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diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/release-8.3.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/release-8.3.sgml new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..dd16cd3f12b --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/src/sgml/release-8.3.sgml @@ -0,0 +1,4481 @@ +<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release-8.3.sgml,v 1.1 2009/05/02 20:17:19 tgl Exp $ --> +<!-- See header comment in release.sgml about typical markup --> + + <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 < 2017-11-17 +</programlisting> + + This is actually comparing a date to an integer, which should be + (and now is) rejected — but in the presence of automatic + casts both sides were cast to <type>text</> and a textual comparison + was done, because the <literal>text < text</> operator was able + to match the expression when no other <literal><</> 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</> — 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</> — converts the first argument from the + database encoding to the named encoding + </para> + </listitem> + + <listitem> + <para> + <function>length(bytea, name)</function> returns + <type>integer</> — 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 + >= 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> |