> clause, treating its output like a
table. Also, <application>PL/pgSQL</application> functions can
now return sets.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Prepared Queries</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> now supports prepared
queries, for improved performance.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Dependency Tracking</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> now records object
dependencies, which allows improvements in many areas.
<command>DROP</command> statements now take either
<literal>CASCADE</> or <literal>RESTRICT</> to control whether
dependent objects are also dropped.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Privileges</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Functions and procedural languages now have privileges, and
functions can be defined to run with the privileges of their
creator.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Internationalization</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Both multibyte and locale support are now always enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Logging</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A variety of logging options have been enhanced.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Interfaces</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A large number of interfaces have been moved to <ulink
url="http://gborg.postgresql.org">http://gborg.postgresql.org</>
where they can be developed and released independently.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Functions/Identifiers</term>
<listitem>
<para>
By default, functions can now take up to 32 parameters, and
identifiers can be up to 63 bytes long. Also, <literal>OPAQUE</>
is now deprecated: there are specific <quote>pseudo-datatypes</>
to represent each of the former meanings of <literal>OPAQUE</>
in function argument and result types.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</> is required for those
wishing to migrate data from any previous release. If your
application examines the system catalogs, additional changes will
be required due to the introduction of schemas in 7.3; for more
information, see: <ulink
url="http://developer.postgresql.org/~momjian/upgrade_tips_7.3"></>.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Pre-6.3 clients are no longer supported.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> now has a column for the user
name and additional features. Existing files need to be
adjusted.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Several <filename>postgresql.conf</filename> logging parameters
have been renamed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>LIMIT #,#</literal> has been disabled; use
<literal>LIMIT # OFFSET #</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>INSERT</command> statements with column lists must
specify a value for each specified column. For example,
<literal>INSERT INTO tab (col1, col2) VALUES ('val1')</literal>
is now invalid. It's still allowed to supply fewer columns than
expected if the <command>INSERT</command> does not have a column list.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<type>serial</type> columns are no longer automatically
<literal>UNIQUE</>; thus, an index will not automatically be
created.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
A <command>SET</command> command inside an aborted transaction
is now rolled back.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<command>COPY</command> no longer considers missing trailing
columns to be null. All columns need to be specified.
(However, one can achieve a similar effect by specifying a
column list in the <command>COPY</command> command.)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The data type <type>timestamp</type> is now equivalent to
<type>timestamp without time zone</type>, instead of
<type>timestamp with time zone</type>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Pre-7.3 databases loaded into 7.3 will not have the new object
dependencies for <type>serial</type> columns, unique
constraints, and foreign keys. See the directory
<filename>contrib/adddepend/</filename> for a detailed
description and a script that will add such dependencies.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
An empty string (<literal>''</literal>) is no longer allowed as
the input into an integer field. Formerly, it was silently
interpreted as 0.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<sect3>
<title>Server Operation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add pg_locks view to show locks (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Security fixes for password negotiation memory allocation (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove support for version 0 FE/BE protocol (<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 6.2 and earlier) (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reserve the last few backend slots for superusers, add parameter superuser_reserved_connections to control this (Nigel J. Andrews)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Performance</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Improve startup by calling localtime() only once (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Cache system catalog information in flat files for faster startup (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve caching of index information (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Optimizer improvements (Tom, Fernando Nasser)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Catalog caches now store failed lookups (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Hash function improvements (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve performance of query tokenization and network handling (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Speed improvement for large object restore (Mario Weilguni)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Mark expired index entries on first lookup, saving later heap fetches (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid excessive NULL bitmap padding (Manfred Koizar)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add BSD-licensed qsort() for Solaris, for performance (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reduce per-row overhead by four bytes (Manfred Koizar)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix GEQO optimizer bug (Neil Conway)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make WITHOUT OID actually save four bytes per row (Manfred Koizar)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add default_statistics_target variable to specify ANALYZE buckets (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Use local buffer cache for temporary tables so no WAL overhead (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve free space map performance on large tables (Stephen Marshall, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improved WAL write concurrency (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Privileges</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add privileges on functions and procedural languages (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add OWNER to CREATE DATABASE so superusers can create databases on behalf of unprivileged users (Gavin Sherry, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add new object privilege bits EXECUTE and USAGE (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION DEFAULT and RESET SESSION AUTHORIZATION (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow functions to be executed with the privilege of the function owner (Peter)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Configuration</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Server log messages now tagged with LOG, not DEBUG (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add user column to pg_hba.conf (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have log_connections output two lines in log file (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove debug_level from postgresql.conf, now server_min_messages (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New ALTER DATABASE/USER ... SET command for per-user/database initialization (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New parameters server_min_messages and client_min_messages to control which messages are sent to the server logs or client applications (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_hba.conf to specify lists of users/databases separated by commas, group names prepended with +, and file names prepended with @ (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove secondary password file capability and pg_password utility (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add variable db_user_namespace for database-local user names (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>SSL improvements (Bear Giles)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make encryption of stored passwords the default (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_statistics to be reset by calling pg_stat_reset() (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add log_duration parameter (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename debug_print_query to log_statement (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename show_query_stats to show_statement_stats (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add param log_min_error_statement to print commands to logs on error (Gavin)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Queries</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Make cursors insensitive, meaning their contents do not change (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disable LIMIT #,# syntax; now only LIMIT # OFFSET # supported (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Increase identifier length to 63 (Neil, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>UNION fixes for merging &gt;= 3 columns of different lengths (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add DEFAULT key word to INSERT, e.g., INSERT ... (..., DEFAULT, ...) (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow views to have default values using ALTER COLUMN ... SET DEFAULT (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fail on INSERTs with column lists that don't supply all column values, e.g., INSERT INTO tab (col1, col2) VALUES ('val1'); (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for join aliases (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for FULL OUTER JOINs (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve reporting of invalid identifier and location (Tom, Gavin)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix OPEN cursor(args) (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow 'ctid' to be used in a view and currtid(viewname) (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for CREATE TABLE AS with UNION (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>SQL99 syntax improvements (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add statement_timeout variable to cancel queries (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow prepared queries with PREPARE/EXECUTE (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow FOR UPDATE to appear after LIMIT/OFFSET (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add variable autocommit (Tom, David Van Wie)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Object Manipulation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Make equals signs optional in CREATE DATABASE (Gavin Sherry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make ALTER TABLE OWNER change index ownership too (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New ALTER TABLE tabname ALTER COLUMN colname SET STORAGE controls TOAST storage, compression (John Gray)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add schema support, CREATE/DROP SCHEMA (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Create schema for temporary tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add variable search_path for schema search (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE SET/DROP NOT NULL (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New CREATE FUNCTION volatility levels (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make rule names unique only per table (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add 'ON tablename' clause to DROP RULE and COMMENT ON RULE (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TRIGGER RENAME (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New current_schema() and current_schemas() inquiry functions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow functions to return multiple rows (table functions) (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make WITH optional in CREATE DATABASE, for consistency (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add object dependency tracking (Rod, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add RESTRICT/CASCADE to DROP commands (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE DROP for non-CHECK CONSTRAINT (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Autodestroy sequence on DROP of table with SERIAL (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent column dropping if column is used by foreign key (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Automatically drop constraints/functions when object is dropped (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add CREATE/DROP OPERATOR CLASS (Bill Studenmund, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN (Christopher, Tom, Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent inherited columns from being removed or renamed (Alvaro Herrera)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix foreign key constraints to not error on intermediate database states (Stephan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Propagate column or table renaming to foreign key constraints</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW (Gavin, Neil, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add CREATE OR REPLACE RULE (Gavin, Neil, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have rules execute alphabetically, returning more predictable values (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Triggers are now fired in alphabetical order (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/adddepend to handle pre-7.3 object dependencies (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow better casting when inserting/updating values (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Commands</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Have COPY TO output embedded carriage returns and newlines as \r and \n (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow DELIMITER in COPY FROM to be 8-bit clean (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make <application>pg_dump</> use ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY KEY, for performance (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disable brackets in multistatement rules (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disable VACUUM from being called inside a function (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow dropdb and other scripts to use identifiers with spaces (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Restrict database comment changes to the current database</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow comments on operators, independent of the underlying function (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rollback SET commands in aborted transactions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>EXPLAIN now outputs as a query (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Display condition expressions and sort keys in EXPLAIN (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add 'SET LOCAL var = value' to set configuration variables for a single transaction (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow ANALYZE to run in a transaction (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve COPY syntax using new WITH clauses, keep backward compatibility (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_dump</> to consistently output tags in non-ASCII dumps (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make foreign key constraints clearer in dump file (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add COMMENT ON CONSTRAINT (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow COPY TO/FROM to specify column names (Brent Verner)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Dump UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints as ALTER TABLE (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have SHOW output a query result (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Generate failure on short COPY lines rather than pad NULLs (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix CLUSTER to preserve all table attributes (Alvaro Herrera)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pg_settings table to view/modify GUC settings (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add smart quoting, portability improvements to <application>pg_dump</> output (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Dump serial columns out as SERIAL (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable large file support, &gt;2G for <application>pg_dump</> (Peter, Philip Warner, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow TRUNCATE on tables that are involved in referential constraints (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have TRUNCATE also auto-truncate the toast table of the relation (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add clusterdb utility that will auto-cluster an entire database based on previous CLUSTER operations (Alvaro Herrera)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Overhaul pg_dumpall (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow REINDEX of TOAST tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Implemented START TRANSACTION, per SQL99 (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix rare index corruption when a page split affects bulk delete (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN for inheritance (Alvaro Herrera)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Data Types and Functions</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix factorial(0) to return 1 (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Date/time/timezone improvements (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for array slice extraction (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix extract/date_part to report proper microseconds for timestamp (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow text_substr() and bytea_substr() to read TOAST values more efficiently (John Gray)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add domain support (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make WITHOUT TIME ZONE the default for TIMESTAMP and TIME data types (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow alternate storage scheme of 64-bit integers for date/time types using --enable-integer-datetimes in configure (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make timezone(timestamptz) return timestamp rather than a string (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow fractional seconds in date/time types for dates prior to 1BC (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Limit timestamp data types to 6 decimal places of precision (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change timezone conversion functions from timetz() to timezone() (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add configuration variables datestyle and timezone (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add OVERLAY(), which allows substitution of a substring in a string (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add SIMILAR TO (Thomas, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add regular expression SUBSTRING(string FROM pat FOR escape) (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add LOCALTIME and LOCALTIMESTAMP functions (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add named composite types using CREATE TYPE typename AS (column) (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow composite type definition in the table alias clause (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add new API to simplify creation of C language table functions (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove ODBC-compatible empty parentheses from calls to SQL99 functions for which these parentheses do not match the standard (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow macaddr data type to accept 12 hex digits with no separators (Mike Wyer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add CREATE/DROP CAST (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add IS DISTINCT FROM operator (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add SQL99 TREAT() function, synonym for CAST() (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_backend_pid() to output backend pid (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add IS OF / IS NOT OF type predicate (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow bit string constants without fully-specified length (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow conversion between 8-byte integers and bit strings (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Implement hex literal conversion to bit string literal (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow table functions to appear in the FROM clause (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Increase maximum number of function parameters to 32 (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>No longer automatically create index for SERIAL column (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add current_database() (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix cash_words() to not overflow buffer (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add functions replace(), split_part(), to_hex() (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix LIKE for bytea as a right-hand argument (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent crashes caused by SELECT cash_out(2) (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix to_char(1,'FM999.99') to return a period (Karel)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix trigger/type/language functions returning OPAQUE to return proper type (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Internationalization</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add additional encodings: Korean (JOHAB), Thai (WIN874), Vietnamese (TCVN), Arabic (WIN1256), Simplified Chinese (GBK), Korean (UHC) (Eiji Tokuya)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable locale support by default (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add locale variables (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Escape byes &gt;= 0x7f for multibyte in PQescapeBytea/PQunescapeBytea (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add locale awareness to regular expression character classes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable multibyte support by default (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add GB18030 multibyte support (Bill Huang)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add CREATE/DROP CONVERSION, allowing loadable encodings (Tatsuo, Kaori)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_conversion table (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add SQL99 CONVERT() function (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>pg_dumpall, pg_controldata, and pg_resetxlog now national-language aware (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New and updated translations</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server-side Languages</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Allow recursive SQL function (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change PL/Tcl build to use configured compiler and Makefile.shlib (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Overhaul the PL/pgSQL FOUND variable to be more Oracle-compatible (Neil, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow PL/pgSQL to handle quoted identifiers (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow set-returning PL/pgSQL functions (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make PL/pgSQL schema-aware (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove some memory leaks (Nigel J. Andrews, Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>psql</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Don't lowercase psql \connect database name for 7.2.0 compatibility (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add psql \timing to time user queries (Greg Sabino Mullane)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have psql \d show index information (Greg Sabino Mullane)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New psql \dD shows domains (Jonathan Eisler)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow psql to show rules on views (Paul ?)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for psql variable substitution (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow psql \d to show temporary table structure (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow psql \d to show foreign keys (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix \? to honor \pset pager (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have psql reports its version number on startup (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow \copy to specify column names (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>libpq</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add ~/.pgpass to store host/user password combinations (Alvaro Herrera)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add PQunescapeBytea() function to libpq (Patrick Welche)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for sending large queries over non-blocking connections (Bernhard Herzog)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for libpq using timers on Win9X (David Ford)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow libpq notify to handle servers with different-length identifiers (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add libpq PQescapeString() and PQescapeBytea() to Windows (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for SSL with non-blocking connections (Jack Bates)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add libpq connection timeout parameter (Denis A Ustimenko)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>JDBC</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Allow JDBC to compile with JDK 1.4 (Dave)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add JDBC 3 support (Barry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allows JDBC to set loglevel by adding ?loglevel=X to the connection URL (Barry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add Driver.info() message that prints out the version number (Barry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add updateable result sets (Raghu Nidagal, Dave)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add support for callable statements (Paul Bethe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add query cancel capability</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add refresh row (Dave)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix MD5 encryption handling for multibyte servers (Jun Kawai)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add support for prepared statements (Barry)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Miscellaneous Interfaces</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fixed ECPG bug concerning octal numbers in single quotes (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Move src/interfaces/libpgeasy to http://gborg.postgresql.org (Marc, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve Python interface (Elliot Lee, Andrew Johnson, Greg Copeland)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add libpgtcl connection close event (Gerhard Hintermayer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Move src/interfaces/libpq++ to http://gborg.postgresql.org (Marc, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Move src/interfaces/odbc to http://gborg.postgresql.org (Marc)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Move src/interfaces/libpgeasy to http://gborg.postgresql.org (Marc, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Move src/interfaces/perl5 to http://gborg.postgresql.org (Marc, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove src/bin/pgaccess from main tree, now at http://www.pgaccess.org (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_on_connection_loss command to libpgtcl (Gerhard Hintermayer, Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix for parallel make (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AIX fixes for linking Tcl (Andreas Zeugswetter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow PL/Perl to build under Cygwin (Jason Tishler)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve MIPS compiles (Peter, Oliver Elphick)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Require Autoconf version 2.53 (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Require readline and zlib by default in configure (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow Solaris to use Intimate Shared Memory (ISM), for performance (Scott Brunza, P.J. Josh Rovero)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Always enable syslog in compile, remove --enable-syslog option (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Always enable multibyte in compile, remove --enable-multibyte option (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Always enable locale in compile, remove --enable-locale option (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for Win9x DLL creation (Magnus Naeslund)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for link() usage by WAL code on Windows, BeOS (Jason Tishler)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add sys/types.h to c.h, remove from main files (Peter, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix AIX hang on SMP machines (Tomoyuki Niijima)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AIX SMP hang fix (Tomoyuki Niijima)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix pre-1970 date handling on newer glibc libraries (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PowerPC SMP locking (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent gcc -ffast-math from being used (Peter, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Bison &gt;= 1.50 now required for developer builds</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Kerberos 5 support now builds with Heimdal (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add appendix in the User's Guide which lists SQL features (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve loadable module linking to use RTLD_NOW (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New error levels WARNING, INFO, LOG, DEBUG[1-5] (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New src/port directory holds replaced libc functions (Peter, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pg_namespace system catalog for schemas (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_class.relnamespace for schemas (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_type.typnamespace for schemas (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_proc.pronamespace for schemas (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Restructure aggregates to have pg_proc entries (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>System relations now have their own namespace, pg_* test not required (Fernando Nasser)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename TOAST index names to be *_index rather than *_idx (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add namespaces for operators, opclasses (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add additional checks to server control file (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New Polish FAQ (Marcin Mazurek)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add Posix semaphore support (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Document need for reindex (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename some internal identifiers to simplify Windows compile (Jan, Katherine Ward)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add documentation on computing disk space (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove KSQO from GUC (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix memory leak in rtree (Kenneth Been)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify a few error messages for consistency (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove unused system table columns (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make system columns NOT NULL where appropriate (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Clean up use of sprintf in favor of snprintf() (Neil, Jukka Holappa)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove OPAQUE and create specific subtypes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Cleanups in array internal handling (Joe, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow pg_atoi('') (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove parameter wal_files because WAL files are now recycled (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add version numbers to heap pages (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Allow inet arrays in /contrib/array (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>GiST fixes (Teodor Sigaev, Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Upgrade /contrib/mysql</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/dbsize which shows table sizes without vacuum (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/intagg, integer aggregator routines (mlw)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve /contrib/oid2name (Neil, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve /contrib/tsearch (Oleg, Teodor Sigaev)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Cleanups of /contrib/rserver (Alexey V. Borzov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update /contrib/oracle conversion utility (Gilles Darold)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update /contrib/dblink (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve options supported by /contrib/vacuumlo (Mario Weilguni)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improvements to /contrib/intarray (Oleg, Teodor Sigaev, Andrey Oktyabrski)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/reindexdb utility (Shaun Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add indexing to /contrib/isbn_issn (Dan Weston)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/dbmirror (Steven Singer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve /contrib/pgbench (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/tablefunc table function examples (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add /contrib/ltree data type for tree structures (Teodor Sigaev, Oleg Bartunov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Move /contrib/pg_controldata, pg_resetxlog into main tree (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes to /contrib/cube (Bruno Wolff)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve /contrib/fulltextindex (Christopher)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-8">
<title>Release 7.2.8</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-05-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.2.7, including one
security-related issue.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.8</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>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</para>
<para>This is an extremely serious bug since it could lead to apparent
data inconsistencies being briefly visible to applications.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair race condition between relation extension and
VACUUM</para>
<para>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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <function>EXTRACT(EPOCH)</> for
<type>TIME WITH TIME ZONE</> values</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Additional buffer overrun checks in plpgsql
(Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix pg_dump to dump index names and trigger names containing
<literal>%</> correctly (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent <function>to_char(interval)</> from dumping core for
month-related formats</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</> for newer OpenSSL builds
(Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-7">
<title>Release 7.2.7</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2005-01-31</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.2.6, including several
security-related issues.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.7</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Disallow <command>LOAD</> to non-superusers</para>
<para>
On platforms that will automatically execute initialization functions of a
shared library (this includes at least Windows and ELF-based Unixen),
<command>LOAD</> can be used to make the server execute arbitrary code.
Thanks to NGS Software for reporting this.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add needed STRICT marking to some contrib functions (Kris
Jurka)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid buffer overrun when plpgsql cursor declaration has too
many parameters (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix planning error for FULL and RIGHT outer joins</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix display of negative intervals in SQL and GERMAN
datestyles</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-6">
<title>Release 7.2.6</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-10-22</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.2.5.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.6</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Repair possible failure to update hint bits on disk</para>
<para>
Under rare circumstances this oversight could lead to
<quote>could not access transaction status</> failures, which qualifies
it as a potential-data-loss bug.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure that hashed outer join does not miss tuples</para>
<para>
Very large left joins using a hash join plan could fail to output unmatched
left-side rows given just the right data distribution.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow running pg_ctl as root</para>
<para>
This is to guard against any possible security issues.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid using temp files in /tmp in make_oidjoins_check</para>
<para>
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.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update to newer versions of Bison</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-5">
<title>Release 7.2.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2004-08-16</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes from 7.2.4.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.5</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is not required for those running 7.2.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Prevent possible loss of committed transactions during crash</para>
<para>
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 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 7.1.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix corner case for btree search in parallel with first root page split</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix buffer overrun in <function>to_ascii</function> (Guido Notari)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix core dump in deadlock detection on machines where char is unsigned</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix failure to respond to <command>pg_ctl stop -m fast</command> after Async_NotifyHandler runs</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair memory leaks in pg_dump</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid conflict with system definition of <function>isblank()</function> function or macro</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-4">
<title>Release 7.2.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2003-01-30</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.2.3,
including fixes to prevent possible data loss.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.2.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix some additional cases of VACUUM "No one parent tuple was found" error</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent VACUUM from being called inside a function (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Ensure pg_clog updates are sync'd to disk before marking checkpoint complete</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid integer overflow during large hash joins</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make GROUP commands work when pg_group.grolist is large enough to be toasted</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix errors in datetime tables; some timezone names weren't being recognized</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix integer overflows in circle_poly(), path_encode(), path_add() (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Repair long-standing logic errors in lseg_eq(), lseg_ne(), lseg_center()</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-3">
<title>Release 7.2.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2002-10-01</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.2.2,
including fixes to prevent possible data loss.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.2.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Prevent possible compressed transaction log loss (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent non-superuser from increasing most recent vacuum info (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle pre-1970 date values in newer versions of glibc (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix possible hang during server shutdown</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent spinlock hangs on SMP PPC machines (Tomoyuki Niijima)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix <application>pg_dump</> to properly dump FULL JOIN USING (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-2">
<title>Release 7.2.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2002-08-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.2.1.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.2.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Allow EXECUTE of "CREATE TABLE AS ... SELECT" in PL/pgSQL (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for compressed transaction log id wraparound (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PQescapeBytea/PQunescapeBytea so that they handle bytes &gt; 0x7f (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for psql and <application>pg_dump</> crashing when invoked with non-existent long options (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix crash when invoking geometric operators (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow OPEN cursor(args) (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for rtree_gist index build (Teodor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for dumping user-defined aggregates (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/intarray fixes (Oleg)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for complex UNION/EXCEPT/INTERSECT queries using parens (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix to pg_convert (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for crash with long DATA strings (Thomas, Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for repeat(), lpad(), rpad() and long strings (Neil)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2-1">
<title>Release 7.2.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2002-03-21</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains a variety of fixes for version 7.2.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those
running version 7.2.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Ensure that sequence counters do not go backwards after a crash (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix pgaccess kanji-conversion key binding (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Optimizer improvements (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Cash I/O improvements (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New Russian FAQ</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Compile fix for missing AuthBlockSig (Heiko)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Additional time zones and time zone fixes (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow psql \connect to handle mixed case database and user names (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Return proper OID on command completion even with ON INSERT rules (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow COPY FROM to use 8-bit DELIMITERS (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in extract/date_part for milliseconds/microseconds (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve handling of multiple UNIONs with different lengths (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/btree_gist improvements (Teodor Sigaev)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/tsearch dictionary improvements, see README.tsearch for an additional installation step (Thomas T. Thai, Teodor Sigaev)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for array subscripts handling (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow EXECUTE of "CREATE TABLE AS ... SELECT" in PL/pgSQL (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-2">
<title>Release 7.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2002-02-04</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>
This release improves <productname>PostgreSQL</> for use in
high-volume applications.
</para>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>VACUUM</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Vacuuming no longer locks tables, thus allowing normal user
access during the vacuum. A new <command>VACUUM FULL</>
command does old-style vacuum by locking the table and
shrinking the on-disk copy of the table.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Transactions</term>
<listitem>
<para>
There is no longer a problem with installations that exceed
four billion transactions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>OIDs</term>
<listitem>
<para>
OIDs are now optional. Users can now create tables without
OIDs for cases where OID usage is excessive.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Optimizer</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The system now computes histogram column statistics during
<command>ANALYZE</>, allowing much better optimizer choices.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Security</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A new MD5 encryption option allows more secure storage and
transfer of passwords. A new Unix-domain socket
authentication option is available on Linux and BSD systems.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Statistics</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Administrators can use the new table access statistics module
to get fine-grained information about table and index usage.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Internationalization</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Program and library messages can now be displayed in several
languages.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <command>pg_dump</command> is required for
those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.
</para>
<para>
Observe the following incompatibilities:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The semantics of the <command>VACUUM</command> command have
changed in this release. You might wish to update your
maintenance procedures accordingly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
In this release, comparisons using <literal>= NULL</literal>
will always return false (or NULL, more precisely). Previous
releases automatically transformed this syntax to <literal>IS
NULL</literal>. The old behavior can be re-enabled using a
<filename>postgresql.conf</filename> parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The <filename>pg_hba.conf</> and <filename>pg_ident.conf</>
configuration is now only reloaded after receiving a
<systemitem>SIGHUP</> signal, not with each connection.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The function <filename>octet_length()</> now returns the uncompressed data length.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The date/time value <literal>'current'</literal> is no longer
available. You will need to rewrite your applications.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The <literal>timestamp()</literal>, <literal>time()</literal>,
and <literal>interval()</literal> functions are no longer
available. Instead of <literal>timestamp()</literal>, use
<literal>timestamp 'string'</literal> or <literal>CAST</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The <literal>SELECT ... LIMIT #,#</literal> syntax will be removed
in the next release. You should change your queries to use
separate LIMIT and OFFSET clauses, e.g. <literal>LIMIT 10 OFFSET
20</literal>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<sect3>
<title>Server Operation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Create temporary files in a separate directory (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Delete orphaned temporary files on postmaster startup (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Added unique indexes to some system tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>System table operator reorganization (Oleg Bartunov, Teodor Sigaev, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Renamed pg_log to pg_clog (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable SIGTERM, SIGQUIT to kill backends (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Removed compile-time limit on number of backends (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Better cleanup for semaphore resource failure (Tatsuo, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow safe transaction ID wraparound (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Removed OIDs from some system tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Removed "triggered data change violation" error check (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>SPI portal creation of prepared/saved plans (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow SPI column functions to work for system columns (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Long value compression improvement (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Statistics collector for table, index access (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Truncate extra-long sequence names to a reasonable value (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Measure transaction times in milliseconds (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix TID sequential scans (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Superuser ID now fixed at 1 (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pg_ctl "reload" option (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Performance</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Optimizer improvements (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New histogram column statistics for optimizer (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reuse write-ahead log files rather than discarding them (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Cache improvements (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>IS NULL, IS NOT NULL optimizer improvement (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve lock manager to reduce lock contention (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Keep relcache entries for index access support functions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow better selectivity with NaN and infinities in NUMERIC (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>R-tree performance improvements (Kenneth Been)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>B-tree splits more efficient (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Privileges</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Change UPDATE, DELETE privileges to be distinct (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New REFERENCES, TRIGGER privileges (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow GRANT/REVOKE to/from more than one user at a time (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New has_table_privilege() function (Joe Conway)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow non-superuser to vacuum database (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION command (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix bug in privilege modifications on newly created tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow access to pg_statistic for non-superuser, add user-accessible views (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Client Authentication</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fork postmaster before doing authentication to prevent hangs (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ident authentication over Unix domain sockets on Linux, *BSD (Helge Bahmann, Oliver Elphick, Teodor Sigaev, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add a password authentication method that uses MD5 encryption (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow encryption of stored passwords using MD5 (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>PAM authentication (Dominic J. Eidson)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Load pg_hba.conf and pg_ident.conf only on startup and SIGHUP (Bruce)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Server Configuration</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Interpretation of some time zone abbreviations as Australian rather than North American now settable at run time (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New parameter to set default transaction isolation level (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New parameter to enable conversion of "expr = NULL" into "expr IS NULL", off by default (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New parameter to control memory usage by VACUUM (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New parameter to set client authentication timeout (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New parameter to set maximum number of open files (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Queries</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Statements added by INSERT rules now execute after the INSERT (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent unadorned relation names in target list (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>NULLs now sort after all normal values in ORDER BY (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New IS UNKNOWN, IS NOT UNKNOWN Boolean tests (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New SHARE UPDATE EXCLUSIVE lock mode (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New EXPLAIN ANALYZE command that shows run times and row counts (Martijn van Oosterhout)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix problem with LIMIT and subqueries (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for LIMIT, DISTINCT ON pushed into subqueries (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix nested EXCEPT/INTERSECT (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Schema Manipulation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Fix SERIAL in temporary tables (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow temporary sequences (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Sequences now use int8 internally (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New SERIAL8 creates int8 columns with sequences, default still SERIAL4 (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make OIDs optional using WITHOUT OIDS (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add %TYPE syntax to CREATE TYPE (Ian Lance Taylor)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE / DROP CONSTRAINT for CHECK constraints (Christopher Kings-Lynne)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION to alter existing function (preserving the function OID) (Gavin Sherry)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE / ADD [ UNIQUE | PRIMARY ] (Christopher Kings-Lynne)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow column renaming in views</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make ALTER TABLE / RENAME COLUMN update column names of indexes (Brent Verner)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for ALTER TABLE / ADD CONSTRAINT ... CHECK with inherited tables (Stephan Szabo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ALTER TABLE RENAME update foreign-key trigger arguments correctly (Brent Verner)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>DROP AGGREGATE and COMMENT ON AGGREGATE now accept an aggtype (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add automatic return type data casting for SQL functions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow GiST indexes to handle NULLs and multikey indexes (Oleg Bartunov, Teodor Sigaev, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable partial indexes (Martijn van Oosterhout)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Utility Commands</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add RESET ALL, SHOW ALL (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>CREATE/ALTER USER/GROUP now allow options in any order (Vince)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add LOCK A, B, C functionality (Neil Padgett)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New ENCRYPTED/UNENCRYPTED option to CREATE/ALTER USER (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New light-weight VACUUM does not lock table; old semantics are available as VACUUM FULL (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disable COPY TO/FROM on views (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>COPY DELIMITERS string must be exactly one character (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>VACUUM warning about index tuples fewer than heap now only appears when appropriate (Martijn van Oosterhout)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix privilege checks for CREATE INDEX (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow inappropriate use of CREATE/DROP INDEX/TRIGGER/VIEW (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Data Types and Functions</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>SUM(), AVG(), COUNT() now uses int8 internally for speed (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add convert(), convert2() (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New function bit_length() (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make the "n" in CHAR(n)/VARCHAR(n) represents letters, not bytes (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>CHAR(), VARCHAR() now reject strings that are too long (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>BIT VARYING now rejects bit strings that are too long (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>BIT now rejects bit strings that do not match declared size (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>INET, CIDR text conversion functions (Alex Pilosov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>INET, CIDR operators &lt;&lt; and &lt;&lt;= indexable (Alex Pilosov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Bytea \### now requires valid three digit octal number</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Bytea comparison improvements, now supports =, &lt;&gt;, &gt;, &gt;=, &lt;, and &lt;=</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Bytea now supports B-tree indexes</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Bytea now supports LIKE, LIKE...ESCAPE, NOT LIKE, NOT LIKE...ESCAPE</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Bytea now supports concatenation</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New bytea functions: position, substring, trim, btrim, and length</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New encode() function mode, "escaped", converts minimally escaped bytea to/from text</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_database_encoding_max_length() (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add pg_client_encoding() function (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>now() returns time with millisecond precision (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIMEZONE data type (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ISO date/time specification with "T", yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New xid/int comparison functions (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add precision to TIME, TIMESTAMP, and INTERVAL data types (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Modify type coercion logic to attempt binary-compatible functions first (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New encode() function installed by default (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improved to_*() conversion functions (Karel Zak)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Optimize LIKE/ILIKE when using single-byte encodings (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New functions in contrib/pgcrypto: crypt(), hmac(), encrypt(), gen_salt() (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Correct description of translate() function (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add INTERVAL argument for SET TIME ZONE (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH (etc.) syntax (Thomas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Optimize length functions when using single-byte encodings (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix path_inter, path_distance, path_length, dist_ppath to handle closed paths (Curtis Barrett, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>octet_length(text) now returns non-compressed length (Tatsuo, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle "July" full name in date/time literals (Greg Sabino Mullane)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Some datatype() function calls now evaluated differently</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add support for Julian and ISO time specifications (Thomas)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Internationalization</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>National language support in psql, <application>pg_dump</>, libpq, and server (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Message translations in Chinese (simplified, traditional), Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Russian, Swedish (Peter E, Serguei A. Mokhov, Karel Zak, Weiping He, Zhenbang Wei, Kovacs Zoltan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make trim, ltrim, rtrim, btrim, lpad, rpad, translate multibyte aware (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add LATIN5,6,7,8,9,10 support (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ISO 8859-5,6,7,8 support (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Correct LATIN5 to mean ISO-8859-9, not ISO-8859-5 (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make mic2ascii() non-ASCII aware (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reject invalid multibyte character sequences (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>PL/pgSQL</></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Now uses portals for SELECT loops, allowing huge result sets (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>CURSOR and REFCURSOR support (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Can now return open cursors (Jan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ELSEIF (Klaus Reger)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve PL/pgSQL error reporting, including location of error (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow IS or FOR key words in cursor declaration, for compatibility (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for SELECT ... FOR UPDATE (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for PERFORM returning multiple rows (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make PL/pgSQL use the server's type coercion code (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Memory leak fix (Jan, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make trailing semicolon optional (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/Perl</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New untrusted PL/Perl (Alex Pilosov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>PL/Perl is now built on some platforms even if libperl is not shared (Peter E)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/Tcl</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Now reports errorInfo (Vsevolod Lobko)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add spi_lastoid function (bob@redivi.com)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>PL/Python</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>...is new (Andrew Bosma)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>psql</></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>\d displays indexes in unique, primary groupings (Christopher Kings-Lynne)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow trailing semicolons in backslash commands (Greg Sabino Mullane)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Read password from /dev/tty if possible</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Force new password prompt when changing user and database (Tatsuo, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Format the correct number of columns for Unicode (Patrice)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>libpq</></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New function PQescapeString() to escape quotes in command strings (Florian Weimer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New function PQescapeBytea() escapes binary strings for use as SQL string literals</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>JDBC</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Return OID of INSERT (Ken K)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle more data types (Ken K)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle single quotes and newlines in strings (Ken K)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Handle NULL variables (Ken K)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for time zone handling (Barry Lind)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improved Druid support</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow eight-bit characters with non-multibyte server (Barry Lind)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Support BIT, BINARY types (Ned Wolpert)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reduce memory usage (Michael Stephens, Dave Cramer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Update DatabaseMetaData (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add DatabaseMetaData.getCatalogs() (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Encoding fixes (Anders Bengtsson)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Get/setCatalog methods (Jason Davies)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>DatabaseMetaData.getColumns() now returns column defaults (Jason Davies)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>DatabaseMetaData.getColumns() performance improvement (Jeroen van Vianen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Some JDBC1 and JDBC2 merging (Anders Bengtsson)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Transaction performance improvements (Barry Lind)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Array fixes (Greg Zoller)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Serialize addition </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix batch processing (Rene Pijlman)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ExecSQL method reorganization (Anders Bengtsson)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>GetColumn() fixes (Jeroen van Vianen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix isWriteable() function (Rene Pijlman)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improved passage of JDBC2 conformance tests (Rene Pijlman)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add bytea type capability (Barry Lind)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add isNullable() (Rene Pijlman)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>JDBC date/time test suite fixes (Liam Stewart)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for SELECT 'id' AS xxx FROM table (Dave Cramer)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix DatabaseMetaData to show precision properly (Mark Lillywhite)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New getImported/getExported keys (Jason Davies)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>MD5 password encryption support (Jeremy Wohl)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix to actually use type cache (Ned Wolpert)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>ODBC</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Remove query size limit (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove text field size limit (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for SQLPrimaryKeys in multibyte mode (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow ODBC procedure calls (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve boolean handing (Aidan Mountford)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Most configuration options now settable via DSN (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Multibyte, performance fixes (Hiroshi)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow driver to be used with iODBC or unixODBC (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>MD5 password encryption support (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add more compatibility functions to odbc.sql (Peter E)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><application>ECPG</></title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>EXECUTE ... INTO implemented (Christof Petig)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Multiple row descriptor support (e.g. CARDINALITY) (Christof Petig)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for GRANT parameters (Lee Kindness)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix INITIALLY DEFERRED bug</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Various bug fixes (Michael, Christof Petig)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Auto allocation for indicator variable arrays (int *ind_p=NULL)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Auto allocation for string arrays (char **foo_pp=NULL)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>ECPGfree_auto_mem fixed</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>All function names with external linkage are now prefixed by ECPG</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes for arrays of structures (Michael)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Misc. Interfaces</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Python fix fetchone() (Gerhard Haring)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Use UTF, Unicode in Tcl where appropriate (Vsevolod Lobko, Reinhard Max)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add Tcl COPY TO/FROM (ljb)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent output of default index op class in <application>pg_dump</> (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix libpgeasy memory leak (Bruce)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Build and Install</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Configure, dynamic loader, and shared library fixes (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes in QNX 4 port (Bernd Tegge)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fixes in Cygwin and Windows ports (Jason Tishler, Gerhard Haring, Dmitry Yurtaev, Darko Prenosil, Mikhail Terekhov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix for Windows socket communication failures (Magnus, Mikhail Terekhov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Hurd compile fix (Oliver Elphick)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>BeOS fixes (Cyril Velter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove configure --enable-unicode-conversion, now enabled by multibyte (Tatsuo)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>AIX fixes (Tatsuo, Andreas)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix parallel make (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Install SQL language manual pages into OS-specific directories (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename config.h to pg_config.h (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reorganize installation layout of header files (Peter E)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Source Code</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Remove SEP_CHAR (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New GUC hooks (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Merge GUC and command line handling (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove EXTEND INDEX (Martijn van Oosterhout, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pgjindent utility to indent java code (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove define of true/false when compiling under C++ (Leandro Fanzone, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>pgindent fixes (Bruce, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Replace strcasecmp() with strcmp() where appropriate (Peter E)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Dynahash portability improvements (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add 'volatile' usage in spinlock structures</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve signal handling logic (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Contrib</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New contrib/rtree_gist (Oleg Bartunov, Teodor Sigaev)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New contrib/tsearch full-text indexing (Oleg, Teodor Sigaev)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add contrib/dblink for remote database access (Joe Conway)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/ora2pg Oracle conversion utility (Gilles Darold)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/xml XML conversion utility (John Gray)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>contrib/fulltextindex fixes (Christopher Kings-Lynne)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New contrib/fuzzystrmatch with levenshtein and metaphone, soundex merged (Joe Conway)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add contrib/intarray boolean queries, binary search, fixes (Oleg Bartunov)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pg_upgrade utility (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add new pg_resetxlog options (Bruce, Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-1-3">
<title>Release 7.1.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2001-08-15</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.1.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
7.1.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Remove unused WAL segments of large transactions (Tom)
Multiaction rule fix (Tom)
PL/pgSQL memory allocation fix (Jan)
VACUUM buffer fix (Tom)
Regression test fixes (Tom)
pg_dump fixes for GRANT/REVOKE/comments on views, user-defined types (Tom)
Fix subselects with DISTINCT ON or LIMIT (Tom)
BeOS fix
Disable COPY TO/FROM a view (Tom)
Cygwin build (Jason Tishler)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-1-2">
<title>Release 7.1.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2001-05-11</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This has one fix from 7.1.1.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.1.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
7.1.X.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Fix PL/pgSQL SELECTs when returning no rows
Fix for psql backslash core dump
Referential integrity privilege fix
Optimizer fixes
pg_dump cleanups
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-1-1">
<title>Release 7.1.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2001-05-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This has a variety of fixes from 7.1.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.1.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
7.1.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Fix for numeric MODULO operator (Tom)
pg_dump fixes (Philip)
pg_dump can dump 7.0 databases (Philip)
readline 4.2 fixes (Peter E)
JOIN fixes (Tom)
AIX, MSWIN, VAX, N32K fixes (Tom)
Multibytes fixes (Tom)
Unicode fixes (Tatsuo)
Optimizer improvements (Tom)
Fix for whole rows in functions (Tom)
Fix for pg_ctl and option strings with spaces (Peter E)
ODBC fixes (Hiroshi)
EXTRACT can now take string argument (Thomas)
Python fixes (Darcy)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-1">
<title>Release 7.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2001-04-13</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release focuses on removing limitations that have existed in the
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> code for many years.
</para>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Write-ahead Log (WAL)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
To maintain database consistency in case of an operating system crash,
previous releases of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> have forced
all data modifications to disk before each transaction commit. With
WAL, only one log file must be flushed to disk, greatly improving
performance. If you have been using -F in previous releases to
disable disk flushes, you might want to consider discontinuing its use.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
TOAST
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
TOAST - Previous releases had a compiled-in row length limit,
typically 8k - 32k. This limit made storage of long text fields
difficult. With TOAST, long rows of any length can be stored with good
performance.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Outer Joins
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
We now support outer joins. The UNION/NOT IN
workaround for outer joins is no longer required. We use the SQL92
outer join syntax.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Function Manager
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The previous C function manager did not
handle null values properly, nor did it support 64-bit <acronym>CPU</acronym>'s (Alpha). The new
function manager does. You can continue using your old custom
functions, but you might want to rewrite them in the future to use the new
function manager call interface.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Complex Queries
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A large number of complex queries that were
unsupported in previous releases now work. Many combinations of views,
aggregates, UNION, LIMIT, cursors, subqueries, and inherited tables
now work properly. Inherited tables are now accessed by default.
Subqueries in FROM are now supported.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using pg_dump is required for those wishing to migrate
data from any previous release.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
Many multibyte/Unicode/locale fixes (Tatsuo and others)
More reliable ALTER TABLE RENAME (Tom)
Kerberos V fixes (David Wragg)
Fix for INSERT INTO...SELECT where targetlist has subqueries (Tom)
Prompt username/password on standard error (Bruce)
Large objects inv_read/inv_write fixes (Tom)
Fixes for to_char(), to_date(), to_ascii(), and to_timestamp() (Karel,
Daniel Baldoni)
Prevent query expressions from leaking memory (Tom)
Allow UPDATE of arrays elements (Tom)
Wake up lock waiters during cancel (Hiroshi)
Fix rare cursor crash when using hash join (Tom)
Fix for DROP TABLE/INDEX in rolled-back transaction (Hiroshi)
Fix psql crash from \l+ if MULTIBYTE enabled (Peter E)
Fix truncation of rule names during CREATE VIEW (Ross Reedstrom)
Fix PL/perl (Alex Kapranoff)
Disallow LOCK on views (Mark Hollomon)
Disallow INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE on views (Mark Hollomon)
Disallow DROP RULE, CREATE INDEX, TRUNCATE on views (Mark Hollomon)
Allow PL/pgSQL accept non-ASCII identifiers (Tatsuo)
Allow views to proper handle GROUP BY, aggregates, DISTINCT (Tom)
Fix rare failure with TRUNCATE command (Tom)
Allow UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT to be used with ALL, subqueries, views,
DISTINCT, ORDER BY, SELECT...INTO (Tom)
Fix parser failures during aborted transactions (Tom)
Allow temporary relations to properly clean up indexes (Bruce)
Fix VACUUM problem with moving rows in same page (Tom)
Modify pg_dump to better handle user-defined items in template1 (Philip)
Allow LIMIT in VIEW (Tom)
Require cursor FETCH to honor LIMIT (Tom)
Allow PRIMARY/FOREIGN Key definitions on inherited columns (Stephan)
Allow ORDER BY, LIMIT in subqueries (Tom)
Allow UNION in CREATE RULE (Tom)
Make ALTER/DROP TABLE rollback-able (Vadim, Tom)
Store initdb collation in pg_control so collation cannot be changed (Tom)
Fix INSERT...SELECT with rules (Tom)
Fix FOR UPDATE inside views and subselects (Tom)
Fix OVERLAPS operators conform to SQL92 spec regarding NULLs (Tom)
Fix lpad() and rpad() to handle length less than input string (Tom)
Fix use of NOTIFY in some rules (Tom)
Overhaul btree code (Tom)
Fix NOT NULL use in Pl/pgSQL variables (Tom)
Overhaul GIST code (Oleg)
Fix CLUSTER to preserve constraints and column default (Tom)
Improved deadlock detection handling (Tom)
Allow multiple SERIAL columns in a table (Tom)
Prevent occasional index corruption (Vadim)
Enhancements
------------
Add OUTER JOINs (Tom)
Function manager overhaul (Tom)
Allow ALTER TABLE RENAME on indexes (Tom)
Improve CLUSTER (Tom)
Improve ps status display for more platforms (Peter E, Marc)
Improve CREATE FUNCTION failure message (Ross)
JDBC improvements (Peter, Travis Bauer, Christopher Cain, William Webber,
Gunnar)
Grand Unified Configuration scheme/GUC. Many options can now be set in
data/postgresql.conf, postmaster/postgres flags, or SET commands (Peter E)
Improved handling of file descriptor cache (Tom)
New warning code about auto-created table alias entries (Bruce)
Overhaul initdb process (Tom, Peter E)
Overhaul of inherited tables; inherited tables now accessed by default;
new ONLY key word prevents it (Chris Bitmead, Tom)
ODBC cleanups/improvements (Nick Gorham, Stephan Szabo, Zoltan Kovacs,
Michael Fork)
Allow renaming of temp tables (Tom)
Overhaul memory manager contexts (Tom)
pg_dumpall uses CREATE USER or CREATE GROUP rather using COPY (Peter E)
Overhaul pg_dump (Philip Warner)
Allow pg_hba.conf secondary password file to specify only username (Peter E)
Allow TEMPORARY or TEMP key word when creating temporary tables (Bruce)
New memory leak checker (Karel)
New SET SESSION CHARACTERISTICS (Thomas)
Allow nested block comments (Thomas)
Add WITHOUT TIME ZONE type qualifier (Thomas)
New ALTER TABLE ADD CONSTRAINT (Stephan)
Use NUMERIC accumulators for INTEGER aggregates (Tom)
Overhaul aggregate code (Tom)
New VARIANCE and STDDEV() aggregates
Improve dependency ordering of pg_dump (Philip)
New pg_restore command (Philip)
New pg_dump tar output option (Philip)
New pg_dump of large objects (Philip)
New ESCAPE option to LIKE (Thomas)
New case-insensitive LIKE - ILIKE (Thomas)
Allow functional indexes to use binary-compatible type (Tom)
Allow SQL functions to be used in more contexts (Tom)
New pg_config utility (Peter E)
New PL/pgSQL EXECUTE command which allows dynamic SQL and utility statements
(Jan)
New PL/pgSQL GET DIAGNOSTICS statement for SPI value access (Jan)
New quote_identifiers() and quote_literal() functions (Jan)
New ALTER TABLE table OWNER TO user command (Mark Hollomon)
Allow subselects in FROM, i.e. FROM (SELECT ...) [AS] alias (Tom)
Update PyGreSQL to version 3.1 (D'Arcy)
Store tables as files named by OID (Vadim)
New SQL function setval(seq,val,bool) for use in pg_dump (Philip)
Require DROP VIEW to remove views, no DROP TABLE (Mark)
Allow DROP VIEW view1, view2 (Mark)
Allow multiple objects in DROP INDEX, DROP RULE, and DROP TYPE (Tom)
Allow automatic conversion to/from Unicode (Tatsuo, Eiji)
New /contrib/pgcrypto hashing functions (Marko Kreen)
New pg_dumpall --globals-only option (Peter E)
New CHECKPOINT command for WAL which creates new WAL log file (Vadim)
New AT TIME ZONE syntax (Thomas)
Allow location of Unix domain socket to be configurable (David J. MacKenzie)
Allow postmaster to listen on a specific IP address (David J. MacKenzie)
Allow socket path name to be specified in hostname by using leading slash
(David J. MacKenzie)
Allow CREATE DATABASE to specify template database (Tom)
New utility to convert MySQL schema dumps to SQL92 and PostgreSQL (Thomas)
New /contrib/rserv replication toolkit (Vadim)
New file format for COPY BINARY (Tom)
New /contrib/oid2name to map numeric files to table names (B Palmer)
New "idle in transaction" ps status message (Marc)
Update to pgaccess 0.98.7 (Constantin Teodorescu)
pg_ctl now defaults to -w (wait) on shutdown, new -l (log) option
Add rudimentary dependency checking to pg_dump (Philip)
Types
-----
Fix INET/CIDR type ordering and add new functions (Tom)
Make OID behave as an unsigned type (Tom)
Allow BIGINT as synonym for INT8 (Peter E)
New int2 and int8 comparison operators (Tom)
New BIT and BIT VARYING types (Adriaan Joubert, Tom, Peter E)
CHAR() no longer faster than VARCHAR() because of TOAST (Tom)
New GIST seg/cube examples (Gene Selkov)
Improved round(numeric) handling (Tom)
Fix CIDR output formatting (Tom)
New CIDR abbrev() function (Tom)
Performance
-----------
Write-Ahead Log (WAL) to provide crash recovery with less performance
overhead (Vadim)
ANALYZE stage of VACUUM no longer exclusively locks table (Bruce)
Reduced file seeks (Denis Perchine)
Improve BTREE code for duplicate keys (Tom)
Store all large objects in a single table (Denis Perchine, Tom)
Improve memory allocation performance (Karel, Tom)
Source Code
-----------
New function manager call conventions (Tom)
SGI portability fixes (David Kaelbling)
New configure --enable-syslog option (Peter E)
New BSDI README (Bruce)
configure script moved to top level, not /src (Peter E)
Makefile/configuration/compilation overhaul (Peter E)
New configure --with-python option (Peter E)
Solaris cleanups (Peter E)
Overhaul /contrib Makefiles (Karel)
New OpenSSL configuration option (Magnus, Peter E)
AIX fixes (Andreas)
QNX fixes (Maurizio)
New heap_open(), heap_openr() API (Tom)
Remove colon and semi-colon operators (Thomas)
New pg_class.relkind value for views (Mark Hollomon)
Rename ichar() to chr() (Karel)
New documentation for btrim(), ascii(), chr(), repeat() (Karel)
Fixes for NT/Cygwin (Pete Forman)
AIX port fixes (Andreas)
New BeOS port (David Reid, Cyril Velter)
Add proofreader's changes to docs (Addison-Wesley, Bruce)
New Alpha spinlock code (Adriaan Joubert, Compaq)
UnixWare port overhaul (Peter E)
New Darwin/MacOS X port (Peter Bierman, Bruce Hartzler)
New FreeBSD Alpha port (Alfred)
Overhaul shared memory segments (Tom)
Add IBM S/390 support (Neale Ferguson)
Moved macmanuf to /contrib (Larry Rosenman)
Syslog improvements (Larry Rosenman)
New template0 database that contains no user additions (Tom)
New /contrib/cube and /contrib/seg GIST sample code (Gene Selkov)
Allow NetBSD's libedit instead of readline (Peter)
Improved assembly language source code format (Bruce)
New contrib/pg_logger
New --template option to createdb
New contrib/pg_control utility (Oliver)
New FreeBSD tools ipc_check, start-scripts/freebsd
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-0-3">
<title>Release 7.0.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2000-11-11</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This has a variety of fixes from 7.0.2.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.0.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
7.0.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Jdbc fixes (Peter)
Large object fix (Tom)
Fix lean in COPY WITH OIDS leak (Tom)
Fix backwards-index-scan (Tom)
Fix SELECT ... FOR UPDATE so it checks for duplicate keys (Hiroshi)
Add --enable-syslog to configure (Marc)
Fix abort transaction at backend exit in rare cases (Tom)
Fix for psql \l+ when multibyte enabled (Tatsuo)
Allow PL/pgSQL to accept non ascii identifiers (Tatsuo)
Make vacuum always flush buffers (Tom)
Fix to allow cancel while waiting for a lock (Hiroshi)
Fix for memory allocation problem in user authentication code (Tom)
Remove bogus use of int4out() (Tom)
Fixes for multiple subqueries in COALESCE or BETWEEN (Tom)
Fix for failure of triggers on heap open in certain cases (Jeroen van
Vianen)
Fix for erroneous selectivity of not-equals (Tom)
Fix for erroneous use of strcmp() (Tom)
Fix for bug where storage manager accesses items beyond end of file
(Tom)
Fix to include kernel errno message in all smgr elog messages (Tom)
Fix for '.' not in PATH at build time (SL Baur)
Fix for out-of-file-descriptors error (Tom)
Fix to make pg_dump dump 'iscachable' flag for functions (Tom)
Fix for subselect in targetlist of Append node (Tom)
Fix for mergejoin plans (Tom)
Fix TRUNCATE failure on relations with indexes (Tom)
Avoid database-wide restart on write error (Hiroshi)
Fix nodeMaterial to honor chgParam by recomputing its output (Tom)
Fix VACUUM problem with moving chain of update row versions when source
and destination of a row version lie on the same page (Tom)
Fix user.c CommandCounterIncrement (Tom)
Fix for AM/PM boundary problem in to_char() (Karel Zak)
Fix TIME aggregate handling (Tom)
Fix to_char() to avoid coredump on NULL input (Tom)
Buffer fix (Tom)
Fix for inserting/copying longer multibyte strings into char() data
types (Tatsuo)
Fix for crash of backend, on abort (Tom)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-0-2">
<title>Release 7.0.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2000-06-05</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is a repackaging of 7.0.1 with added documentation.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.0.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
7.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Added documentation to tarball.
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-0-1">
<title>Release 7.0.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2000-06-01</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is a cleanup release for 7.0.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.0.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
7.0.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Fix many CLUSTER failures (Tom)
Allow ALTER TABLE RENAME works on indexes (Tom)
Fix plpgsql to handle datetime-&gt;timestamp and timespan-&gt;interval (Bruce)
New configure --with-setproctitle switch to use setproctitle() (Marc, Bruce)
Fix the off by one errors in ResultSet from 6.5.3, and more.
jdbc ResultSet fixes (Joseph Shraibman)
optimizer tunings (Tom)
Fix create user for pgaccess
Fix for UNLISTEN failure
IRIX fixes (David Kaelbling)
QNX fixes (Andreas Kardos)
Reduce COPY IN lock level (Tom)
Change libpqeasy to use PQconnectdb() style parameters (Bruce)
Fix pg_dump to handle OID indexes (Tom)
Fix small memory leak (Tom)
Solaris fix for createdb/dropdb (Tatsuo)
Fix for non-blocking connections (Alfred Perlstein)
Fix improper recovery after RENAME TABLE failures (Tom)
Copy pg_ident.conf.sample into /lib directory in install (Bruce)
Add SJIS UDC (NEC selection IBM kanji) support (Eiji Tokuya)
Fix too long syslog message (Tatsuo)
Fix problem with quoted indexes that are too long (Tom)
JDBC ResultSet.getTimestamp() fix (Gregory Krasnow &amp; Floyd Marinescu)
ecpg changes (Michael)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-7-0">
<title>Release 7.0</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>2000-05-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release contains improvements in many areas, demonstrating
the continued growth of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
There are more improvements and fixes in 7.0 than in any previous
release. The developers have confidence that this is the best
release yet; we do our best to put out only solid releases, and
this one is no exception.
</para>
<para>
Major changes in this release:
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Foreign Keys
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Foreign keys are now implemented, with the exception of PARTIAL MATCH
foreign keys. Many users have been asking for this feature, and we are
pleased to offer it.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Optimizer Overhaul
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Continuing on work started a year ago, the optimizer has been
improved, allowing better query plan selection and faster performance
with less memory usage.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Updated <application>psql</application>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>psql</application>, our interactive terminal monitor, has been
updated with a variety of new features. See the <application>psql</application> manual page for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Join Syntax
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
SQL92 join syntax is now supported, though only as
<literal>INNER JOIN</> for this release. <literal>JOIN</>,
<literal>NATURAL JOIN</>, <literal>JOIN</>/<literal>USING</>,
and <literal>JOIN</>/<literal>ON</> are available, as are
column correlation names.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 7.0</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application>
is required for those wishing to migrate data from any
previous release of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
For those upgrading from 6.5.*, you can instead use
<application>pg_upgrade</application> to upgrade to this
release; however, a full dump/reload installation is always the
most robust method for upgrades.
</para>
<para>
Interface and compatibility issues to consider for the new
release include:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The date/time types <type>datetime</type> and
<type>timespan</type> have been superseded by the
SQL92-defined types <type>timestamp</type> and
<type>interval</type>. Although there has been some effort to
ease the transition by allowing
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> to recognize
the deprecated type names and translate them to the new type
names, this mechanism cannot be completely transparent to
your existing application.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The optimizer has been substantially improved in the area of
query cost estimation. In some cases, this will result in
decreased query times as the optimizer makes a better choice
for the preferred plan. However, in a small number of cases,
usually involving pathological distributions of data, your
query times might go up. If you are dealing with large amounts
of data, you might want to check your queries to verify
performance.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The <acronym>JDBC</acronym> and <acronym>ODBC</acronym>
interfaces have been upgraded and extended.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The string function <function>CHAR_LENGTH</function> is now a
native function. Previous versions translated this into a call
to <function>LENGTH</function>, which could result in
ambiguity with other types implementing
<function>LENGTH</function> such as the geometric types.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
Prevent function calls exceeding maximum number of arguments (Tom)
Improve CASE construct (Tom)
Fix SELECT coalesce(f1,0) FROM int4_tbl GROUP BY f1 (Tom)
Fix SELECT sentence.words[0] FROM sentence GROUP BY sentence.words[0] (Tom)
Fix GROUP BY scan bug (Tom)
Improvements in SQL grammar processing (Tom)
Fix for views involved in INSERT ... SELECT ... (Tom)
Fix for SELECT a/2, a/2 FROM test_missing_target GROUP BY a/2 (Tom)
Fix for subselects in INSERT ... SELECT (Tom)
Prevent INSERT ... SELECT ... ORDER BY (Tom)
Fixes for relations greater than 2GB, including vacuum
Improve propagating system table changes to other backends (Tom)
Improve propagating user table changes to other backends (Tom)
Fix handling of temp tables in complex situations (Bruce, Tom)
Allow table locking at table open, improving concurrent reliability (Tom)
Properly quote sequence names in pg_dump (Ross J. Reedstrom)
Prevent DROP DATABASE while others accessing
Prevent any rows from being returned by GROUP BY if no rows processed (Tom)
Fix SELECT COUNT(1) FROM table WHERE ...' if no rows matching WHERE (Tom)
Fix pg_upgrade so it works for MVCC (Tom)
Fix for SELECT ... WHERE x IN (SELECT ... HAVING SUM(x) &gt; 1) (Tom)
Fix for "f1 datetime DEFAULT 'now'" (Tom)
Fix problems with CURRENT_DATE used in DEFAULT (Tom)
Allow comment-only lines, and ;;; lines too. (Tom)
Improve recovery after failed disk writes, disk full (Hiroshi)
Fix cases where table is mentioned in FROM but not joined (Tom)
Allow HAVING clause without aggregate functions (Tom)
Fix for "--" comment and no trailing newline, as seen in perl interface
Improve pg_dump failure error reports (Bruce)
Allow sorts and hashes to exceed 2GB file sizes (Tom)
Fix for pg_dump dumping of inherited rules (Tom)
Fix for NULL handling comparisons (Tom)
Fix inconsistent state caused by failed CREATE/DROP commands (Hiroshi)
Fix for dbname with dash
Prevent DROP INDEX from interfering with other backends (Tom)
Fix file descriptor leak in verify_password()
Fix for "Unable to identify an operator =$" problem
Fix ODBC so no segfault if CommLog and Debug enabled (Dirk Niggemann)
Fix for recursive exit call (Massimo)
Fix for extra-long timezones (Jeroen van Vianen)
Make pg_dump preserve primary key information (Peter E)
Prevent databases with single quotes (Peter E)
Prevent DROP DATABASE inside transaction (Peter E)
ecpg memory leak fixes (Stephen Birch)
Fix for SELECT null::text, SELECT int4fac(null) and SELECT 2 + (null) (Tom)
Y2K timestamp fix (Massimo)
Fix for VACUUM 'HEAP_MOVED_IN was not expected' errors (Tom)
Fix for views with tables/columns containing spaces (Tom)
Prevent privileges on indexes (Peter E)
Fix for spinlock stuck problem when error is generated (Hiroshi)
Fix ipcclean on Linux
Fix handling of NULL constraint conditions (Tom)
Fix memory leak in odbc driver (Nick Gorham)
Fix for privilege check on UNION tables (Tom)
Fix to allow SELECT 'a' LIKE 'a' (Tom)
Fix for SELECT 1 + NULL (Tom)
Fixes to CHAR
Fix log() on numeric type (Tom)
Deprecate ':' and ';' operators
Allow vacuum of temporary tables
Disallow inherited columns with the same name as new columns
Recover or force failure when disk space is exhausted (Hiroshi)
Fix INSERT INTO ... SELECT with AS columns matching result columns
Fix INSERT ... SELECT ... GROUP BY groups by target columns not source columns (Tom)
Fix CREATE TABLE test (a char(5) DEFAULT text '', b int4) with INSERT (Tom)
Fix UNION with LIMIT
Fix CREATE TABLE x AS SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2
Fix CREATE TABLE test(col char(2) DEFAULT user)
Fix mismatched types in CREATE TABLE ... DEFAULT
Fix SELECT * FROM pg_class where oid in (0,-1)
Fix SELECT COUNT('asdf') FROM pg_class WHERE oid=12
Prevent user who can create databases can modifying pg_database table (Peter E)
Fix btree to give a useful elog when key &gt; 1/2 (page - overhead) (Tom)
Fix INSERT of 0.0 into DECIMAL(4,4) field (Tom)
Enhancements
------------
New CLI interface include file sqlcli.h, based on SQL3/SQL98
Remove all limits on query length, row length limit still exists (Tom)
Update jdbc protocol to 2.0 (Jens Glaser <email>jens@jens.de</email>)
Add TRUNCATE command to quickly truncate relation (Mike Mascari)
Fix to give super user and createdb user proper update catalog rights (Peter E)
Allow ecpg bool variables to have NULL values (Christof)
Issue ecpg error if NULL value for variable with no NULL indicator (Christof)
Allow ^C to cancel COPY command (Massimo)
Add SET FSYNC and SHOW PG_OPTIONS commands(Massimo)
Function name overloading for dynamically-loaded C functions (Frankpitt)
Add CmdTuples() to libpq++(Vince)
New CREATE CONSTRAINT TRIGGER and SET CONSTRAINTS commands(Jan)
Allow CREATE FUNCTION/WITH clause to be used for all language types
configure --enable-debug adds -g (Peter E)
configure --disable-debug removes -g (Peter E)
Allow more complex default expressions (Tom)
First real FOREIGN KEY constraint trigger functionality (Jan)
Add FOREIGN KEY ... MATCH FULL ... ON DELETE CASCADE (Jan)
Add FOREIGN KEY ... MATCH &lt;unspecified&gt; referential actions (Don Baccus)
Allow WHERE restriction on ctid (physical heap location) (Hiroshi)
Move pginterface from contrib to interface directory, rename to pgeasy (Bruce)
Change pgeasy connectdb() parameter ordering (Bruce)
Require SELECT DISTINCT target list to have all ORDER BY columns (Tom)
Add Oracle's COMMENT ON command (Mike Mascari <email>mascarim@yahoo.com</email>)
libpq's PQsetNoticeProcessor function now returns previous hook(Peter E)
Prevent PQsetNoticeProcessor from being set to NULL (Peter E)
Make USING in COPY optional (Bruce)
Allow subselects in the target list (Tom)
Allow subselects on the left side of comparison operators (Tom)
New parallel regression test (Jan)
Change backend-side COPY to write files with permissions 644 not 666 (Tom)
Force permissions on PGDATA directory to be secure, even if it exists (Tom)
Added psql LASTOID variable to return last inserted oid (Peter E)
Allow concurrent vacuum and remove pg_vlock vacuum lock file (Tom)
Add privilege check for vacuum (Peter E)
New libpq functions to allow asynchronous connections: PQconnectStart(),
PQconnectPoll(), PQresetStart(), PQresetPoll(), PQsetenvStart(),
PQsetenvPoll(), PQsetenvAbort (Ewan Mellor)
New libpq PQsetenv() function (Ewan Mellor)
create/alter user extension (Peter E)
New postmaster.pid and postmaster.opts under $PGDATA (Tatsuo)
New scripts for create/drop user/db (Peter E)
Major psql overhaul (Peter E)
Add const to libpq interface (Peter E)
New libpq function PQoidValue (Peter E)
Show specific non-aggregate causing problem with GROUP BY (Tom)
Make changes to pg_shadow recreate pg_pwd file (Peter E)
Add aggregate(DISTINCT ...) (Tom)
Allow flag to control COPY input/output of NULLs (Peter E)
Make postgres user have a password by default (Peter E)
Add CREATE/ALTER/DROP GROUP (Peter E)
All administration scripts now support --long options (Peter E, Karel)
Vacuumdb script now supports --all option (Peter E)
ecpg new portable FETCH syntax
Add ecpg EXEC SQL IFDEF, EXEC SQL IFNDEF, EXEC SQL ELSE, EXEC SQL ELIF
and EXEC SQL ENDIF directives
Add pg_ctl script to control backend start-up (Tatsuo)
Add postmaster.opts.default file to store start-up flags (Tatsuo)
Allow --with-mb=SQL_ASCII
Increase maximum number of index keys to 16 (Bruce)
Increase maximum number of function arguments to 16 (Bruce)
Allow configuration of maximum number of index keys and arguments (Bruce)
Allow unprivileged users to change their passwords (Peter E)
Password authentication enabled; required for new users (Peter E)
Disallow dropping a user who owns a database (Peter E)
Change initdb option --with-mb to --enable-multibyte
Add option for initdb to prompts for superuser password (Peter E)
Allow complex type casts like col::numeric(9,2) and col::int2::float8 (Tom)
Updated user interfaces on initdb, initlocation, pg_dump, ipcclean (Peter E)
New pg_char_to_encoding() and pg_encoding_to_char() functions (Tatsuo)
libpq non-blocking mode (Alfred Perlstein)
Improve conversion of types in casts that don't specify a length
New plperl internal programming language (Mark Hollomon)
Allow COPY IN to read file that do not end with a newline (Tom)
Indicate when long identifiers are truncated (Tom)
Allow aggregates to use type equivalency (Peter E)
Add Oracle's to_char(), to_date(), to_datetime(), to_timestamp(), to_number()
conversion functions (Karel Zak &lt;zakkr@zf.jcu.cz&gt;)
Add SELECT DISTINCT ON (expr [, expr ...]) targetlist ... (Tom)
Check to be sure ORDER BY is compatible with the DISTINCT operation (Tom)
Add NUMERIC and int8 types to ODBC
Improve EXPLAIN results for Append, Group, Agg, Unique (Tom)
Add ALTER TABLE ... ADD FOREIGN KEY (Stephan Szabo)
Allow SELECT .. FOR UPDATE in PL/pgSQL (Hiroshi)
Enable backward sequential scan even after reaching EOF (Hiroshi)
Add btree indexing of boolean values, &gt;= and &lt;= (Don Baccus)
Print current line number when COPY FROM fails (Massimo)
Recognize POSIX time zone e.g. "PST+8" and "GMT-8" (Thomas)
Add DEC as synonym for DECIMAL (Thomas)
Add SESSION_USER as SQL92 key word, same as CURRENT_USER (Thomas)
Implement SQL92 column aliases (aka correlation names) (Thomas)
Implement SQL92 join syntax (Thomas)
Make INTERVAL reserved word allowed as a column identifier (Thomas)
Implement REINDEX command (Hiroshi)
Accept ALL in aggregate function SUM(ALL col) (Tom)
Prevent GROUP BY from using column aliases (Tom)
New psql \encoding option (Tatsuo)
Allow PQrequestCancel() to terminate when in waiting-for-lock state (Hiroshi)
Allow negation of a negative number in all cases
Add ecpg descriptors (Christof, Michael)
Allow CREATE VIEW v AS SELECT f1::char(8) FROM tbl
Allow casts with length, like foo::char(8)
New libpq functions PQsetClientEncoding(), PQclientEncoding() (Tatsuo)
Add support for SJIS user defined characters (Tatsuo)
Larger views/rules supported
Make libpq's PQconndefaults() thread-safe (Tom)
Disable // as comment to be ANSI conforming, should use -- (Tom)
Allow column aliases on views CREATE VIEW name (collist)
Fixes for views with subqueries (Tom)
Allow UPDATE table SET fld = (SELECT ...) (Tom)
SET command options no longer require quotes
Update pgaccess to 0.98.6
New SET SEED command
New pg_options.sample file
New SET FSYNC command (Massimo)
Allow pg_descriptions when creating tables
Allow pg_descriptions when creating types, columns, and functions
Allow psql \copy to allow delimiters (Peter E)
Allow psql to print nulls as distinct from "" [null] (Peter E)
Types
-----
Many array fixes (Tom)
Allow bare column names to be subscripted as arrays (Tom)
Improve type casting of int and float constants (Tom)
Cleanups for int8 inputs, range checking, and type conversion (Tom)
Fix for SELECT timespan('21:11:26'::time) (Tom)
netmask('x.x.x.x/0') is 255.255.255.255 instead of 0.0.0.0 (Oleg Sharoiko)
Add btree index on NUMERIC (Jan)
Perl fix for large objects containing NUL characters (Douglas Thomson)
ODBC fix for large objects (free)
Fix indexing of cidr data type
Fix for Ethernet MAC addresses (macaddr type) comparisons
Fix for date/time types when overflows happened in computations (Tom)
Allow array on int8 (Peter E)
Fix for rounding/overflow of NUMERIC type, like NUMERIC(4,4) (Tom)
Allow NUMERIC arrays
Fix bugs in NUMERIC ceil() and floor() functions (Tom)
Make char_length()/octet_length including trailing blanks (Tom)
Made abstime/reltime use int4 instead of time_t (Peter E)
New lztext data type for compressed text fields
Revise code to handle coercion of int and float constants (Tom)
Start at new code to implement a BIT and BIT VARYING type (Adriaan Joubert)
NUMERIC now accepts scientific notation (Tom)
NUMERIC to int4 rounds (Tom)
Convert float4/8 to NUMERIC properly (Tom)
Allow type conversion with NUMERIC (Thomas)
Make ISO date style (2000-02-16 09:33) the default (Thomas)
Add NATIONAL CHAR [ VARYING ] (Thomas)
Allow NUMERIC round and trunc to accept negative scales (Tom)
New TIME WITH TIME ZONE type (Thomas)
Add MAX()/MIN() on time type (Thomas)
Add abs(), mod(), fac() for int8 (Thomas)
Rename functions to round(), sqrt(), cbrt(), pow() for float8 (Thomas)
Add transcendental math functions (e.g. sin(), acos()) for float8 (Thomas)
Add exp() and ln() for NUMERIC type
Rename NUMERIC power() to pow() (Thomas)
Improved TRANSLATE() function (Edwin Ramirez, Tom)
Allow X=-Y operators (Tom)
Allow SELECT float8(COUNT(*))/(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM t) FROM t GROUP BY f1; (Tom)
Allow LOCALE to use indexes in regular expression searches (Tom)
Allow creation of functional indexes to use default types
Performance
-----------
Prevent exponential space consumption with many AND's and OR's (Tom)
Collect attribute selectivity values for system columns (Tom)
Reduce memory usage of aggregates (Tom)
Fix for LIKE optimization to use indexes with multibyte encodings (Tom)
Fix r-tree index optimizer selectivity (Thomas)
Improve optimizer selectivity computations and functions (Tom)
Optimize btree searching for cases where many equal keys exist (Tom)
Enable fast LIKE index processing only if index present (Tom)
Re-use free space on index pages with duplicates (Tom)
Improve hash join processing (Tom)
Prevent descending sort if result is already sorted(Hiroshi)
Allow commuting of index scan query qualifications (Tom)
Prefer index scans in cases where ORDER BY/GROUP BY is required (Tom)
Allocate large memory requests in fix-sized chunks for performance (Tom)
Fix vacuum's performance by reducing memory allocation requests (Tom)
Implement constant-expression simplification (Bernard Frankpitt, Tom)
Use secondary columns to be used to determine start of index scan (Hiroshi)
Prevent quadruple use of disk space when doing internal sorting (Tom)
Faster sorting by calling fewer functions (Tom)
Create system indexes to match all system caches (Bruce, Hiroshi)
Make system caches use system indexes (Bruce)
Make all system indexes unique (Bruce)
Improve pg_statistics management for VACUUM speed improvement (Tom)
Flush backend cache less frequently (Tom, Hiroshi)
COPY now reuses previous memory allocation, improving performance (Tom)
Improve optimization cost estimation (Tom)
Improve optimizer estimate of range queries x &gt; lowbound AND x &lt; highbound (Tom)
Use DNF instead of CNF where appropriate (Tom, Taral)
Further cleanup for OR-of-AND WHERE-clauses (Tom)
Make use of index in OR clauses (x = 1 AND y = 2) OR (x = 2 AND y = 4) (Tom)
Smarter optimizer computations for random index page access (Tom)
New SET variable to control optimizer costs (Tom)
Optimizer queries based on LIMIT, OFFSET, and EXISTS qualifications (Tom)
Reduce optimizer internal housekeeping of join paths for speedup (Tom)
Major subquery speedup (Tom)
Fewer fsync writes when fsync is not disabled (Tom)
Improved LIKE optimizer estimates (Tom)
Prevent fsync in SELECT-only queries (Vadim)
Make index creation use psort code, because it is now faster (Tom)
Allow creation of sort temp tables &gt; 1 Gig
Source Tree Changes
-------------------
Fix for linux PPC compile
New generic expression-tree-walker subroutine (Tom)
Change form() to varargform() to prevent portability problems
Improved range checking for large integers on Alphas
Clean up #include in /include directory (Bruce)
Add scripts for checking includes (Bruce)
Remove un-needed #include's from *.c files (Bruce)
Change #include's to use &lt;&gt; and "" as appropriate (Bruce)
Enable Windows compilation of libpq
Alpha spinlock fix from Uncle George <email>gatgul@voicenet.com</email>
Overhaul of optimizer data structures (Tom)
Fix to cygipc library (Yutaka Tanida)
Allow pgsql to work on newer Cygwin snapshots (Dan)
New catalog version number (Tom)
Add Linux ARM
Rename heap_replace to heap_update
Update for QNX (Dr. Andreas Kardos)
New platform-specific regression handling (Tom)
Rename oid8 -&gt; oidvector and int28 -&gt; int2vector (Bruce)
Included all yacc and lex files into the distribution (Peter E.)
Remove lextest, no longer needed (Peter E)
Fix for libpq and psql on Windows (Magnus)
Internally change datetime and timespan into timestamp and interval (Thomas)
Fix for plpgsql on BSD/OS
Add SQL_ASCII test case to the regression test (Tatsuo)
configure --with-mb now deprecated (Tatsuo)
NT fixes
NetBSD fixes (Johnny C. Lam <email>lamj@stat.cmu.edu</email>)
Fixes for Alpha compiles
New multibyte encodings
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-5-3">
<title>Release 6.5.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1999-10-13</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is basically a cleanup release for 6.5.2. We have added a new
<application>PgAccess</> that was missing in 6.5.2, and installed an NT-specific fix.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.5.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
6.5.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Updated version of pgaccess 0.98
NT-specific patch
Fix dumping rules on inherited tables
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-5-2">
<title>Release 6.5.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1999-09-15</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is basically a cleanup release for 6.5.1. We have fixed a variety of
problems reported by 6.5.1 users.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.5.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
6.5.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
subselect+CASE fixes(Tom)
Add SHLIB_LINK setting for solaris_i386 and solaris_sparc ports(Daren Sefcik)
Fixes for CASE in WHERE join clauses(Tom)
Fix BTScan abort(Tom)
Repair the check for redundant UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY indexes(Thomas)
Improve it so that it checks for multicolumn constraints(Thomas)
Fix for Windows making problem with MB enabled(Hiroki Kataoka)
Allow BSD yacc and bison to compile pl code(Bruce)
Fix SET NAMES working
int8 fixes(Thomas)
Fix vacuum's memory consumption(Hiroshi,Tatsuo)
Reduce the total memory consumption of vacuum(Tom)
Fix for timestamp(datetime)
Rule deparsing bugfixes(Tom)
Fix quoting problems in mkMakefile.tcldefs.sh.in and mkMakefile.tkdefs.sh.in(Tom)
This is to re-use space on index pages freed by vacuum(Vadim)
document -x for pg_dump(Bruce)
Fix for unary operators in rule deparser(Tom)
Comment out FileUnlink of excess segments during mdtruncate()(Tom)
IRIX linking fix from Yu Cao &gt;yucao@falcon.kla-tencor.com&lt;
Repair logic error in LIKE: should not return LIKE_ABORT
when reach end of pattern before end of text(Tom)
Repair incorrect cleanup of heap memory allocation during transaction abort(Tom)
Updated version of pgaccess 0.98
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-5-1">
<title>Release 6.5.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1999-07-15</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is basically a cleanup release for 6.5. We have fixed a variety of
problems reported by 6.5 users.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.5.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
6.5.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Add NT README file
Portability fixes for linux_ppc, IRIX, linux_alpha, OpenBSD, alpha
Remove QUERY_LIMIT, use SELECT...LIMIT
Fix for EXPLAIN on inheritance(Tom)
Patch to allow vacuum on multisegment tables(Hiroshi)
R-Tree optimizer selectivity fix(Tom)
ACL file descriptor leak fix(Atsushi Ogawa)
New expression subtree code(Tom)
Avoid disk writes for read-only transactions(Vadim)
Fix for removal of temp tables if last transaction was aborted(Bruce)
Fix to prevent too large row from being created(Bruce)
plpgsql fixes
Allow port numbers 32k - 64k(Bruce)
Add ^ precedence(Bruce)
Rename sort files called pg_temp to pg_sorttemp(Bruce)
Fix for microseconds in time values(Tom)
Tutorial source cleanup
New linux_m68k port
Fix for sorting of NULL's in some cases(Tom)
Shared library dependencies fixed (Tom)
Fixed glitches affecting GROUP BY in subselects(Tom)
Fix some compiler warnings (Tomoaki Nishiyama)
Add Win1250 (Czech) support (Pavel Behal)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-5">
<title>Release 6.5</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1999-06-09</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This release marks a major step in the development team's mastery of the source
code we inherited from Berkeley. You will see we are now easily adding
major features, thanks to the increasing size and experience of our
world-wide development team.
</para>
<para>
Here is a brief summary of the more notable changes:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Multiversion concurrency control(MVCC)
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This removes our old table-level locking, and replaces it with
a locking system that is superior to most commercial database
systems. In a traditional system, each row that is modified
is locked until committed, preventing reads by other users.
MVCC uses the natural multiversion nature of
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> to allow readers to
continue reading consistent data during writer activity.
Writers continue to use the compact pg_log transaction system.
This is all performed without having to allocate a lock for
every row like traditional database systems. So, basically,
we no longer are restricted by simple table-level locking; we
have something better than row-level locking.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Hot backups from <application>pg_dump</application>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>pg_dump</application> takes advantage of the new
MVCC features to give a consistent database dump/backup while
the database stays online and available for queries.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Numeric data type
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
We now have a true numeric data type, with
user-specified precision.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Temporary tables
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Temporary tables are guaranteed to have unique names
within a database session, and are destroyed on session exit.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
New SQL features
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
We now have CASE, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT statement
support. We have new LIMIT/OFFSET, SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL,
SELECT ... FOR UPDATE, and an improved LOCK TABLE command.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Speedups
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
We continue to speed up <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>,
thanks to the variety of talents within our team. We have
sped up memory allocation, optimization, table joins, and row
transfer routines.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Ports
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
We continue to expand our port list, this time including
<systemitem class="osname">Windows NT</>/<systemitem>ix86</> and <systemitem class="osname">NetBSD</>/<systemitem>arm32</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Interfaces
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Most interfaces have new versions, and existing functionality
has been improved.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>
Documentation
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
New and updated material is present throughout the
documentation. New <acronym>FAQ</acronym>s have been
contributed for <systemitem class="osname">SGI</> and <systemitem class="osname">AIX</> platforms.
The <citetitle>Tutorial</citetitle> has introductory information
on <acronym>SQL</acronym> from Stefan Simkovics.
For the <citetitle>User's Guide</citetitle>, there are
reference pages covering the postmaster and more utility
programs, and a new appendix
contains details on date/time behavior.
The <citetitle>Administrator's Guide</citetitle> has a new
chapter on troubleshooting from Tom Lane.
And the <citetitle>Programmer's Guide</citetitle> has a
description of query processing, also from Stefan, and details
on obtaining the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> source
tree via anonymous <productname>CVS</productname> and
<productname>CVSup</productname>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.5</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application>
is required for those wishing to migrate data from any
previous release of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
<application>pg_upgrade</application> can <emphasis>not</emphasis>
be used to upgrade to this release because the on-disk structure
of the tables has changed compared to previous releases.
</para>
<para>
The new Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) features can
give somewhat different behaviors in multiuser
environments. <emphasis>Read and understand the following section
to ensure that your existing applications will give you the
behavior you need.</emphasis>
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Multiversion Concurrency Control</title>
<para>
Because readers in 6.5 don't lock data, regardless of transaction
isolation level, data read by one transaction can be overwritten by
another. In other words, if a row is returned by
<command>SELECT</command> it doesn't mean that this row really exists
at the time it is returned (i.e. sometime after the statement or
transaction began) nor that the row is protected from being deleted or
updated by concurrent transactions before the current transaction does
a commit or rollback.
</para>
<para>
To ensure the actual existence of a row and protect it against
concurrent updates one must use <command>SELECT FOR UPDATE</command> or
an appropriate <command>LOCK TABLE</command> statement. This should be
taken into account when porting applications from previous releases of
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> and other environments.
</para>
<para>
Keep the above in mind if you are using
<filename>contrib/refint.*</filename> triggers for
referential integrity. Additional techniques are required now. One way is
to use <command>LOCK parent_table IN SHARE ROW EXCLUSIVE MODE</command>
command if a transaction is going to update/delete a primary key and
use <command>LOCK parent_table IN SHARE MODE</command> command if a
transaction is going to update/insert a foreign key.
<note>
<para>
Note that if you run a transaction in SERIALIZABLE mode then you must
execute the <command>LOCK</command> commands above before execution of any
<acronym>DML</acronym> statement
(<command>SELECT/INSERT/DELETE/UPDATE/FETCH/COPY_TO</command>) in the
transaction.
</para>
</note>
</para>
<para>
These inconveniences will disappear in the future
when the ability to read dirty
(uncommitted) data (regardless of isolation level) and true referential
integrity will be implemented.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
Fix text&lt;-&gt;float8 and text&lt;-&gt;float4 conversion functions(Thomas)
Fix for creating tables with mixed-case constraints(Billy)
Change exp()/pow() behavior to generate error on underflow/overflow(Jan)
Fix bug in pg_dump -z
Memory overrun cleanups(Tatsuo)
Fix for lo_import crash(Tatsuo)
Adjust handling of data type names to suppress double quotes(Thomas)
Use type coercion for matching columns and DEFAULT(Thomas)
Fix deadlock so it only checks once after one second of sleep(Bruce)
Fixes for aggregates and PL/pgsql(Hiroshi)
Fix for subquery crash(Vadim)
Fix for libpq function PQfnumber and case-insensitive names(Bahman Rafatjoo)
Fix for large object write-in-middle, no extra block, memory consumption(Tatsuo)
Fix for pg_dump -d or -D and quote special characters in INSERT
Repair serious problems with dynahash(Tom)
Fix INET/CIDR portability problems
Fix problem with selectivity error in ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN(Bruce)
Fix executor so mergejoin of different column types works(Tom)
Fix for Alpha OR selectivity bug
Fix OR index selectivity problem(Bruce)
Fix so \d shows proper length for char()/varchar()(Ryan)
Fix tutorial code(Clark)
Improve destroyuser checking(Oliver)
Fix for Kerberos(Rodney McDuff)
Fix for dropping database while dirty buffers(Bruce)
Fix so sequence nextval() can be case-sensitive(Bruce)
Fix !!= operator
Drop buffers before destroying database files(Bruce)
Fix case where executor evaluates functions twice(Tatsuo)
Allow sequence nextval actions to be case-sensitive(Bruce)
Fix optimizer indexing not working for negative numbers(Bruce)
Fix for memory leak in executor with fjIsNull
Fix for aggregate memory leaks(Erik Riedel)
Allow user name containing a dash to grant privileges
Cleanup of NULL in inet types
Clean up system table bugs(Tom)
Fix problems of PAGER and \? command(Masaaki Sakaida)
Reduce default multisegment file size limit to 1GB(Peter)
Fix for dumping of CREATE OPERATOR(Tom)
Fix for backward scanning of cursors(Hiroshi Inoue)
Fix for COPY FROM STDIN when using \i(Tom)
Fix for subselect is compared inside an expression(Jan)
Fix handling of error reporting while returning rows(Tom)
Fix problems with reference to array types(Tom,Jan)
Prevent UPDATE SET oid(Jan)
Fix pg_dump so -t option can handle case-sensitive tablenames
Fixes for GROUP BY in special cases(Tom, Jan)
Fix for memory leak in failed queries(Tom)
DEFAULT now supports mixed-case identifiers(Tom)
Fix for multisegment uses of DROP/RENAME table, indexes(Ole Gjerde)
Disable use of pg_dump with both -o and -d options(Bruce)
Allow pg_dump to properly dump group privileges(Bruce)
Fix GROUP BY in INSERT INTO table SELECT * FROM table2(Jan)
Fix for computations in views(Jan)
Fix for aggregates on array indexes(Tom)
Fix for DEFAULT handles single quotes in value requiring too many quotes
Fix security problem with non-super users importing/exporting large objects(Tom)
Rollback of transaction that creates table cleaned up properly(Tom)
Fix to allow long table and column names to generate proper serial names(Tom)
Enhancements
------------
Add "vacuumdb" utility
Speed up libpq by allocating memory better(Tom)
EXPLAIN all indexes used(Tom)
Implement CASE, COALESCE, NULLIF expression(Thomas)
New pg_dump table output format(Constantin)
Add string min()/max() functions(Thomas)
Extend new type coercion techniques to aggregates(Thomas)
New moddatetime contrib(Terry)
Update to pgaccess 0.96(Constantin)
Add routines for single-byte "char" type(Thomas)
Improved substr() function(Thomas)
Improved multibyte handling(Tatsuo)
Multiversion concurrency control/MVCC(Vadim)
New Serialized mode(Vadim)
Fix for tables over 2gigs(Peter)
New SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL(Vadim)
New LOCK TABLE IN ... MODE(Vadim)
Update ODBC driver(Byron)
New NUMERIC data type(Jan)
New SELECT FOR UPDATE(Vadim)
Handle "NaN" and "Infinity" for input values(Jan)
Improved date/year handling(Thomas)
Improved handling of backend connections(Magnus)
New options ELOG_TIMESTAMPS and USE_SYSLOG options for log files(Massimo)
New TCL_ARRAYS option(Massimo)
New INTERSECT and EXCEPT(Stefan)
New pg_index.indisprimary for primary key tracking(D'Arcy)
New pg_dump option to allow dropping of tables before creation(Brook)
Speedup of row output routines(Tom)
New READ COMMITTED isolation level(Vadim)
New TEMP tables/indexes(Bruce)
Prevent sorting if result is already sorted(Jan)
New memory allocation optimization(Jan)
Allow psql to do \p\g(Bruce)
Allow multiple rule actions(Jan)
Added LIMIT/OFFSET functionality(Jan)
Improve optimizer when joining a large number of tables(Bruce)
New intro to SQL from S. Simkovics' Master's Thesis (Stefan, Thomas)
New intro to backend processing from S. Simkovics' Master's Thesis (Stefan)
Improved int8 support(Ryan Bradetich, Thomas, Tom)
New routines to convert between int8 and text/varchar types(Thomas)
New bushy plans, where meta-tables are joined(Bruce)
Enable right-hand queries by default(Bruce)
Allow reliable maximum number of backends to be set at configure time
(--with-maxbackends and postmaster switch (-N backends))(Tom)
GEQO default now 10 tables because of optimizer speedups(Tom)
Allow NULL=Var for MS-SQL portability(Michael, Bruce)
Modify contrib check_primary_key() so either "automatic" or "dependent"(Anand)
Allow psql \d on a view show query(Ryan)
Speedup for LIKE(Bruce)
Ecpg fixes/features, see src/interfaces/ecpg/ChangeLog file(Michael)
JDBC fixes/features, see src/interfaces/jdbc/CHANGELOG(Peter)
Make % operator have precedence like /(Bruce)
Add new postgres -O option to allow system table structure changes(Bruce)
Update contrib/pginterface/findoidjoins script(Tom)
Major speedup in vacuum of deleted rows with indexes(Vadim)
Allow non-SQL functions to run different versions based on arguments(Tom)
Add -E option that shows actual queries sent by \dt and friends(Masaaki Sakaida)
Add version number in start-up banners for psql(Masaaki Sakaida)
New contrib/vacuumlo removes large objects not referenced(Peter)
New initialization for table sizes so non-vacuumed tables perform better(Tom)
Improve error messages when a connection is rejected(Tom)
Support for arrays of char() and varchar() fields(Massimo)
Overhaul of hash code to increase reliability and performance(Tom)
Update to PyGreSQL 2.4(D'Arcy)
Changed debug options so -d4 and -d5 produce different node displays(Jan)
New pg_options: pretty_plan, pretty_parse, pretty_rewritten(Jan)
Better optimization statistics for system table access(Tom)
Better handling of non-default block sizes(Massimo)
Improve GEQO optimizer memory consumption(Tom)
UNION now supports ORDER BY of columns not in target list(Jan)
Major libpq++ improvements(Vince Vielhaber)
pg_dump now uses -z(ACL's) as default(Bruce)
backend cache, memory speedups(Tom)
have pg_dump do everything in one snapshot transaction(Vadim)
fix for large object memory leakage, fix for pg_dumping(Tom)
INET type now respects netmask for comparisons
Make VACUUM ANALYZE only use a readlock(Vadim)
Allow VIEWs on UNIONS(Jan)
pg_dump now can generate consistent snapshots on active databases(Vadim)
Source Tree Changes
-------------------
Improve port matching(Tom)
Portability fixes for SunOS
Add Windows NT backend port and enable dynamic loading(Magnus and Daniel Horak)
New port to Cobalt Qube(Mips) running Linux(Tatsuo)
Port to NetBSD/m68k(Mr. Mutsuki Nakajima)
Port to NetBSD/sun3(Mr. Mutsuki Nakajima)
Port to NetBSD/macppc(Toshimi Aoki)
Fix for tcl/tk configuration(Vince)
Removed CURRENT key word for rule queries(Jan)
NT dynamic loading now works(Daniel Horak)
Add ARM32 support(Andrew McMurry)
Better support for HP-UX 11 and UnixWare
Improve file handling to be more uniform, prevent file descriptor leak(Tom)
New install commands for plpgsql(Jan)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-4-2">
<title>Release 6.4.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1998-12-20</simpara>
</note>
<para>
The 6.4.1 release was improperly packaged. This also has one additional
bug fix.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.4.2</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
6.4.*.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Fix for datetime constant problem on some platforms(Thomas)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-4-1">
<title>Release 6.4.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1998-12-18</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is basically a cleanup release for 6.4. We have fixed a variety of
problems reported by 6.4 users.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.4.1</title>
<para>
A dump/restore is <emphasis>not</emphasis> required for those running
6.4.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Add pg_dump -N flag to force double quotes around identifiers. This is
the default(Thomas)
Fix for NOT in where clause causing crash(Bruce)
EXPLAIN VERBOSE coredump fix(Vadim)
Fix shared-library problems on Linux
Fix test for table existence to allow mixed-case and whitespace in
the table name(Thomas)
Fix a couple of pg_dump bugs
Configure matches template/.similar entries better(Tom)
Change builtin function names from SPI_* to spi_*
OR WHERE clause fix(Vadim)
Fixes for mixed-case table names(Billy)
contrib/linux/postgres.init.csh/sh fix(Thomas)
libpq memory overrun fix
SunOS fixes(Tom)
Change exp() behavior to generate error on underflow(Thomas)
pg_dump fixes for memory leak, inheritance constraints, layout change
update pgaccess to 0.93
Fix prototype for 64-bit platforms
Multibyte fixes(Tatsuo)
New ecpg man page
Fix memory overruns(Tatsuo)
Fix for lo_import() crash(Bruce)
Better search for install program(Tom)
Timezone fixes(Tom)
HP-UX fixes(Tom)
Use implicit type coercion for matching DEFAULT values(Thomas)
Add routines to help with single-byte (internal) character type(Thomas)
Compilation of libpq for Windows fixes(Magnus)
Upgrade to PyGreSQL 2.2(D'Arcy)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-4">
<title>Release 6.4</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1998-10-30</simpara>
</note>
<para>
There are <emphasis>many</emphasis> new features and improvements in this release.
Thanks to our developers and maintainers, nearly every aspect of the system
has received some attention since the previous release.
Here is a brief, incomplete summary:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Views and rules are now functional thanks to extensive new code in the
rewrite rules system from Jan Wieck. He also wrote a chapter on it
for the <citetitle>Programmer's Guide</citetitle>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Jan also contributed a second procedural language, <application>PL/pgSQL</application>, to go with the
original <application>PL/pgTCL</application> procedural language he contributed last release.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
We have optional multiple-byte character set support from Tatsuo Ishii
to complement our existing locale support.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Client/server communications has been cleaned up, with better support for
asynchronous messages and interrupts thanks to Tom Lane.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The parser will now perform automatic type coercion to match arguments
to available operators and functions, and to match columns and expressions
with target columns. This uses a generic mechanism which supports
the type extensibility features of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
There is a new chapter in the <citetitle>User's Guide</citetitle>
which covers this topic.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Three new data types have been added.
Two types, <type>inet</type> and <type>cidr</type>, support various forms
of IP network, subnet, and machine addressing. There is now an 8-byte integer
type available on some platforms. See the chapter on data types
in the <citetitle>User's Guide</citetitle> for details.
A fourth type, <type>serial</type>, is now supported by the parser as an
amalgam of the <type>int4</type> type, a sequence, and a unique index.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Several more <acronym>SQL92</acronym>-compatible syntax features have been
added, including <command>INSERT DEFAULT VALUES</command>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The automatic configuration and installation system has received some
attention, and should be more robust for more platforms than it has ever
been.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.4</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application>
or <application>pg_dumpall</application>
is required for those wishing to migrate data from any
previous release of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
Fix for a tiny memory leak in PQsetdb/PQfinish(Bryan)
Remove char2-16 data types, use char/varchar(Darren)
Pqfn not handles a NOTICE message(Anders)
Reduced busywaiting overhead for spinlocks with many backends (dg)
Stuck spinlock detection (dg)
Fix up "ISO-style" timespan decoding and encoding(Thomas)
Fix problem with table drop after rollback of transaction(Vadim)
Change error message and remove non-functional update message(Vadim)
Fix for COPY array checking
Fix for SELECT 1 UNION SELECT NULL
Fix for buffer leaks in large object calls(Pascal)
Change owner from oid to int4 type(Bruce)
Fix a bug in the oracle compatibility functions btrim() ltrim() and rtrim()
Fix for shared invalidation cache overflow(Massimo)
Prevent file descriptor leaks in failed COPY's(Bruce)
Fix memory leak in libpgtcl's pg_select(Constantin)
Fix problems with username/passwords over 8 characters(Tom)
Fix problems with handling of asynchronous NOTIFY in backend(Tom)
Fix of many bad system table entries(Tom)
Enhancements
------------
Upgrade ecpg and ecpglib,see src/interfaces/ecpc/ChangeLog(Michael)
Show the index used in an EXPLAIN(Zeugswetter)
EXPLAIN invokes rule system and shows plan(s) for rewritten queries(Jan)
Multibyte awareness of many data types and functions, via configure(Tatsuo)
New configure --with-mb option(Tatsuo)
New initdb --pgencoding option(Tatsuo)
New createdb -E multibyte option(Tatsuo)
Select version(); now returns PostgreSQL version(Jeroen)
libpq now allows asynchronous clients(Tom)
Allow cancel from client of backend query(Tom)
psql now cancels query with Control-C(Tom)
libpq users need not issue dummy queries to get NOTIFY messages(Tom)
NOTIFY now sends sender's PID, so you can tell whether it was your own(Tom)
PGresult struct now includes associated error message, if any(Tom)
Define "tz_hour" and "tz_minute" arguments to date_part()(Thomas)
Add routines to convert between varchar and bpchar(Thomas)
Add routines to allow sizing of varchar and bpchar into target columns(Thomas)
Add bit flags to support timezonehour and minute in data retrieval(Thomas)
Allow more variations on valid floating point numbers (e.g. ".1", "1e6")(Thomas)
Fixes for unary minus parsing with leading spaces(Thomas)
Implement TIMEZONE_HOUR, TIMEZONE_MINUTE per SQL92 specs(Thomas)
Check for and properly ignore FOREIGN KEY column constraints(Thomas)
Define USER as synonym for CURRENT_USER per SQL92 specs(Thomas)
Enable HAVING clause but no fixes elsewhere yet.
Make "char" type a synonym for "char(1)" (actually implemented as bpchar)(Thomas)
Save string type if specified for DEFAULT clause handling(Thomas)
Coerce operations involving different data types(Thomas)
Allow some index use for columns of different types(Thomas)
Add capabilities for automatic type conversion(Thomas)
Cleanups for large objects, so file is truncated on open(Peter)
Readline cleanups(Tom)
Allow psql \f \ to make spaces as delimiter(Bruce)
Pass pg_attribute.atttypmod to the frontend for column field lengths(Tom,Bruce)
Msql compatibility library in /contrib(Aldrin)
Remove the requirement that ORDER/GROUP BY clause identifiers be
included in the target list(David)
Convert columns to match columns in UNION clauses(Thomas)
Remove fork()/exec() and only do fork()(Bruce)
Jdbc cleanups(Peter)
Show backend status on ps command line(only works on some platforms)(Bruce)
Pg_hba.conf now has a sameuser option in the database field
Make lo_unlink take oid param, not int4
New DISABLE_COMPLEX_MACRO for compilers that cannot handle our macros(Bruce)
Libpgtcl now handles NOTIFY as a Tcl event, need not send dummy queries(Tom)
libpgtcl cleanups(Tom)
Add -error option to libpgtcl's pg_result command(Tom)
New locale patch, see docs/README/locale(Oleg)
Fix for pg_dump so CONSTRAINT and CHECK syntax is correct(ccb)
New contrib/lo code for large object orphan removal(Peter)
New psql command "SET CLIENT_ENCODING TO 'encoding'" for multibytes
feature, see /doc/README.mb(Tatsuo)
contrib/noupdate code to revoke update permission on a column
libpq can now be compiled on Windows(Magnus)
Add PQsetdbLogin() in libpq
New 8-byte integer type, checked by configure for OS support(Thomas)
Better support for quoted table/column names(Thomas)
Surround table and column names with double-quotes in pg_dump(Thomas)
PQreset() now works with passwords(Tom)
Handle case of GROUP BY target list column number out of range(David)
Allow UNION in subselects
Add auto-size to screen to \d? commands(Bruce)
Use UNION to show all \d? results in one query(Bruce)
Add \d? field search feature(Bruce)
Pg_dump issues fewer \connect requests(Tom)
Make pg_dump -z flag work better, document it in manual page(Tom)
Add HAVING clause with full support for subselects and unions(Stephan)
Full text indexing routines in contrib/fulltextindex(Maarten)
Transaction ids now stored in shared memory(Vadim)
New PGCLIENTENCODING when issuing COPY command(Tatsuo)
Support for SQL92 syntax "SET NAMES"(Tatsuo)
Support for LATIN2-5(Tatsuo)
Add UNICODE regression test case(Tatsuo)
Lock manager cleanup, new locking modes for LLL(Vadim)
Allow index use with OR clauses(Bruce)
Allows "SELECT NULL ORDER BY 1;"
Explain VERBOSE prints the plan, and now pretty-prints the plan to
the postmaster log file(Bruce)
Add indexes display to \d command(Bruce)
Allow GROUP BY on functions(David)
New pg_class.relkind for large objects(Bruce)
New way to send libpq NOTICE messages to a different location(Tom)
New \w write command to psql(Bruce)
New /contrib/findoidjoins scans oid columns to find join relationships(Bruce)
Allow binary-compatible indexes to be considered when checking for valid
Indexes for restriction clauses containing a constant(Thomas)
New ISBN/ISSN code in /contrib/isbn_issn
Allow NOT LIKE, IN, NOT IN, BETWEEN, and NOT BETWEEN constraint(Thomas)
New rewrite system fixes many problems with rules and views(Jan)
* Rules on relations work
* Event qualifications on insert/update/delete work
* New OLD variable to reference CURRENT, CURRENT will be remove in future
* Update rules can reference NEW and OLD in rule qualifications/actions
* Insert/update/delete rules on views work
* Multiple rule actions are now supported, surrounded by parentheses
* Regular users can create views/rules on tables they have RULE permits
* Rules and views inherit the privileges of the creator
* No rules at the column level
* No UPDATE NEW/OLD rules
* New pg_tables, pg_indexes, pg_rules and pg_views system views
* Only a single action on SELECT rules
* Total rewrite overhaul, perhaps for 6.5
* handle subselects
* handle aggregates on views
* handle insert into select from view works
System indexes are now multikey(Bruce)
Oidint2, oidint4, and oidname types are removed(Bruce)
Use system cache for more system table lookups(Bruce)
New backend programming language PL/pgSQL in backend/pl(Jan)
New SERIAL data type, auto-creates sequence/index(Thomas)
Enable assert checking without a recompile(Massimo)
User lock enhancements(Massimo)
New setval() command to set sequence value(Massimo)
Auto-remove unix socket file on start-up if no postmaster running(Massimo)
Conditional trace package(Massimo)
New UNLISTEN command(Massimo)
psql and libpq now compile under Windows using win32.mak(Magnus)
Lo_read no longer stores trailing NULL(Bruce)
Identifiers are now truncated to 31 characters internally(Bruce)
Createuser options now available on the command line
Code for 64-bit integer supported added, configure tested, int8 type(Thomas)
Prevent file descriptor leaf from failed COPY(Bruce)
New pg_upgrade command(Bruce)
Updated /contrib directories(Massimo)
New CREATE TABLE DEFAULT VALUES statement available(Thomas)
New INSERT INTO TABLE DEFAULT VALUES statement available(Thomas)
New DECLARE and FETCH feature(Thomas)
libpq's internal structures now not exported(Tom)
Allow up to 8 key indexes(Bruce)
Remove ARCHIVE key word, that is no longer used(Thomas)
pg_dump -n flag to suppress quotes around indentifiers
disable system columns for views(Jan)
new INET and CIDR types for network addresses(TomH, Paul)
no more double quotes in psql output
pg_dump now dumps views(Terry)
new SET QUERY_LIMIT(Tatsuo,Jan)
Source Tree Changes
-------------------
/contrib cleanup(Jun)
Inline some small functions called for every row(Bruce)
Alpha/linux fixes
HP-UX cleanups(Tom)
Multibyte regression tests(Soonmyung.)
Remove --disabled options from configure
Define PGDOC to use POSTGRESDIR by default
Make regression optional
Remove extra braces code to pgindent(Bruce)
Add bsdi shared library support(Bruce)
New --without-CXX support configure option(Brook)
New FAQ_CVS
Update backend flowchart in tools/backend(Bruce)
Change atttypmod from int16 to int32(Bruce, Tom)
Getrusage() fix for platforms that do not have it(Tom)
Add PQconnectdb, PGUSER, PGPASSWORD to libpq man page
NS32K platform fixes(Phil Nelson, John Buller)
SCO 7/UnixWare 2.x fixes(Billy,others)
Sparc/Solaris 2.5 fixes(Ryan)
Pgbuiltin.3 is obsolete, move to doc files(Thomas)
Even more documentation(Thomas)
Nextstep support(Jacek)
Aix support(David)
pginterface manual page(Bruce)
shared libraries all have version numbers
merged all OS-specific shared library defines into one file
smarter TCL/TK configuration checking(Billy)
smarter perl configuration(Brook)
configure uses supplied install-sh if no install script found(Tom)
new Makefile.shlib for shared library configuration(Tom)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-3-2">
<title>Release 6.3.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1998-04-07</simpara>
</note>
<para>
This is a bug-fix release for 6.3.x.
Refer to the release notes for version 6.3 for a more complete summary of new features.
</para>
<para>
Summary:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Repairs automatic configuration support for some platforms, including Linux,
from breakage inadvertently introduced in version 6.3.1.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Correctly handles function calls on the left side of BETWEEN and LIKE clauses.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
A dump/restore is NOT required for those running 6.3 or 6.3.1. A
<literal>make distclean</>, <literal>make</>, and <literal>make install</> is all that is required.
This last step should be performed while the postmaster is not running.
You should re-link any custom applications that use <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> libraries.
</para>
<para>
For upgrades from pre-6.3 installations,
refer to the installation and migration instructions for version 6.3.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Configure detection improvements for tcl/tk(Brook Milligan, Alvin)
Manual page improvements(Bruce)
BETWEEN and LIKE fix(Thomas)
fix for psql \connect used by pg_dump(Oliver Elphick)
New odbc driver
pgaccess, version 0.86
qsort removed, now uses libc version, cleanups(Jeroen)
fix for buffer over-runs detected(Maurice Gittens)
fix for buffer overrun in libpgtcl(Randy Kunkee)
fix for UNION with DISTINCT or ORDER BY(Bruce)
gettimeofday configure check(Doug Winterburn)
Fix "indexes not used" bug(Vadim)
docs additions(Thomas)
Fix for backend memory leak(Bruce)
libreadline cleanup(Erwan MAS)
Remove DISTDIR(Bruce)
Makefile dependency cleanup(Jeroen van Vianen)
ASSERT fixes(Bruce)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-3-1">
<title>Release 6.3.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1998-03-23</simpara>
</note>
<para>
Summary:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Additional support for multibyte character sets.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Repair byte ordering for mixed-endian clients and servers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Minor updates to allowed SQL syntax.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Improvements to the configuration autodetection for installation.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
A dump/restore is NOT required for those running 6.3. A
<literal>make distclean</>, <literal>make</>, and <literal>make install</> is all that is required.
This last step should be performed while the postmaster is not running.
You should re-link any custom applications that use <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> libraries.
</para>
<para>
For upgrades from pre-6.3 installations,
refer to the installation and migration instructions for version 6.3.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
ecpg cleanup/fixes, now version 1.1(Michael Meskes)
pg_user cleanup(Bruce)
large object fix for pg_dump and tclsh (alvin)
LIKE fix for multiple adjacent underscores
fix for redefining builtin functions(Thomas)
ultrix4 cleanup
upgrade to pg_access 0.83
updated CLUSTER manual page
multibyte character set support, see doc/README.mb(Tatsuo)
configure --with-pgport fix
pg_ident fix
big-endian fix for backend communications(Kataoka)
SUBSTR() and substring() fix(Jan)
several jdbc fixes(Peter)
libpgtcl improvements, see libptcl/README(Randy Kunkee)
Fix for "Datasize = 0" error(Vadim)
Prevent \do from wrapping(Bruce)
Remove duplicate Russian character set entries
Sunos4 cleanup
Allow optional TABLE key word in LOCK and SELECT INTO(Thomas)
CREATE SEQUENCE options to allow a negative integer(Thomas)
Add "PASSWORD" as an allowed column identifier(Thomas)
Add checks for UNION target fields(Bruce)
Fix Alpha port(Dwayne Bailey)
Fix for text arrays containing quotes(Doug Gibson)
Solaris compile fix(Albert Chin-A-Young)
Better identify tcl and tk libs and includes(Bruce)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-3">
<title>Release 6.3</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1998-03-01</simpara>
</note>
<para>
There are <emphasis>many</emphasis> new features and improvements in this release.
Here is a brief, incomplete summary:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Many new SQL features, including
full <acronym>SQL92</acronym> subselect capability
(everything is here but target-list subselects).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Support for client-side environment variables to specify time zone and date style.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Socket interface for client/server connection. This is the default now
so you might need to start <application>postmaster</application> with the
<option>-i</option> flag.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Better password authorization mechanisms. Default table privileges have changed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Old-style <firstterm>time travel</firstterm>
has been removed. Performance has been improved.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<note>
<para>
Bruce Momjian wrote the following notes to introduce the new release.
</para>
</note>
<para>
There are some general 6.3 issues that I want to mention. These are
only the big items that cannot be described in one sentence. A review
of the detailed changes list is still needed.
</para>
<para>
First, we now have subselects. Now that we have them, I would like to
mention that without subselects, SQL is a very limited language.
Subselects are a major feature, and you should review your code for
places where subselects provide a better solution for your queries. I
think you will find that there are more uses for subselects than you might
think. Vadim has put us on the big SQL map with subselects, and fully
functional ones too. The only thing you cannot do with subselects is to
use them in the target list.
</para>
<para>
Second, 6.3 uses Unix domain sockets rather than TCP/IP by default. To
enable connections from other machines, you have to use the new
postmaster -i option, and of course edit <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename>. Also, for this
reason, the format of <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> has changed.
</para>
<para>
Third, <type>char()</type> fields will now allow faster access than <type>varchar()</type> or
<type>text</type>. Specifically, the <type>text</> and <type>varchar()</type> have a penalty for access to
any columns after the first column of this type. <type>char()</type> used to also
have this access penalty, but it no longer does. This might suggest that
you redesign some of your tables, especially if you have short character
columns that you have defined as <type>varchar()</type> or <type>text</type>. This and other
changes make 6.3 even faster than earlier releases.
</para>
<para>
We now have passwords definable independent of any Unix file. There are
new SQL USER commands.
See the <citetitle>Administrator's Guide</citetitle> for more
information. There is a new table, pg_shadow, which is used to store
user information and user passwords, and it by default only SELECT-able
by the <systemitem>postgres</systemitem> super-user. pg_user is now a view of pg_shadow, and is
SELECT-able by PUBLIC. You should keep using pg_user in your
application without changes.
</para>
<para>
User-created tables now no longer have SELECT privilege to PUBLIC by
default. This was done because the ANSI standard requires it. You can
of course GRANT any privileges you want after the table is created.
System tables continue to be SELECT-able by PUBLIC.
</para>
<para>
We also have real deadlock detection code. No more sixty-second
timeouts. And the new locking code implements a <acronym>FIFO</acronym> better, so there
should be less resource starvation during heavy use.
</para>
<para>
Many complaints have been made about inadequate documentation in previous
releases. Thomas has put much effort into many new manuals for this
release. Check out the doc/ directory.
</para>
<para>
For performance reasons, time travel is gone, but can be implemented
using triggers (see <filename>pgsql/contrib/spi/README</filename>). Please check out the new
\d command for types, operators, etc. Also, views have their own
privileges now, not based on the underlying tables, so privileges on
them have to be set separately. Check <filename>/pgsql/interfaces</filename> for some new
ways to talk to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
<para>
This is the first release that really required an explanation for
existing users. In many ways, this was necessary because the new
release removes many limitations, and the work-arounds people were using
are no longer needed.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.3</title>
<para>
A dump/restore using <application>pg_dump</application>
or <application>pg_dumpall</application>
is required for those wishing to migrate data from any
previous release of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
Fix binary cursors broken by MOVE implementation(Vadim)
Fix for tcl library crash(Jan)
Fix for array handling, from Gerhard Hintermayer
Fix acl error, and remove duplicate pqtrace(Bruce)
Fix psql \e for empty file(Bruce)
Fix for textcat on varchar() fields(Bruce)
Fix for DBT Sendproc (Zeugswetter Andres)
Fix vacuum analyze syntax problem(Bruce)
Fix for international identifiers(Tatsuo)
Fix aggregates on inherited tables(Bruce)
Fix substr() for out-of-bounds data
Fix for select 1=1 or 2=2, select 1=1 and 2=2, and select sum(2+2)(Bruce)
Fix notty output to show status result. -q option still turns it off(Bruce)
Fix for count(*), aggs with views and multiple tables and sum(3)(Bruce)
Fix cluster(Bruce)
Fix for PQtrace start/stop several times(Bruce)
Fix a variety of locking problems like newer lock waiters getting
lock before older waiters, and having readlock people not share
locks if a writer is waiting for a lock, and waiting writers not
getting priority over waiting readers(Bruce)
Fix crashes in psql when executing queries from external files(James)
Fix problem with multiple order by columns, with the first one having
NULL values(Jeroen)
Use correct hash table support functions for float8 and int4(Thomas)
Re-enable JOIN= option in CREATE OPERATOR statement (Thomas)
Change precedence for boolean operators to match expected behavior(Thomas)
Generate elog(ERROR) on over-large integer(Bruce)
Allow multiple-argument functions in constraint clauses(Thomas)
Check boolean input literals for 'true','false','yes','no','1','0'
and throw elog(ERROR) if unrecognized(Thomas)
Major large objects fix
Fix for GROUP BY showing duplicates(Vadim)
Fix for index scans in MergeJoin(Vadim)
Enhancements
------------
Subselects with EXISTS, IN, ALL, ANY key words (Vadim, Bruce, Thomas)
New User Manual(Thomas, others)
Speedup by inlining some frequently-called functions
Real deadlock detection, no more timeouts(Bruce)
Add SQL92 "constants" CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
CURRENT_USER(Thomas)
Modify constraint syntax to be SQL92-compliant(Thomas)
Implement SQL92 PRIMARY KEY and UNIQUE clauses using indexes(Thomas)
Recognize SQL92 syntax for FOREIGN KEY. Throw elog notice(Thomas)
Allow NOT NULL UNIQUE constraint clause (each allowed separately before)(Thomas)
Allow PostgreSQL-style casting ("::") of non-constants(Thomas)
Add support for SQL3 TRUE and FALSE boolean constants(Thomas)
Support SQL92 syntax for IS TRUE/IS FALSE/IS NOT TRUE/IS NOT FALSE(Thomas)
Allow shorter strings for boolean literals (e.g. "t", "tr", "tru")(Thomas)
Allow SQL92 delimited identifiers(Thomas)
Implement SQL92 binary and hexadecimal string decoding (b'10' and x'1F')(Thomas)
Support SQL92 syntax for type coercion of literal strings
(e.g. "DATETIME 'now'")(Thomas)
Add conversions for int2, int4, and OID types to and from text(Thomas)
Use shared lock when building indexes(Vadim)
Free memory allocated for an user query inside transaction block after
this query is done, was turned off in &lt;= 6.2.1(Vadim)
New SQL statement CREATE PROCEDURAL LANGUAGE(Jan)
New <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> Procedural Language (PL) backend interface(Jan)
Rename pg_dump -H option to -h(Bruce)
Add Java support for passwords, European dates(Peter)
Use indexes for LIKE and ~, !~ operations(Bruce)
Add hash functions for datetime and timespan(Thomas)
Time Travel removed(Vadim, Bruce)
Add paging for \d and \z, and fix \i(Bruce)
Add Unix domain socket support to backend and to frontend library(Goran)
Implement CREATE DATABASE/WITH LOCATION and initlocation utility(Thomas)
Allow more SQL92 and/or <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> reserved words as column identifiers(Thomas)
Augment support for SQL92 SET TIME ZONE...(Thomas)
SET/SHOW/RESET TIME ZONE uses TZ backend environment variable(Thomas)
Implement SET keyword = DEFAULT and SET TIME ZONE DEFAULT(Thomas)
Enable SET TIME ZONE using TZ environment variable(Thomas)
Add PGDATESTYLE environment variable to frontend and backend initialization(Thomas)
Add PGTZ, PGCOSTHEAP, PGCOSTINDEX, PGRPLANS, PGGEQO
frontend library initialization environment variables(Thomas)
Regression tests time zone automatically set with "setenv PGTZ PST8PDT"(Thomas)
Add pg_description table for info on tables, columns, operators, types, and
aggregates(Bruce)
Increase 16 char limit on system table/index names to 32 characters(Bruce)
Rename system indexes(Bruce)
Add 'GERMAN' option to SET DATESTYLE(Thomas)
Define an "ISO-style" timespan output format with "hh:mm:ss" fields(Thomas)
Allow fractional values for delta times (e.g. '2.5 days')(Thomas)
Validate numeric input more carefully for delta times(Thomas)
Implement day of year as possible input to date_part()(Thomas)
Define timespan_finite() and text_timespan() functions(Thomas)
Remove archive stuff(Bruce)
Allow for a pg_password authentication database that is separate from
the system password file(Todd)
Dump ACLs, GRANT, REVOKE privileges(Matt)
Define text, varchar, and bpchar string length functions(Thomas)
Fix Query handling for inheritance, and cost computations(Bruce)
Implement CREATE TABLE/AS SELECT (alternative to SELECT/INTO)(Thomas)
Allow NOT, IS NULL, IS NOT NULL in constraints(Thomas)
Implement UNIONs for SELECT(Bruce)
Add UNION, GROUP, DISTINCT to INSERT(Bruce)
varchar() stores only necessary bytes on disk(Bruce)
Fix for BLOBs(Peter)
Mega-Patch for JDBC...see README_6.3 for list of changes(Peter)
Remove unused "option" from PQconnectdb()
New LOCK command and lock manual page describing deadlocks(Bruce)
Add new psql \da, \dd, \df, \do, \dS, and \dT commands(Bruce)
Enhance psql \z to show sequences(Bruce)
Show NOT NULL and DEFAULT in psql \d table(Bruce)
New psql .psqlrc file start-up(Andrew)
Modify sample start-up script in contrib/linux to show syslog(Thomas)
New types for IP and MAC addresses in contrib/ip_and_mac(TomH)
Unix system time conversions with date/time types in contrib/unixdate(Thomas)
Update of contrib stuff(Massimo)
Add Unix socket support to DBD::Pg(Goran)
New python interface (PyGreSQL 2.0)(D'Arcy)
New frontend/backend protocol has a version number, network byte order(Phil)
Security features in pg_hba.conf enhanced and documented, many cleanups(Phil)
CHAR() now faster access than VARCHAR() or TEXT
ecpg embedded SQL preprocessor
Reduce system column overhead(Vadmin)
Remove pg_time table(Vadim)
Add pg_type attribute to identify types that need length (bpchar, varchar)
Add report of offending line when COPY command fails
Allow VIEW privileges to be set separately from the underlying tables.
For security, use GRANT/REVOKE on views as appropriate(Jan)
Tables now have no default GRANT SELECT TO PUBLIC. You must
explicitly grant such privileges.
Clean up tutorial examples(Darren)
Source Tree Changes
-------------------
Add new html development tools, and flow chart in /tools/backend
Fix for SCO compiles
Stratus computer port Robert Gillies
Added support for shlib for BSD44_derived &amp; i386_solaris
Make configure more automated(Brook)
Add script to check regression test results
Break parser functions into smaller files, group together(Bruce)
Rename heap_create to heap_create_and_catalog, rename heap_creatr
to heap_create()(Bruce)
Sparc/Linux patch for locking(TomS)
Remove PORTNAME and reorganize port-specific stuff(Marc)
Add optimizer README file(Bruce)
Remove some recursion in optimizer and clean up some code there(Bruce)
Fix for NetBSD locking(Henry)
Fix for libptcl make(Tatsuo)
AIX patch(Darren)
Change IS TRUE, IS FALSE, ... to expressions using "=" rather than
function calls to istrue() or isfalse() to allow optimization(Thomas)
Various fixes NetBSD/Sparc related(TomH)
Alpha linux locking(Travis,Ryan)
Change elog(WARN) to elog(ERROR)(Bruce)
FAQ for FreeBSD(Marc)
Bring in the PostODBC source tree as part of our standard distribution(Marc)
A minor patch for HP/UX 10 vs 9(Stan)
New pg_attribute.atttypmod for type-specific info like varchar length(Bruce)
UnixWare patches(Billy)
New i386 'lock' for spinlock asm(Billy)
Support for multiplexed backends is removed
Start an OpenBSD port
Start an AUX port
Start a Cygnus port
Add string functions to regression suite(Thomas)
Expand a few function names formerly truncated to 16 characters(Thomas)
Remove un-needed malloc() calls and replace with palloc()(Bruce)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-2-1">
<title>Release 6.2.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1997-10-17</simpara>
</note>
<para>
6.2.1 is a bug-fix and usability release on 6.2.
</para>
<para>
Summary:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Allow strings to span lines, per <acronym>SQL92</acronym>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Include example trigger function for inserting user names on table updates.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
This is a minor bug-fix release on 6.2.
For upgrades from pre-6.2 systems, a full dump/reload is required.
Refer to the 6.2 release notes for instructions.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 6.2 to version 6.2.1</title>
<para>
This is a minor bug-fix release. A dump/reload is not required from version 6.2,
but is required from any release prior to 6.2.
</para>
<para>
In upgrading from version 6.2, if you choose to dump/reload you will find that
avg(money) is now calculated correctly. All other bug fixes take effect
upon updating the executables.
</para>
<para>
Another way to avoid dump/reload is to use the following SQL command
from <command>psql</command> to update the existing system table:
<programlisting>
update pg_aggregate set aggfinalfn = 'cash_div_flt8'
where aggname = 'avg' and aggbasetype = 790;
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
This will need to be done to every existing database, including template1.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Allow TIME and TYPE column names(Thomas)
Allow larger range of true/false as boolean values(Thomas)
Support output of "now" and "current"(Thomas)
Handle DEFAULT with INSERT of NULL properly(Vadim)
Fix for relation reference counts problem in buffer manager(Vadim)
Allow strings to span lines, like ANSI(Thomas)
Fix for backward cursor with ORDER BY(Vadim)
Fix avg(cash) computation(Thomas)
Fix for specifying a column twice in ORDER/GROUP BY(Vadim)
Documented new libpq function to return affected rows, PQcmdTuples(Bruce)
Trigger function for inserting user names for INSERT/UPDATE(Brook Milligan)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-2">
<title>Release 6.2</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1997-10-02</simpara>
</note>
<para>
A dump/restore is required for those wishing to migrate data from
previous releases of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 6.1 to version 6.2</title>
<para>
This migration requires a complete dump of the 6.1 database and a
restore of the database in 6.2.
</para>
<para>
Note that the <command>pg_dump</command> and <command>pg_dumpall</command> utility from 6.2 should be used
to dump the 6.1 database.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 1.<replaceable>x</> to version 6.2</title>
<para>
Those migrating from earlier 1.* releases should first upgrade to 1.09
because the COPY output format was improved from the 1.02 release.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
Fix problems with pg_dump for inheritance, sequences, archive tables(Bruce)
Fix compile errors on overflow due to shifts, unsigned, and bad prototypes
from Solaris(Diab Jerius)
Fix bugs in geometric line arithmetic (bad intersection calculations)(Thomas)
Check for geometric intersections at endpoints to avoid rounding ugliness(Thomas)
Catch non-functional delete attempts(Vadim)
Change time function names to be more consistent(Michael Reifenberg)
Check for zero divides(Michael Reifenberg)
Fix very old bug which made rows changed/inserted by a command
visible to the command itself (so we had multiple update of
updated rows, etc.)(Vadim)
Fix for SELECT null, 'fail' FROM pg_am (Patrick)
SELECT NULL as EMPTY_FIELD now allowed(Patrick)
Remove un-needed signal stuff from contrib/pginterface
Fix OR (where x != 1 or x isnull didn't return rows with x NULL) (Vadim)
Fix time_cmp function (Vadim)
Fix handling of functions with non-attribute first argument in
WHERE clauses (Vadim)
Fix GROUP BY when order of entries is different from order
in target list (Vadim)
Fix pg_dump for aggregates without sfunc1 (Vadim)
Enhancements
------------
Default genetic optimizer GEQO parameter is now 8(Bruce)
Allow use parameters in target list having aggregates in functions(Vadim)
Added JDBC driver as an interface(Adrian &amp; Peter)
pg_password utility
Return number of rows inserted/affected by INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE etc.(Vadim)
Triggers implemented with CREATE TRIGGER (SQL3)(Vadim)
SPI (Server Programming Interface) allows execution of queries inside
C-functions (Vadim)
NOT NULL implemented (SQL92)(Robson Paniago de Miranda)
Include reserved words for string handling, outer joins, and unions(Thomas)
Implement extended comments ("/* ... */") using exclusive states(Thomas)
Add "//" single-line comments(Bruce)
Remove some restrictions on characters in operator names(Thomas)
DEFAULT and CONSTRAINT for tables implemented (SQL92)(Vadim &amp; Thomas)
Add text concatenation operator and function (SQL92)(Thomas)
Support WITH TIME ZONE syntax (SQL92)(Thomas)
Support INTERVAL unit TO unit syntax (SQL92)(Thomas)
Define types DOUBLE PRECISION, INTERVAL, CHARACTER,
and CHARACTER VARYING (SQL92)(Thomas)
Define type FLOAT(p) and rudimentary DECIMAL(p,s), NUMERIC(p,s) (SQL92)(Thomas)
Define EXTRACT(), POSITION(), SUBSTRING(), and TRIM() (SQL92)(Thomas)
Define CURRENT_DATE, CURRENT_TIME, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP (SQL92)(Thomas)
Add syntax and warnings for UNION, HAVING, INNER and OUTER JOIN (SQL92)(Thomas)
Add more reserved words, mostly for SQL92 compliance(Thomas)
Allow hh:mm:ss time entry for timespan/reltime types(Thomas)
Add center() routines for lseg, path, polygon(Thomas)
Add distance() routines for circle-polygon, polygon-polygon(Thomas)
Check explicitly for points and polygons contained within polygons
using an axis-crossing algorithm(Thomas)
Add routine to convert circle-box(Thomas)
Merge conflicting operators for different geometric data types(Thomas)
Replace distance operator "&lt;===&gt;" with "&lt;-&gt;"(Thomas)
Replace "above" operator "!^" with "&gt;^" and "below" operator "!|" with "&lt;^"(Thomas)
Add routines for text trimming on both ends, substring, and string position(Thomas)
Added conversion routines circle(box) and poly(circle)(Thomas)
Allow internal sorts to be stored in memory rather than in files(Bruce &amp; Vadim)
Allow functions and operators on internally-identical types to succeed(Bruce)
Speed up backend start-up after profiling analysis(Bruce)
Inline frequently called functions for performance(Bruce)
Reduce open() calls(Bruce)
psql: Add PAGER for \h and \?,\C fix
Fix for psql pager when no tty(Bruce)
New entab utility(Bruce)
General trigger functions for referential integrity (Vadim)
General trigger functions for time travel (Vadim)
General trigger functions for AUTOINCREMENT/IDENTITY feature (Vadim)
MOVE implementation (Vadim)
Source Tree Changes
-------------------
HP-UX 10 patches (Vladimir Turin)
Added SCO support, (Daniel Harris)
MkLinux patches (Tatsuo Ishii)
Change geometric box terminology from "length" to "width"(Thomas)
Deprecate temporary unstored slope fields in geometric code(Thomas)
Remove restart instructions from INSTALL(Bruce)
Look in /usr/ucb first for install(Bruce)
Fix c++ copy example code(Thomas)
Add -o to psql manual page(Bruce)
Prevent relname unallocated string length from being copied into database(Bruce)
Cleanup for NAMEDATALEN use(Bruce)
Fix pg_proc names over 15 chars in output(Bruce)
Add strNcpy() function(Bruce)
remove some (void) casts that are unnecessary(Bruce)
new interfaces directory(Marc)
Replace fopen() calls with calls to fd.c functions(Bruce)
Make functions static where possible(Bruce)
enclose unused functions in #ifdef NOT_USED(Bruce)
Remove call to difftime() in timestamp support to fix SunOS(Bruce &amp; Thomas)
Changes for Digital Unix
Portability fix for pg_dumpall(Bruce)
Rename pg_attribute.attnvals to attdispersion(Bruce)
"intro/unix" manual page now "pgintro"(Bruce)
"built-in" manual page now "pgbuiltin"(Bruce)
"drop" manual page now "drop_table"(Bruce)
Add "create_trigger", "drop_trigger" manual pages(Thomas)
Add constraints regression test(Vadim &amp; Thomas)
Add comments syntax regression test(Thomas)
Add PGINDENT and support program(Bruce)
Massive commit to run PGINDENT on all *.c and *.h files(Bruce)
Files moved to /src/tools directory(Bruce)
SPI and Trigger programming guides (Vadim &amp; D'Arcy)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-1-1">
<title>Release 6.1.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1997-07-22</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 6.1 to version 6.1.1</title>
<para>
This is a minor bug-fix release. A dump/reload is not required from version 6.1,
but is required from any release prior to 6.1.
Refer to the release notes for 6.1 for more details.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
fix for SET with options (Thomas)
allow pg_dump/pg_dumpall to preserve ownership of all tables/objects(Bruce)
new psql \connect option allows changing usernames without changing databases
fix for initdb --debug option(Yoshihiko Ichikawa))
lextest cleanup(Bruce)
hash fixes(Vadim)
fix date/time month boundary arithmetic(Thomas)
fix timezone daylight handling for some ports(Thomas, Bruce, Tatsuo)
timestamp overhauled to use standard functions(Thomas)
other code cleanup in date/time routines(Thomas)
psql's \d now case-insensitive(Bruce)
psql's backslash commands can now have trailing semicolon(Bruce)
fix memory leak in psql when using \g(Bruce)
major fix for endian handling of communication to server(Thomas, Tatsuo)
Fix for Solaris assembler and include files(Yoshihiko Ichikawa)
allow underscores in usernames(Bruce)
pg_dumpall now returns proper status, portability fix(Bruce)
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-1">
<title>Release 6.1</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1997-06-08</simpara>
</note>
<para>
The regression tests have been adapted and extensively modified for the
6.1 release of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
<para>
Three new data types (<type>datetime</type>, <type>timespan</type>, and <type>circle</type>) have been added to
the native set of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> types. Points, boxes, paths, and polygons
have had their output formats made consistent across the data types.
The polygon output in misc.out has only been spot-checked for correctness
relative to the original regression output.
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 6.1 introduces a new, alternate
optimizer which uses <firstterm>genetic</firstterm>
algorithms. These algorithms introduce a random behavior in the ordering
of query results when the query contains multiple qualifiers or multiple
tables (giving the optimizer a choice on order of evaluation). Several
regression tests have been modified to explicitly order the results, and
hence are insensitive to optimizer choices. A few regression tests are
for data types which are inherently unordered (e.g. points and time
intervals) and tests involving those types are explicitly bracketed with
<command>set geqo to 'off'</command> and <command>reset geqo</command>.
</para>
<para>
The interpretation of array specifiers (the curly braces around atomic
values) appears to have changed sometime after the original regression
tests were generated. The current <filename>./expected/*.out</filename> files reflect this
new interpretation, which might not be correct!
</para>
<para>
The float8 regression test fails on at least some platforms. This is due
to differences in implementations of <function>pow()</function> and <function>exp()</function> and the signaling
mechanisms used for overflow and underflow conditions.
</para>
<para>
The <quote>random</> results in the random test should cause the
<quote>random</quote> test to be <quote>failed</quote>, since the
regression tests are evaluated using a simple diff. However,
<quote>random</> does not seem to produce random results on my test
machine (Linux/<application>gcc</>/i686).
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration to Version 6.1</title>
<para>
This migration requires a complete dump of the 6.0 database and a
restore of the database in 6.1.
</para>
<para>
Those migrating from earlier 1.* releases should first upgrade to 1.09
because the COPY output format was improved from the 1.02 release.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
packet length checking in library routines
lock manager priority patch
check for under/over flow of float8(Bruce)
multitable join fix(Vadim)
SIGPIPE crash fix(Darren)
large object fixes(Sven)
allow btree indexes to handle NULLs(Vadim)
timezone fixes(D'Arcy)
select SUM(x) can return NULL on no rows(Thomas)
internal optimizer, executor bug fixes(Vadim)
fix problem where inner loop in &lt; or &lt;= has no rows(Vadim)
prevent re-commuting join index clauses(Vadim)
fix join clauses for multiple tables(Vadim)
fix hash, hashjoin for arrays(Vadim)
fix btree for abstime type(Vadim)
large object fixes(Raymond)
fix buffer leak in hash indexes (Vadim)
fix rtree for use in inner scan (Vadim)
fix gist for use in inner scan, cleanups (Vadim, Andrea)
avoid unnecessary local buffers allocation (Vadim, Massimo)
fix local buffers leak in transaction aborts (Vadim)
fix file manager memmory leaks, cleanups (Vadim, Massimo)
fix storage manager memmory leaks (Vadim)
fix btree duplicates handling (Vadim)
fix deleted rows reincarnation caused by vacuum (Vadim)
fix SELECT varchar()/char() INTO TABLE made zero-length fields(Bruce)
many psql, pg_dump, and libpq memory leaks fixed using Purify (Igor)
Enhancements
------------
attribute optimization statistics(Bruce)
much faster new btree bulk load code(Paul)
BTREE UNIQUE added to bulk load code(Vadim)
new lock debug code(Massimo)
massive changes to libpg++(Leo)
new GEQO optimizer speeds table multitable optimization(Martin)
new WARN message for non-unique insert into unique key(Marc)
update x=-3, no spaces, now valid(Bruce)
remove case-sensitive identifier handling(Bruce,Thomas,Dan)
debug backend now pretty-prints tree(Darren)
new Oracle character functions(Edmund)
new plaintext password functions(Dan)
no such class or insufficient privilege changed to distinct messages(Dan)
new ANSI timestamp function(Dan)
new ANSI Time and Date types (Thomas)
move large chunks of data in backend(Martin)
multicolumn btree indexes(Vadim)
new SET var TO value command(Martin)
update transaction status on reads(Dan)
new locale settings for character types(Oleg)
new SEQUENCE serial number generator(Vadim)
GROUP BY function now possible(Vadim)
re-organize regression test(Thomas,Marc)
new optimizer operation weights(Vadim)
new psql \z grant/permit option(Marc)
new MONEY data type(D'Arcy,Thomas)
tcp socket communication speed improved(Vadim)
new VACUUM option for attribute statistics, and for certain columns (Vadim)
many geometric type improvements(Thomas,Keith)
additional regression tests(Thomas)
new datestyle variable(Thomas,Vadim,Martin)
more comparison operators for sorting types(Thomas)
new conversion functions(Thomas)
new more compact btree format(Vadim)
allow pg_dumpall to preserve database ownership(Bruce)
new SET GEQO=# and R_PLANS variable(Vadim)
old (!GEQO) optimizer can use right-sided plans (Vadim)
typechecking improvement in SQL parser(Bruce)
new SET, SHOW, RESET commands(Thomas,Vadim)
new \connect database USER option
new destroydb -i option (Igor)
new \dt and \di psql commands (Darren)
SELECT "\n" now escapes newline (A. Duursma)
new geometry conversion functions from old format (Thomas)
Source tree changes
-------------------
new configuration script(Marc)
readline configuration option added(Marc)
OS-specific configuration options removed(Marc)
new OS-specific template files(Marc)
no more need to edit Makefile.global(Marc)
re-arrange include files(Marc)
nextstep patches (Gregor Hoffleit)
removed Windows-specific code(Bruce)
removed postmaster -e option, now only postgres -e option (Bruce)
merge duplicate library code in front/backends(Martin)
now works with eBones, international Kerberos(Jun)
more shared library support
c++ include file cleanup(Bruce)
warn about buggy flex(Bruce)
DG/UX, Ultrix, IRIX, AIX portability fixes
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-6-0">
<title>Release 6.0</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1997-01-29</simpara>
</note>
<para>
A dump/restore is required for those wishing to migrate data from
previous releases of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 1.09 to version 6.0</title>
<para>
This migration requires a complete dump of the 1.09 database and a
restore of the database in 6.0.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from pre-1.09 to version 6.0</title>
<para>
Those migrating from earlier 1.* releases should first upgrade to 1.09
because the COPY output format was improved from the 1.02 release.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Bug Fixes
---------
ALTER TABLE bug - running postgres process needs to re-read table definition
Allow vacuum to be run on one table or entire database(Bruce)
Array fixes
Fix array over-runs of memory writes(Kurt)
Fix elusive btree range/non-range bug(Dan)
Fix for hash indexes on some types like time and date
Fix for pg_log size explosion
Fix permissions on lo_export()(Bruce)
Fix uninitialized reads of memory(Kurt)
Fixed ALTER TABLE ... char(3) bug(Bruce)
Fixed a few small memory leaks
Fixed EXPLAIN handling of options and changed full_path option name
Fixed output of group acl privileges
Memory leaks (hunt and destroy with tools like Purify(Kurt)
Minor improvements to rules system
NOTIFY fixes
New asserts for run-checking
Overhauled parser/analyze code to properly report errors and increase speed
Pg_dump -d now handles NULL's properly(Bruce)
Prevent SELECT NULL from crashing server (Bruce)
Properly report errors when INSERT ... SELECT columns did not match
Properly report errors when insert column names were not correct
psql \g filename now works(Bruce)
psql fixed problem with multiple statements on one line with multiple outputs
Removed duplicate system OIDs
SELECT * INTO TABLE . GROUP/ORDER BY gives unlink error if table exists(Bruce)
Several fixes for queries that crashed the backend
Starting quote in insert string errors(Bruce)
Submitting an empty query now returns empty status, not just " " query(Bruce)
Enhancements
------------
Add EXPLAIN manual page(Bruce)
Add UNIQUE index capability(Dan)
Add hostname/user level access control rather than just hostname and user
Add synonym of != for &lt;&gt;(Bruce)
Allow "select oid,* from table"
Allow BY,ORDER BY to specify columns by number, or by non-alias table.column(Bruce)
Allow COPY from the frontend(Bryan)
Allow GROUP BY to use alias column name(Bruce)
Allow actual compression, not just reuse on the same page(Vadim)
Allow installation-configuration option to auto-add all local users(Bryan)
Allow libpq to distinguish between text value '' and null(Bruce)
Allow non-postgres users with createdb privs to destroydb's
Allow restriction on who can create C functions(Bryan)
Allow restriction on who can do backend COPY(Bryan)
Can shrink tables, pg_time and pg_log(Vadim &amp; Erich)
Change debug level 2 to print queries only, changed debug heading layout(Bruce)
Change default decimal constant representation from float4 to float8(Bruce)
European date format now set when postmaster is started
Execute lowercase function names if not found with exact case
Fixes for aggregate/GROUP processing, allow 'select sum(func(x),sum(x+y) from z'
Gist now included in the distribution(Marc)
Idend authentication of local users(Bryan)
Implement BETWEEN qualifier(Bruce)
Implement IN qualifier(Bruce)
libpq has PQgetisnull()(Bruce)
libpq++ improvements
New options to initdb(Bryan)
Pg_dump allow dump of OIDs(Bruce)
Pg_dump create indexes after tables are loaded for speed(Bruce)
Pg_dumpall dumps all databases, and the user table
Pginterface additions for NULL values(Bruce)
Prevent postmaster from being run as root
psql \h and \? is now readable(Bruce)
psql allow backslashed, semicolons anywhere on the line(Bruce)
psql changed command prompt for lines in query or in quotes(Bruce)
psql char(3) now displays as (bp)char in \d output(Bruce)
psql return code now more accurate(Bryan?)
psql updated help syntax(Bruce)
Re-visit and fix vacuum(Vadim)
Reduce size of regression diffs, remove timezone name difference(Bruce)
Remove compile-time parameters to enable binary distributions(Bryan)
Reverse meaning of HBA masks(Bryan)
Secure Authentication of local users(Bryan)
Speed up vacuum(Vadim)
Vacuum now had VERBOSE option(Bruce)
Source tree changes
-------------------
All functions now have prototypes that are compared against the calls
Allow asserts to be disabled easily from Makefile.global(Bruce)
Change oid constants used in code to #define names
Decoupled sparc and solaris defines(Kurt)
Gcc -Wall compiles cleanly with warnings only from unfixable constructs
Major include file reorganization/reduction(Marc)
Make now stops on compile failure(Bryan)
Makefile restructuring(Bryan, Marc)
Merge bsdi_2_1 to bsdi(Bruce)
Monitor program removed
Name change from Postgres95 to PostgreSQL
New config.h file(Marc, Bryan)
PG_VERSION now set to 6.0 and used by postmaster
Portability additions, including Ultrix, DG/UX, AIX, and Solaris
Reduced the number of #define's, centralized #define's
Remove duplicate OIDS in system tables(Dan)
Remove duplicate system catalog info or report mismatches(Dan)
Removed many os-specific #define's
Restructured object file generation/location(Bryan, Marc)
Restructured port-specific file locations(Bryan, Marc)
Unused/uninitialized variables corrected
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-1-09">
<title>Release 1.09</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1996-11-04</simpara>
</note>
<para>
Sorry, we didn't keep track of changes from 1.02 to 1.09. Some of
the changes listed in 6.0 were actually included in the 1.02.1 to 1.09
releases.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-1-02">
<title>Release 1.02</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1996-08-01</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 1.02 to version 1.02.1</title>
<para>
Here is a new migration file for 1.02.1. It includes the 'copy' change
and a script to convert old <acronym>ASCII</acronym> files.
</para>
<note>
<para>
The following notes are for the benefit of users who want to migrate
databases from <productname>Postgres95</> 1.01 and 1.02 to <productname>Postgres95</> 1.02.1.
</para>
<para>
If you are starting afresh with <productname>Postgres95</> 1.02.1 and do not need
to migrate old databases, you do not need to read any further.
</para>
</note>
<para>
In order to upgrade older <productname>Postgres95</> version 1.01 or 1.02 databases to
version 1.02.1, the following steps are required:
</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>
Start up a new 1.02.1 postmaster
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Add the new built-in functions and operators of 1.02.1 to 1.01 or 1.02
databases. This is done by running the new 1.02.1 server against
your own 1.01 or 1.02 database and applying the queries attached at
the end of the file. This can be done easily through <command>psql</>. If your
1.01 or 1.02 database is named <literal>testdb</literal> and you have cut the commands
from the end of this file and saved them in <filename>addfunc.sql</filename>:
<programlisting>
% psql testdb -f addfunc.sql
</programlisting>
Those upgrading 1.02 databases will get a warning when executing the
last two statements in the file because they are already present in 1.02. This is
not a cause for concern.
</para>
</step>
</procedure>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Dump/Reload Procedure</title>
<para>
If you are trying to reload a pg_dump or text-mode, <literal>copy tablename to
stdout</literal> generated with a previous version, you will need to run the
attached <command>sed</command> script on the ASCII file before loading it into the
database. The old format used '.' as end-of-data, while '\.' is now the
end-of-data marker. Also, empty strings are now loaded in as '' rather
than NULL. See the copy manual page for full details.
<programlisting>
sed 's/^\.$/\\./g' &lt;in_file &gt;out_file
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
If you are loading an older binary copy or non-<systemitem>stdout</> copy, there is no
end-of-data character, and hence no conversion necessary.
<programlisting>
-- following lines added by agc to reflect the case-insensitive
-- regexp searching for varchar (in 1.02), and bpchar (in 1.02.1)
create operator ~* (leftarg = bpchar, rightarg = text, procedure = texticregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = bpchar, rightarg = text, procedure = texticregexne);
create operator ~* (leftarg = varchar, rightarg = text, procedure = texticregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = varchar, rightarg = text, procedure = texticregexne);
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Source code maintenance and development
* worldwide team of volunteers
* the source tree now in CVS at ftp.ki.net
Enhancements
* psql (and underlying libpq library) now has many more options for
formatting output, including HTML
* pg_dump now output the schema and/or the data, with many fixes to
enhance completeness.
* psql used in place of monitor in administration shell scripts.
monitor to be deprecated in next release.
* date/time functions enhanced
* NULL insert/update/comparison fixed/enhanced
* TCL/TK lib and shell fixed to work with both tck7.4/tk4.0 and tcl7.5/tk4.1
Bug Fixes (almost too numerous to mention)
* indexes
* storage management
* check for NULL pointer before dereferencing
* Makefile fixes
New Ports
* added SolarisX86 port
* added BSD/OS 2.1 port
* added DG/UX port
</programlisting>
</para>
<!--
Contributors (apologies to any missed)
* Kurt J. Lidl &lt;lidl@va.pubnix.com&gt;
(missed in first run, but no less important)
* Erich Stamberger &lt;eberger@gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at&gt;
* Jason Wright &lt;jason@shiloh.vnet.net&gt;
* Cees de Groot &lt;C.deGroot@inter.NL.net&gt;
* ernst.molitor@uni-bonn.de
* michael.siebenborn@ae3.Hypo.DE (Michael Siebenborn (6929))
* Brian E. Gallew &lt;geek+@cmu.edu&gt;
* Vadim B. Mikheev &lt;vadim@sable.krasnoyarsk.su&gt;
* Adam Sussman &lt;myddryn@vidya.com&gt;
* Chris Dunlop &lt;chris@onthe.net.au&gt;
* Marc G. Fournier &lt;scrappy@ki.net&gt;
* Dan McGuirk &lt;mcguirk@indirect.com&gt;
* Dr_George_D_Detlefsen &lt;drgeorge@ilt.com&gt;
* Erich Stamberger &lt;eberger@gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at&gt;
* Massimo Dal Zotto &lt;dz@cs.unitn.it&gt;
* Randy Kunkee &lt;kunkee@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM&gt;
* Rick Weldon &lt;rick@wisetech.com&gt;
* Thomas van Reimersdahl &lt;reimersd@dali.techinfo.rwth-aachen.de&gt;
* david bennett &lt;dave@bensoft.com&gt;
* ernst.molitor@uni-bonn.de
* Julian Assange &lt;proff@suburbia.net&gt;
* Bruce Momjian &lt;pgman@candle.pha.pa.us&gt;
* Paul "Shag" Walmsley &lt;ccshag@cclabs.missouri.edu&gt;
* "Alistair G. Crooks" &lt;azcb0@sde.uts.amdahl.com&gt;
-->
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-1-01">
<title>Release 1.01</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1996-02-23</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Migration from version 1.0 to version 1.01</title>
<para>
The following notes are for the benefit of users who want to migrate
databases from <productname>Postgres95</> 1.0 to <productname>Postgres95</> 1.01.
</para>
<para>
If you are starting afresh with <productname>Postgres95</> 1.01 and do not need
to migrate old databases, you do not need to read any further.
</para>
<para>
In order to <productname>Postgres95</> version 1.01 with databases created with
<productname>Postgres95</> version 1.0, the following steps are required:
</para>
<procedure>
<step>
<para>
Set the definition of <symbol>NAMEDATALEN</symbol> in <filename>src/Makefile.global</filename> to 16
and <symbol>OIDNAMELEN</symbol> to 20.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Decide whether you want to use Host based authentication.
</para>
<substeps>
<step>
<para>
If you do, you must create a file name <literal>pg_hba</literal> in your top-level data
directory (typically the value of your <envar>$PGDATA</envar>). <filename>src/libpq/pg_hba</filename>
shows an example syntax.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
If you do not want host-based authentication, you can comment out
the line:
<programlisting>
HBA = 1
</programlisting>
in <filename>src/Makefile.global</filename>
</para>
<para>
Note that host-based authentication is turned on by default, and if
you do not take steps A or B above, the out-of-the-box 1.01 will
not allow you to connect to 1.0 databases.
</para>
</step>
</substeps>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Compile and install 1.01, but DO NOT do the <command>initdb</command> step.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Before doing anything else, terminate your 1.0 postmaster, and
backup your existing <envar>$PGDATA</envar> directory.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Set your <envar>PGDATA</envar> environment variable to your 1.0 databases, but set up
path up so that 1.01 binaries are being used.
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Modify the file <filename><envar>$PGDATA</envar>/PG_VERSION</filename> from 5.0 to 5.1
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Start up a new 1.01 postmaster
</para>
</step>
<step>
<para>
Add the new built-in functions and operators of 1.01 to 1.0
databases. This is done by running the new 1.01 server against
your own 1.0 database and applying the queries attached and saving
in the file 1.0_to_1.01.sql. This can be done easily through <command>psql</command>.
If your 1.0 database is name <literal>testdb</literal>:
<programlisting>
% psql testdb -f 1.0_to_1.01.sql
</programlisting>
and then execute the following commands (cut and paste from here):
<programlisting>
-- add builtin functions that are new to 1.01
create function int4eqoid (int4, oid) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function oideqint4 (oid, int4) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char2icregexeq (char2, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char2icregexne (char2, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char4icregexeq (char4, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char4icregexne (char4, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char8icregexeq (char8, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char8icregexne (char8, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char16icregexeq (char16, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function char16icregexne (char16, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function texticregexeq (text, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
create function texticregexne (text, text) returns bool as 'foo'
language 'internal';
-- add builtin functions that are new to 1.01
create operator = (leftarg = int4, rightarg = oid, procedure = int4eqoid);
create operator = (leftarg = oid, rightarg = int4, procedure = oideqint4);
create operator ~* (leftarg = char2, rightarg = text, procedure = char2icregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = char2, rightarg = text, procedure = char2icregexne);
create operator ~* (leftarg = char4, rightarg = text, procedure = char4icregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = char4, rightarg = text, procedure = char4icregexne);
create operator ~* (leftarg = char8, rightarg = text, procedure = char8icregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = char8, rightarg = text, procedure = char8icregexne);
create operator ~* (leftarg = char16, rightarg = text, procedure = char16icregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = char16, rightarg = text, procedure = char16icregexne);
create operator ~* (leftarg = text, rightarg = text, procedure = texticregexeq);
create operator !~* (leftarg = text, rightarg = text, procedure = texticregexne);
</programlisting>
</para>
</step>
</procedure>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Incompatibilities:
* 1.01 is backwards compatible with 1.0 database provided the user
follow the steps outlined in the MIGRATION_from_1.0_to_1.01 file.
If those steps are not taken, 1.01 is not compatible with 1.0 database.
Enhancements:
* added PQdisplayTuples() to libpq and changed monitor and psql to use it
* added NeXT port (requires SysVIPC implementation)
* added CAST .. AS ... syntax
* added ASC and DESC key words
* added 'internal' as a possible language for CREATE FUNCTION
internal functions are C functions which have been statically linked
into the postgres backend.
* a new type "name" has been added for system identifiers (table names,
attribute names, etc.) This replaces the old char16 type. The
of name is set by the NAMEDATALEN #define in src/Makefile.global
* a readable reference manual that describes the query language.
* added host-based access control. A configuration file ($PGDATA/pg_hba)
is used to hold the configuration data. If host-based access control
is not desired, comment out HBA=1 in src/Makefile.global.
* changed regex handling to be uniform use of Henry Spencer's regex code
regardless of platform. The regex code is included in the distribution
* added functions and operators for case-insensitive regular expressions.
The operators are ~* and !~*.
* pg_dump uses COPY instead of SELECT loop for better performance
Bug fixes:
* fixed an optimizer bug that was causing core dumps when
functions calls were used in comparisons in the WHERE clause
* changed all uses of getuid to geteuid so that effective uids are used
* psql now returns non-zero status on errors when using -c
* applied public patches 1-14
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-1-0">
<title>Release 1.0</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1995-09-05</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Copyright change:
* The copyright of <productname>Postgres</productname> 1.0 has been loosened to be freely modifiable
and modifiable for any purpose. Please read the COPYRIGHT file.
Thanks to Professor Michael Stonebraker for making this possible.
Incompatibilities:
* date formats have to be MM-DD-YYYY (or DD-MM-YYYY if you're using
EUROPEAN STYLE). This follows SQL-92 specs.
* "delimiters" is now a key word
Enhancements:
* sql LIKE syntax has been added
* copy command now takes an optional USING DELIMITER specification.
delimiters can be any single-character string.
* IRIX 5.3 port has been added.
Thanks to Paul Walmsley and others.
* updated pg_dump to work with new libpq
* \d has been added psql
Thanks to Keith Parks
* regexp performance for architectures that use POSIX regex has been
improved due to caching of precompiled patterns.
Thanks to Alistair Crooks
* a new version of libpq++
Thanks to William Wanders
Bug fixes:
* arbitrary userids can be specified in the createuser script
* \c to connect to other databases in psql now works.
* bad pg_proc entry for float4inc() is fixed
* users with usecreatedb field set can now create databases without
having to be usesuper
* remove access control entries when the entry no longer has any
privileges
* fixed non-portable datetimes implementation
* added kerberos flags to the src/backend/Makefile
* libpq now works with kerberos
* typographic errors in the user manual have been corrected.
* btrees with multiple index never worked, now we tell you they don't
work when you try to use them
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-0-03">
<title><productname>Postgres95</productname> Release 0.03</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1995-07-21</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Incompatible changes:
* BETA-0.3 IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH DATABASES CREATED WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS
(due to system catalog changes and indexing structure changes).
* double-quote (") is deprecated as a quoting character for string literals;
you need to convert them to single quotes ('). <!-- " -->
* name of aggregates (eg. int4sum) are renamed in accordance with the
SQL standard (eg. sum).
* CHANGE ACL syntax is replaced by GRANT/REVOKE syntax.
* float literals (eg. 3.14) are now of type float4 (instead of float8 in
previous releases); you might have to do typecasting if you depend on it
being of type float8. If you neglect to do the typecasting and you assign
a float literal to a field of type float8, you might get incorrect values
stored!
* LIBPQ has been totally revamped so that frontend applications
can connect to multiple backends
* the usesysid field in pg_user has been changed from int2 to int4 to
allow wider range of Unix user ids.
* the netbsd/freebsd/bsd o/s ports have been consolidated into a
single BSD44_derived port. (thanks to Alistair Crooks)
SQL standard-compliance (the following details changes that makes postgres95
more compliant to the SQL-92 standard):
* the following SQL types are now built-in: smallint, int(eger), float, real,
char(N), varchar(N), date and time.
The following are aliases to existing postgres types:
smallint -&gt; int2
integer, int -&gt; int4
float, real -&gt; float4
char(N) and varchar(N) are implemented as truncated text types. In
addition, char(N) does blank-padding.
* single-quote (') is used for quoting string literals; '' (in addition to
\') is supported as means of inserting a single quote in a string
* SQL standard aggregate names (MAX, MIN, AVG, SUM, COUNT) are used
(Also, aggregates can now be overloaded, i.e. you can define your
own MAX aggregate to take in a user-defined type.)
* CHANGE ACL removed. GRANT/REVOKE syntax added.
- Privileges can be given to a group using the "GROUP" key word.
For example:
GRANT SELECT ON foobar TO GROUP my_group;
The key word 'PUBLIC' is also supported to mean all users.
Privileges can only be granted or revoked to one user or group
at a time.
"WITH GRANT OPTION" is not supported. Only class owners can change
access control
- The default access control is to grant users readonly access.
You must explicitly grant insert/update access to users. To change
this, modify the line in
src/backend/utils/acl.h
that defines ACL_WORLD_DEFAULT
Bug fixes:
* the bug where aggregates of empty tables were not run has been fixed. Now,
aggregates run on empty tables will return the initial conditions of the
aggregates. Thus, COUNT of an empty table will now properly return 0.
MAX/MIN of an empty table will return a row of value NULL.
* allow the use of \; inside the monitor
* the LISTEN/NOTIFY asynchronous notification mechanism now work
* NOTIFY in rule action bodies now work
* hash indexes work, and access methods in general should perform better.
creation of large btree indexes should be much faster. (thanks to Paul
Aoki)
Other changes and enhancements:
* addition of an EXPLAIN statement used for explaining the query execution
plan (eg. "EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM EMP" prints out the execution plan for
the query).
* WARN and NOTICE messages no longer have timestamps on them. To turn on
timestamps of error messages, uncomment the line in
src/backend/utils/elog.h:
/* define ELOG_TIMESTAMPS */
* On an access control violation, the message
"Either no such class or insufficient privilege"
will be given. This is the same message that is returned when
a class is not found. This dissuades non-privileged users from
guessing the existence of privileged classes.
* some additional system catalog changes have been made that are not
visible to the user.
libpgtcl changes:
* The -oid option has been added to the "pg_result" tcl command.
pg_result -oid returns oid of the last row inserted. If the
last command was not an INSERT, then pg_result -oid returns "".
* the large object interface is available as pg_lo* tcl commands:
pg_lo_open, pg_lo_close, pg_lo_creat, etc.
Portability enhancements and New Ports:
* flex/lex problems have been cleared up. Now, you should be able to use
flex instead of lex on any platforms. We no longer make assumptions of
what lexer you use based on the platform you use.
* The Linux-ELF port is now supported. Various configuration have been
tested: The following configuration is known to work:
kernel 1.2.10, gcc 2.6.3, libc 4.7.2, flex 2.5.2, bison 1.24
with everything in ELF format,
New utilities:
* ipcclean added to the distribution
ipcclean usually does not need to be run, but if your backend crashes
and leaves shared memory segments hanging around, ipcclean will
clean them up for you.
New documentation:
* the user manual has been revised and libpq documentation added.
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-0-02">
<title><productname>Postgres95</productname> Release 0.02</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1995-05-25</simpara>
</note>
<sect2>
<title>Changes</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Incompatible changes:
* The SQL statement for creating a database is 'CREATE DATABASE' instead
of 'CREATEDB'. Similarly, dropping a database is 'DROP DATABASE' instead
of 'DESTROYDB'. However, the names of the executables 'createdb' and
'destroydb' remain the same.
New tools:
* pgperl - a Perl (4.036) interface to Postgres95
* pg_dump - a utility for dumping out a postgres database into a
script file containing query commands. The script files are in a ASCII
format and can be used to reconstruct the database, even on other
machines and other architectures. (Also good for converting
a Postgres 4.2 database to Postgres95 database.)
The following ports have been incorporated into postgres95-beta-0.02:
* the NetBSD port by Alistair Crooks
* the AIX port by Mike Tung
* the Windows NT port by Jon Forrest (more stuff but not done yet)
* the Linux ELF port by Brian Gallew
The following bugs have been fixed in postgres95-beta-0.02:
* new lines not escaped in COPY OUT and problem with COPY OUT when first
attribute is a '.'
* cannot type return to use the default user id in createuser
* SELECT DISTINCT on big tables crashes
* Linux installation problems
* monitor doesn't allow use of 'localhost' as PGHOST
* psql core dumps when doing \c or \l
* the "pgtclsh" target missing from src/bin/pgtclsh/Makefile
* libpgtcl has a hard-wired default port number
* SELECT DISTINCT INTO TABLE hangs
* CREATE TYPE doesn't accept 'variable' as the internallength
* wrong result using more than 1 aggregate in a SELECT
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="release-0-01">
<title><productname>Postgres95</productname> Release 0.01</title>
<note>
<title>Release date</title>
<simpara>1995-05-01</simpara>
</note>
<para>
Initial release.
</para>
</sect1>
<![IGNORE[
<sect1 id="timing-results">
<title>Timing Results</title>
<para>
These timing results are from running the regression test with the commands
<programlisting>
% cd src/test/regress
% make all
% time make runtest
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
Timing under Linux 2.0.27 seems to have a roughly 5% variation from run
to run, presumably due to the scheduling vagaries of multitasking systems.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Version 6.5</title>
<para>
As has been the case for previous releases, timing between
releases is not directly comparable since new regression tests
have been added. In general, 6.5 is faster than previous
releases.
</para>
<para>
Timing with <function>fsync()</function> disabled:
<programlisting>
Time System
02:00 Dual Pentium Pro 180, 224MB, UW-SCSI, Linux 2.0.36, gcc 2.7.2.3 -O2 -m486
04:38 Sparc Ultra 1 143MHz, 64MB, Solaris 2.6
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
Timing with <function>fsync()</function> enabled:
<programlisting>
Time System
04:21 Dual Pentium Pro 180, 224MB, UW-SCSI, Linux 2.0.36, gcc 2.7.2.3 -O2 -m486
</programlisting>
For the <systemitem class="osname">Linux</systemitem> system above, using <acronym>UW-SCSI</acronym> disks rather than (older) <acronym>IDE</acronym>
disks leads to a 50% improvement in speed on the regression test.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Version 6.4beta</title>
<para>
The times for this release are not directly comparable to those for previous releases
since some additional regression tests have been included.
In general, however, 6.4 should be slightly faster than the previous release (thanks, Bruce!).
</para>
<para>
<programlisting>
Time System
02:26 Dual Pentium Pro 180, 96MB, UW-SCSI, Linux 2.0.30, gcc 2.7.2.1 -O2 -m486
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Version 6.3</title>
<para>
The times for this release are not directly comparable to those for previous releases
since some additional regression tests have been included and some obsolete tests involving
time travel have been removed.
In general, however, 6.3 is substantially faster than previous releases (thanks, Bruce!).
</para>
<para>
<programlisting>
Time System
02:30 Dual Pentium Pro 180, 96MB, UW-SCSI, Linux 2.0.30, gcc 2.7.2.1 -O2 -m486
04:12 Dual Pentium Pro 180, 96MB, EIDE, Linux 2.0.30, gcc 2.7.2.1 -O2 -m486
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Version 6.1</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
Time System
06:12 Pentium Pro 180, 32MB, EIDE, Linux 2.0.30, gcc 2.7.2 -O2 -m486
12:06 P-100, 48MB, Linux 2.0.29, gcc
39:58 Sparc IPC 32MB, Solaris 2.5, gcc 2.7.2.1 -O -g
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
]]>
</appendix>