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Remove <note> take, use another paragraph for description.

This commit is contained in:
Bruce Momjian 2003-10-31 04:44:25 +00:00
parent 88a7576897
commit ef1b846daf
2 changed files with 237 additions and 538 deletions
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@ -14,52 +14,44 @@
ordinary joins and so is much faster, and is now faster than
EXISTS subqueries.
* Improved GROUP BY processing by using hash buckets
Note: In previous releases, GROUP BY totals were accumulated by
sequentially scanning the list of groups looking for a match; the
7.4 code places GROUP BY values in hash buckets so the proper match
can be found much quicker. This is particularly significant in
speeding up queries that have a large number of distinct GROUP BY
values.
In previous releases, GROUP BY totals were accumulated by
sequentially scanning the list of groups looking for a match; the
7.4 code places GROUP BY values in hash buckets so the proper
match can be found much quicker. This is particularly significant
in speeding up queries that have a large number of distinct GROUP
BY values.
* New multi-key hash join capability
Note: In previous releases, hash joins could only occur on
single-column joins. This release allows multi-column hash joins.
In previous releases, hash joins could only occur on single-column
joins. This release allows multi-column hash joins.
* ANSI joins are now better optimized
Note: Prior releases evaluated ANSI join syntax only in the order
specified by the query; 7.4 allows full optimization of queries
using ANSI join syntax, meaning the optimizer considers all
possible join orderings and chooses the most efficient.
Prior releases evaluated ANSI join syntax only in the order
specified by the query; 7.4 allows full optimization of queries
using ANSI join syntax, meaning the optimizer considers all
possible join orderings and chooses the most efficient.
* Faster and more powerful regular expression code
Note: The entire regular expression module has been replaced with a
new version by Henry Spencer, originally written for TCL. The code
greatly improves performance and supports several flavors of
regular expressions.
The entire regular expression module has been replaced with a new
version by Henry Spencer, originally written for TCL. The code
greatly improves performance and supports several flavors of
regular expressions.
* Function-inlining for simple SQL functions
Note: Simple SQL functions can now be inlined by including their
SQL in the main query. This improves performance by preventing
repeated calls to the SQL function --- this allows simple SQL
functions to behave like macros.
Simple SQL functions can now be inlined by including their SQL in
the main query. This improves performance by preventing repeated
calls to the SQL function --- this allows simple SQL functions to
behave like macros.
* Full support for IPv6 connections and IPv6 address data types
Note: Prior releases allowed only IPv6 connections and IP data
types only supported IPv4 addresses. This release adds full IPv6
support in both of these areas.
Prior releases allowed only IPv6 connections and IP data types
only supported IPv4 addresses. This release adds full IPv6 support
in both of these areas.
* Major improvements in SSL performance and reliability
Note: Several people very familiar with the SSL API have overhauled
our SSL code to improve SSL key negotiation and error recovery.
Several people very familiar with the SSL API have overhauled our
SSL code to improve SSL key negotiation and error recovery.
* Allow free space map to efficiently reuse empty index pages, and
other free space management improvements.
Note: In prior releases, index pages that were left empty because
of deleted rows could only be reused by rows with index values
similar to the original rows indexed on that page. In 7.4, VACUUM
records empty index pages and allows them to be used for any future
index rows.
In prior releases, index pages that were left empty because of
deleted rows could only be reused by rows with index values
similar to the original rows indexed on that page. In 7.4, VACUUM
records empty index pages and allows them to be used for any
future index rows.
* Implement information schema
* Support for read-only transactions
* Make cursors comply more closely with the SQL standard
@ -70,20 +62,17 @@
cursors
* libpq and ecpg are now fully thread-safe with
--enable-thread-safety
Note: While prior libpq releases already supported threads, this
release improves thread safety by fixing some non-thread-safe code
that was used in the database connection routines.
While prior libpq releases already supported threads, this release
improves thread safety by fixing some non-thread-safe code that
was used in the database connection routines.
* New version of full text indexing in /contrib/tsearch2
* New autovacuum tool in /contrib
Note: This new tool monitors the database statistics tables for
INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE activity and automatically vacuums tables when
needed.
This new tool monitors the database statistics tables for
INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE activity and automatically vacuums tables
when needed.
* Array handling has been improved and moved into the main server
Note: Many array limitations have been removed and they behave more
like fully-supported data types.
Many array limitations have been removed and they behave more like
fully-supported data types.
_________________________________________________________________
Migration to version 7.4
@ -95,11 +84,10 @@
* The server-side autocommit setting was removed and reimplemented
in client applications and languages.
Note: Server-side autocommit was causing too many problems with
languages and applications that wanted to control their own
autocommit behavior so autocommit was removed from the server and
added to individual client API's as appropriate.
Server-side autocommit was causing too many problems with
languages and applications that wanted to control their own
autocommit behavior so autocommit was removed from the server and
added to individual client API's as appropriate.
* Error message wording has changed substantially in this release,
and error codes have been added.
* ANSI inner joins may behave differently because they are now
@ -107,14 +95,12 @@
* A number of server variables have been renamed for clarity,
primarily those related to logging
* MOVE/FETCH 0 now does nothing
Note: In prior releases, FETCH 0 would fetch all remaining rows,
and MOVE 0 would move to the end of the cursor.
In prior releases, FETCH 0 would fetch all remaining rows, and
MOVE 0 would move to the end of the cursor.
* MOVE/FETCH now returns the actual number of rows moved/fetched, or
zero if at the beginning/end of the cursor
Note: Prior releases would return the tuple count passed to the
command, not the actual number of rows FETCHed or MOVEd.
Prior releases would return the tuple count passed to the command,
not the actual number of rows FETCHed or MOVEd.
* COPY now can process carriage-return and carriage-return/line-feed
end-of-line terminated files.
* Literal carriage-returns and line-feeds are no longer accepted as
@ -124,33 +110,27 @@
* FLOAT(p) now measures 'p' in bits, not digits
* Ambiguous date values now must match the ordering specified by
DateStyle
Note: In prior releases, a date of 10/20/03 was interpreted as a
date in October even if the DateStyle specified the day should be
first. In 7.4, DateStyle is honored when converting such values and
will throw an error if the date is invalid for the current
DateStyle.
In prior releases, a date of 10/20/03 was interpreted as a date in
October even if the DateStyle specified the day should be first.
In 7.4, DateStyle is honored when converting such values and will
throw an error if the date is invalid for the current DateStyle.
* The oidrand(), oidsrand(), and userfntest() functions have been
removed.
Note: These functions were determined to be no longer useful.
These functions were determined to be no longer useful.
* 'now' will no longer work as a column default; now() or
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP should be used instead
Note: In prior releases, there was special code so the string 'now'
was interpreted at "INSERT" time and not at table creation time,
but this work around didn't cover all cases. Release 7.4 now
requires that defaults be defined properly using the now() or the
special value CURRENT_TIMESTAMP. These will work in all situations.
In prior releases, there was special code so the string 'now' was
interpreted at "INSERT" time and not at table creation time, but
this work around didn't cover all cases. Release 7.4 now requires
that defaults be defined properly using the now() or the special
value CURRENT_TIMESTAMP. These will work in all situations.
* 'today' will no longer work as a column default; CURRENT_DATE
should be used instead
Note: Same description as above.
Same description as above.
* Dollar sign ($) is no longer allowed in operator names
* Dollar sign ($) can be a non-first character in identifiers
Note: This was done to improve compatibility with other database
systems.
This was done to improve compatibility with other database
systems.
_________________________________________________________________
Server Operation Changes
@ -158,44 +138,36 @@
* Allow IPv6 server connections (Nigel Kukard, Johan Jordaan, Bruce,
Tom, Kurt Roeckx, Andrew Dunstan)
* Fix SSL to handle errors cleanly (Nathan Mueller)
Note: In prior releases, certain rare SSL API error reports were
not handled correctly. This release fixes those problems.
gracefully.
In prior releases, certain rare SSL API error reports were not
handled correctly. This release fixes those problems. gracefully.
* SSL protocol security and performance improvements (Sean
Chittenden)
Note: SSL key renegotiation was happening too frequently, causing
poor SSL performance. Also, initial key handling was improved.
SSL key renegotiation was happening too frequently, causing poor
SSL performance. Also, initial key handling was improved.
* Print lock information when a deadlock is detected (Tom)
Note: This allows easier debugging of deadlock situations.
This allows easier debugging of deadlock situations.
* Update "/tmp" socket mod. times regularly to avoid their removal
(Tom)
Note: This should help prevent "/tmp" directory cleaner
administration scripts from removing server socket files.
This should help prevent "/tmp" directory cleaner administration
scripts from removing server socket files.
* Enable PAM for MAC OS X (Aaron Hillegass)
* Make btree indexes fully WAL-safe (Tom)
Note: In prior releases, under certain rare cases, a server crash
could cause btree indexes to become corrupt. This release removes
those last few rare cases.
In prior releases, under certain rare cases, a server crash could
cause btree indexes to become corrupt. This release removes those
last few rare cases.
* Allow btree index compaction and empty page reuse (Tom)
* Fix inconsistent index lookups during split of first root page
(Tom)
Note: In prior releases, when a single-page index split into two
page, there was a brief period when another database session would
miss seeing an index entry. This failure was possible primarly on
multi-cpu machines. This release fixes that rare failure case.
In prior releases, when a single-page index split into two page,
there was a brief period when another database session would miss
seeing an index entry. This failure was possible primarly on
multi-cpu machines. This release fixes that rare failure case.
* Improve free space map allocation logic (Tom)
* Preserve free space information between postmaster restarts (Tom)
Note: In prior releases, the free space map was not saved when the
postmaster was stopped, so newly started servers has no free space
information. This release saves the free space map, which is loaded
when the server is restarted.
In prior releases, the free space map was not saved when the
postmaster was stopped, so newly started servers has no free space
information. This release saves the free space map, which is
loaded when the server is restarted.
* Set proper schema permissions in initdb (Peter)
* Add start time to pg_stat_activity (Neil)
* New code to detect corrupt disk pages; erase with
@ -219,24 +191,21 @@
* Improve constant folding (Tom)
* Add ability to inline simple SQL functions (Tom)
* Reduce memory usage for queries using complex functions (Tom)
Note: In prior releases, functions returning allocated memory would
not free it until the query completed. This release allows the
freeing of function-allocated memory when the function call
completes, reducing the total memory used by functions.
In prior releases, functions returning allocated memory would not
free it until the query completed. This release allows the freeing
of function-allocated memory when the function call completes,
reducing the total memory used by functions.
* Improve GEQO optimizer performance (Tom)
Note: There were several inefficiencies in the way the GEQO
optimizer managed potential query paths. This release fixes this.
There were several inefficiencies in the way the GEQO optimizer
managed potential query paths. This release fixes this.
* Allow IN/NOT IN to be handled via hash tables (Tom)
* Improve NOT IN (subquery) performance (Tom)
* Allow most IN subqueries to be processed as joins (Tom)
* Allow the postmaster to preload libraries using preload_libraries
(Joe)
Note: For shared libraries that require a long time to load, this
option is available so the library can be pre-loaded in the
postmaster and inherited by all database sessions.
For shared libraries that require a long time to load, this option
is available so the library can be pre-loaded in the postmaster
and inherited by all database sessions.
* Improve optimizer cost computations, particularly for subqueries
(Tom)
* Avoid sort when subquery ORDER BY matches upper query (Tom)
@ -251,109 +220,93 @@
(Henry Spencer, Tom)
* Use bit-mapped relation sets in the optimizer (Tom)
* Improve backend startup time (Tom)
Note: The new network protocol requires fewer network packets to
start a database session.
The new network protocol requires fewer network packets to start a
database session.
* Improve trigger/constraint performance (Stephan)
* Improve speed of col IN (const, const, const, ...) (Tom)
* Fix hash indexes which were broken in rare cases (Tom)
* Improve hash index concurrency and speed (Tom)
Note: Prior releases suffered from poor hash index performance,
particularly for high concurrency situations. This release fixes
that, and the development group is interested in reports comparing
btree and hash index performance.
Prior releases suffered from poor hash index performance,
particularly for high concurrency situations. This release fixes
that, and the development group is interested in reports comparing
btree and hash index performance.
* Align shared buffers on 32-byte boundary for copy speed
improvement (Manfred Spraul)
Note: Certain CPU's perform faster data copies when addresses are
32-bit aligned.
Certain CPU's perform faster data copies when addresses are 32-bit
aligned.
* The NUMERIC datatype has been reimplemented for better performance
(Tom)
Note: NUMERIC used to be stored in base-100. The new code uses
base-10000, for significantly better performance.
NUMERIC used to be stored in base-100. The new code uses
base-10000, for significantly better performance.
_________________________________________________________________
Server Configuration Changes
* Rename server parameter server_min_messages to log_min_messages
(Bruce)
Note: This was done so most parameters that control the server logs
being with log_.
This was done so most parameters that control the server logs
being with log_.
* Rename show_*_stats to log_*_stats (Bruce)
* Rename show_source_port to log_source_port (Bruce)
* Rename hostname_lookup to log_hostname (Bruce)
* Add checkpoint_warning to warn of excessive checkpointing (Bruce)
Note: In prior releases, it was difficult to determine if
checkpoint was happening too frequently. This feature adds a
warning to the server logs when excessive checkpointing happens.
In prior releases, it was difficult to determine if checkpoint was
happening too frequently. This feature adds a warning to the
server logs when excessive checkpointing happens.
* New read-only server parameters for localization (Tom)
* Change debug server log messages to output as DEBUG rather than
LOG (Bruce)
* Prevent server log variables from being turned off by non-super
users (Bruce)
Note: This is a security feature so non-super-users can't disable
logging that was enabled by the administrator.
This is a security feature so non-super-users can't disable
logging that was enabled by the administrator.
* log_min_messages/client_min_messages now controls debug_* output
(Bruce)
Note: This centralizes client debug information so all debug output
can be sent to either the client or server logs.
This centralizes client debug information so all debug output can
be sent to either the client or server logs.
* Add OS X Rendezvous server support (Chris Campbell)
Note: This allows OS X machines to query the network for available
PostgreSQL servers.
This allows OS X machines to query the network for available
PostgreSQL servers.
* Add ability to print only slow statements using
log_min_duration_statement (Christopher)
Note: This is an often requested debugging feature that allows
administrators to see only slow queries in their server logs.
This is an often requested debugging feature that allows
administrators to see only slow queries in their server logs.
* Allow pg_hba.conf to accept netmasks in CIDR format (Andrew
Dunstan)
Note: This allows administrators to merge the host IP address and
netmask fields into a single CIDR field in pg_hba.conf.
This allows administrators to merge the host IP address and
netmask fields into a single CIDR field in pg_hba.conf.
* New is_superuser read-only variable (Tom)
* New server-side parameter log_error_verbosity to control error
detail (Tom)
Note: This works with the new error reporting feature to supply
additional error information like hints, file names and line
numbers.
This works with the new error reporting feature to supply
additional error information like hints, file names and line
numbers.
* postgres --describe-config now dumps server config variables
(Aizaz Ahmed, Peter)
Note: This option is useful for administration tools that need to
know the configuration variable names and their minimum, maximums,
defaults, and descriptions.
This option is useful for administration tools that need to know
the configuration variable names and their minimum, maximums,
defaults, and descriptions.
* Make default shared_buffers 1000 and max_connections 100, if
possible (Tom)
Note: Prior versions defaulted to 64 shared buffers so PostgreSQL
would start on even old computers. This release tests the amount of
shared memory supported by the hardware and sizes it accordingly.
Of course, users are still encouraged to evaluate their resource
load and size shared_buffers accordingly.
Prior versions defaulted to 64 shared buffers so PostgreSQL would
start on even old computers. This release tests the amount of
shared memory supported by the hardware and sizes it accordingly.
Of course, users are still encouraged to evaluate their resource
load and size shared_buffers accordingly.
* Add new columns in pg_settings: context, type, source, min_val,
max_val (Joe)
* New pg_hba.conf 'hostnossl' to prevent SSL connections (Jon
Jensen)
Note: In prior releases, there was no way to prevent SSL
connections if both the client and server supported SSL. This
option allows that capability.
In prior releases, there was no way to prevent SSL connections if
both the client and server supported SSL. This option allows that
capability.
* Remove geqo_random_seed server parameter (Tom)
_________________________________________________________________
Query Changes
* New SQL-standard information schema (Peter)
Note: bjm
bjm
* Add read-only transactions (Peter)
* Add server variable regex_flavor to control regular expression
processing (Tom)
@ -361,121 +314,97 @@
Tkach)
* Allow users to see their own queries in pg_stat_activity (Kevin
Brown)
Note: In prior releases, only the super-user could see query
strings using pg_stat_activity. Now ordinary users can see their
own query strings.
In prior releases, only the super-user could see query strings
using pg_stat_activity. Now ordinary users can see their own query
strings.
* Fix subquery aggregates of upper query columns to match SQL spec.
(Tom)
Note: bjm
bjm
* Add option to prevent auto-addition of tables referenced in query
(Nigel J. Andrews)
Note: By default, tables mentioned in the query are automatically
added to the FROM clause if they are not already there. This option
disabled that behavior.
By default, tables mentioned in the query are automatically added
to the FROM clause if they are not already there. This option
disabled that behavior.
* Allow UPDATE ... SET col = DEFAULT (Rod)
Note: This allows UPDATE to set a column to its default value.
This allows UPDATE to set a column to its default value.
* Allow expressions to be used in LIMIT/OFFSET (Tom)
Note: In prior releases, LIMIT/OFFSET could only use constants, not
expressions.
In prior releases, LIMIT/OFFSET could only use constants, not
expressions.
* Change EXECUTE INTO to CREATE TABLE AS EXECUTE (Peter)
Note: bjm ?
bjm ?
_________________________________________________________________
Object Manipulation Changes
* Make CREATE SEQUENCE grammar more SQL1999 standards compliant
(Neil)
Note: bjm ?
bjm ?
* Add FOR EACH STATEMENT statement-level triggers (Neil)
Note: While this allows a trigger to fire at the end of a
statement, it does not allow the trigger to access all rows
modified by the query. This capability is planned for a future
release.
While this allows a trigger to fire at the end of a statement, it
does not allow the trigger to access all rows modified by the
query. This capability is planned for a future release.
* Add DOMAIN CHECK constraints (Rod)
Note: This greatly increases the usefulness of domains by allowing
them to use CHECK constraints.
This greatly increases the usefulness of domains by allowing them
to use CHECK constraints.
* Add ALTER DOMAIN .. SET / DROP NOT NULL, SET / DROP DEFAULT, ADD /
DROP CONSTRAINT (Rod)
Note: This allows manipulation of existing domains.
This allows manipulation of existing domains.
* Fix several zero-column table bugs (Tom)
Note: PostgreSQL supports zero-column tables. This fixes various
bugs that occur when using such tables.
PostgreSQL supports zero-column tables. This fixes various bugs
that occur when using such tables.
* Have ALTER TABLE ... ADD PRIMARY KEY add NOT NULL constraint (Rod)
Note: In prior releases, ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY would add a unique
index, but not a NOT NULL constraint. That is fixed in this
release.
In prior releases, ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY would add a unique
index, but not a NOT NULL constraint. That is fixed in this
release.
* Add ALTER DOMAIN OWNER (Rod)
* Add ALTER TABLE ... WITHOUT OIDS (Rod)
Note: This allows control over whether new and updated rows will
have an oid column. This is most useful for saving storage space.
This allows control over whether new and updated rows will have an
oid column. This is most useful for saving storage space.
* Add ALTER SEQUENCE to modify min/max/increment/cache/cycle values
(Rod)
* Add ALTER TABLE ... CLUSTER ON (Alvaro Herrera)
Note: This command is used by pg_dump to record the CLUSTER column
for each table previously clustered. This information is used by
database-wide cluster to cluster all previously clustered tables.
This command is used by pg_dump to record the CLUSTER column for
each table previously clustered. This information is used by
database-wide cluster to cluster all previously clustered tables.
* Improve DOMAIN automatic type casting (Rod, Tom)
* Allow dollar signs in identifiers, except as first character (Tom)
* Disallow dollar signs in operator names, so x=$1 works (Tom)
* Allow SQL200X inheritance syntax LIKE *subtable*, INCLUDING
DEFAULTS (Rod)
* Add WITH GRANT OPTION clause to GRANT, per SQL spec (Peter)
Note: Allow GRANT to give other users the ability to grant
permissions on a object.
Allow GRANT to give other users the ability to grant permissions
on a object.
_________________________________________________________________
Utility Command Changes
* Add ON COMMIT clause to CREATE TABLE for temp tables (Gavin)
Note: This adds the ability for a table to be dropped or all rows
deleted on transaction commit.
This adds the ability for a table to be dropped or all rows
deleted on transaction commit.
* Allow cursors outside transactions using WITH HOLD (Neil)
Note: In previous releases, cursors were removed at the end of the
transaction. Using WITH HOLD, the current release allows
transaction to remain outside their own transaction.
In previous releases, cursors were removed at the end of the
transaction. Using WITH HOLD, the current release allows
transaction to remain outside their own transaction.
* MOVE/FETCH 0 now does nothing (Bruce)
Note: In previous releases, MOVE 0 moved to the end of the cursor,
and FETCH 0 fetched all remaning rows.
In previous releases, MOVE 0 moved to the end of the cursor, and
FETCH 0 fetched all remaning rows.
* Cause MOVE/FETCH to return the number of rows moved/fetched, or
zero if at the beginning/end of cursor, per SQL spec (Bruce)
Note: In prior releases, the row count returned by MOVE and FETCH
did not accurately reflect the number of rows processed.
In prior releases, the row count returned by MOVE and FETCH did
not accurately reflect the number of rows processed.
* Properly handle SCROLL with cursors, or report an error (Neil)
Note: Certain cursors can not be fetched backwards optimally. By
specifying SCROLL, extra work will be performed to guarantee that
the cursor can be fetched in reverse or random order.
Certain cursors can not be fetched backwards optimally. By
specifying SCROLL, extra work will be performed to guarantee that
the cursor can be fetched in reverse or random order.
* Implement SQL92-compatible FIRST, LAST, ABSOLUTE n, RELATIVE n
options for FETCH and MOVE (Tom)
* Allow EXPLAIN on DECLARE CURSOR (Tom)
Note: Prior versions would not allow EXPLAIN on a DECLARE
statement.
Prior versions would not allow EXPLAIN on a DECLARE statement.
* Allow CLUSTER to use index marked as pre-clustered by default
(Alvaro Herrera)
* Allow CLUSTER to cluster all tables (Alvaro Herrera)
Note: This allows all previously clustered tables in a database to
be reclustered with a single command.
This allows all previously clustered tables in a database to be
reclustered with a single command.
* Prevent CLUSTER on partial indexes (Tom)
* Allow \r and \r\n termination for COPY files (Bruce)
* Disallow literal carriage return as a data value,
@ -484,15 +413,13 @@
* Recover from COPY IN/OUT failure cleanly (Tom)
* Prevent possible memory leaks in COPY (Tom)
* Make TRUNCATE transaction-safe (Rod)
Note: Truncate can now be used inside a transaction, and rolled
back if the transaction aborts.
Truncate can now be used inside a transaction, and rolled back if
the transaction aborts.
* Multiple pggla_dump fixes, including tar format and large objects
* Allow pg_dump to dump specific schemas (Neil)
* Allow pg_dump to preserve column storage characteristics
(Christopher)
Note: This preserves ALTER TABLE ... SET STORAGE information.
This preserves ALTER TABLE ... SET STORAGE information.
* Allow pg_dump to preserve CLUSTER characteristics (Christopher)
* Have pg_dumpall use GRANT/REVOKE to dump database-level
permissions (Tom)
@ -510,56 +437,47 @@
* Allow pg_ctl to better handle non-standard ports (Greg)
* Functional indexes have been generalized into expressional indexes
(Tom)
Note: In prior releases, only columns could be used in functional
indexes. This release allows any type of expression.
In prior releases, only columns could be used in functional
indexes. This release allows any type of expression.
* Syntax errors now reported as 'syntax error' rather than 'parse
error' (Tom)
* Have SHOW TRANSACTION_ISOLATION match input to SET
TRANSACTION_ISOLATION (Tom)
* Have COMMENT ON DATABASE on non-local database generate a warning
(Rod)
Note: Database comments are stored in database-local tables so
comments on a database have to be stored in each database.
Database comments are stored in database-local tables so comments
on a database have to be stored in each database.
* Improve reliability of LISTEN/NOTIFY (Tom)
* Allow REINDEX to reliably reindex non-shared system catalog
indexes (Tom)
Note: This allows system tables to be reindexed without the
requirement of a standalone backend, which was necessary in
previous releases. The only tables that now require a standalone
backend for reindex are the global system tables pg_database,
pg_shadow, and pg_group.
This allows system tables to be reindexed without the requirement
of a standalone backend, which was necessary in previous releases.
The only tables that now require a standalone backend for reindex
are the global system tables pg_database, pg_shadow, and pg_group.
* pg_dump --use-set-session-authorization and --no-reconnect now do
nothing, all dumps use SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION
Note: pg_dump now no longer reconnects to switch users, but instead
uses SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION. This should reduce password
prompting during restores.
pg_dump now no longer reconnects to switch users, but instead uses
SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION. This should reduce password prompting
during restores.
* Long options for pg_dump are now available on all platforms
Note: We now include our own long option processing routines.
We now include our own long option processing routines.
_________________________________________________________________
Data Type and Function Changes
* New extra_float_digits server parameter to control float precision
display (Pedro Ferreira, Tom)
Note: This controls precision output which was causing regression
testing problems.
This controls precision output which was causing regression
testing problems.
* Allow +1300 as a numeric timezone specifier, for FJST (Tom)
* Remove rarely used oidrand(), oidsrand(), and userfntest()
functions (Neil)
* Add md5() function to main server, already in /contrib/pgcrypto
(Joe)
Note: An md5 function was frequently requested. For more complex
encryption capabilities, use /contrib/pgcrypto.
An md5 function was frequently requested. For more complex
encryption capabilities, use /contrib/pgcrypto.
* Increase date range of timestamp (John Cochran)
Note: bjm ??
bjm ??
* Change EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM timestamp) so timestamp without time
zone is assumed to be in local time, not GMT (Tom)
* Trap division by zero in case the operating system doesn't prevent
@ -569,9 +487,8 @@
* Fixes for to_char() (Karel)
* Allow functions that can take any argument data type and return
any data type, using ANYELEMENT and ANYARRAY (Joe)
Note: This allows the creation of functions that can work with any
data type.
This allows the creation of functions that can work with any data
type.
* Arrays may now be specified as ARRAY[1,2,3],
ARRAY[['a','b'],['c','d']], or ARRAY[ARRAY[ARRAY[2]]] (Joe)
* Allow proper comparisons for arrays (Joe)
@ -580,31 +497,26 @@
(Joe)
* Allow WHERE qualification 'expr >oper< ANY/SOME/ALL (array-expr)'
(Joe)
Note: This allows arrays to behave like subqueries or a list of
values: SELECT * FROM tab WHERE col IN array_val
This allows arrays to behave like subqueries or a list of values:
SELECT * FROM tab WHERE col IN array_val
* Allow polymorphic SQL functions (Joe)
Note: bjm ??
bjm ??
* New array functions array_append(), array_cat(), array_lower(),
array_prepend(), array_to_string(), array_upper(),
string_to_array() (Joe)
* Allow user defined aggregates to use polymorphic functions (Joe)
Note: bjm ??
bjm ??
* Allow polymorphic user defined aggregates (Joe)
* Allow assignments to empty arrays (Joe)
* Allow 60 in seconds fields of timestamp, time, interval input
values (Tom)
Note: Sixty-second values are needed for leap seconds.
Sixty-second values are needed for leap seconds.
* Allow CIDR data type to be cast to text (Tom)
* Allow the creation of special LIKE indexes for non-C locales
(Peter)
Note: There is no way for non-ASCII locales to use indexes for LIKE
comparisons. However, this release adds a way to create a special
index for LIKE. bjm ??
There is no way for non-ASCII locales to use indexes for LIKE
comparisons. However, this release adds a way to create a special
index for LIKE. bjm ??
* Disallow invalid timezone names (Tom)
* Trim trailing spaces when CHAR() is cast to VARCHAR or TEXT (Tom)
* Make FLOAT(p) measure the precision p in bits, not decimal digits
@ -618,12 +530,9 @@
convention for the sign of timezone offsets, ie, positive is east
from UTC (Tom)
* Fix date_trunc('quarter',...) (B?jthe Zolt?n)
Note: Prior releases returned an incorrect value for this function
call.
Prior releases returned an incorrect value for this function call.
* Make initcap() more compatible with Oracle (Mike Nolan)
Note: bjm ??
bjm ??
* Allow only DateStyle field order for date values not in ISO format
(Greg)
* Add new DateStyle values MDY, DMY, and YMD; honor US and European
@ -649,11 +558,10 @@
* Fix PL/python _quote() function to handle big integers (?)
* Make PL/python an untrusted language, now called plpythonu (Kevin
Jacobs, Tom)
Note: The Python language no longer supports a restricted execution
environment, so we removed the trusted version of PL/python. If
this situation changes, we will re-add a version of PL/python that
can be used by non-super users.
The Python language no longer supports a restricted execution
environment, so we removed the trusted version of PL/python. If
this situation changes, we will re-add a version of PL/python that
can be used by non-super users.
* Allow polymorphic PL/pgSQL functions (Tom, Joe)
* Improved compiled function caching mechanism in PL/pgSQL with full
support for polymorphism (Joe)
@ -668,32 +576,26 @@
Psql Changes
* Add "\pset pager always" to always use pager (Greg)
Note: This forces the pager to be used even if the number of rows
is less than the screen height --- this is valuable for rows that
wrap across several screen rows.
This forces the pager to be used even if the number of rows is
less than the screen height --- this is valuable for rows that
wrap across several screen rows.
* Improve tab completion (Rod, Ross Reedstrom, Ian Barwick)
* Reorder \? help into groupings (Harald Armin Massa, Bruce)
* Add backslash commands for listing schemas, casts, and conversions
(Christopher)
* \encoding now changes based on the client_encoding server variable
(Tom)
Note: In previous versions, \encoding was not aware of encoding
changes made using SET CLIENT_ENCODING.
In previous versions, \encoding was not aware of encoding changes
made using SET CLIENT_ENCODING.
* Save edit history into readline history (Ross)
Note: When \e is used to edit a query, the result is saved in the
readline history for retrieval using the up arrow.
When \e is used to edit a query, the result is saved in the
readline history for retrieval using the up arrow.
* Improve \d display (Christopher)
* Enhance HTML mode to be more standards-compliant (Greg)
* New '\set AUTOCOMMIT off' capability (Tom)
Note: This takes the place of the remove server variable
'autocommit'.
This takes the place of the remove server variable 'autocommit'.
* New '\set VERBOSITY' to control error detail (Tom)
Note: This controls the new error reporting details.
This controls the new error reporting details.
* New %T prompt string to show transaction status (Tom)
* Long options for psql are now available on all platforms
_________________________________________________________________
@ -703,16 +605,14 @@
* Allow PQcmdTuples() to return row counts for MOVE and FETCH (Neil)
* Add PQfreemem() for freeing memory on Win32, suggest for NOTIFY
(Bruce)
Note: Win32 requires that memory allocated in a library be freed by
a function in the same library, hence free() doesn't work for
freeing memory allocated by libpq. PQfreemem() is the proper way to
free libpq memory, especially on Win32, and is recommended for
other platforms as well.
Win32 requires that memory allocated in a library be freed by a
function in the same library, hence free() doesn't work for
freeing memory allocated by libpq. PQfreemem() is the proper way
to free libpq memory, especially on Win32, and is recommended for
other platforms as well.
* Document service capability, and add sample file (Bruce)
Note: This allows clients to look up connection information in a
central file on the client machine.
This allows clients to look up connection information in a central
file on the client machine.
* Make PQsetdbLogin() have the same defaults as PQconnectdb() (Tom)
* Allow libpq to cleanly fail when result sets are too large (Tom)
* Improve performance of PGunescapeBytea() (Ben Lamb)
@ -725,10 +625,9 @@
* Allow new error codes and levels of text (Tom)
* Allow access to the underlying table and column of a query result
(Tom)
Note: This is helpful for query-builder applications that want to
know the underlying table and column names associated with a
specific result set.
This is helpful for query-builder applications that want to know
the underlying table and column names associated with a specific
result set.
* Allow access to the current transaction status (Tom)
* Add ability to pass binary data directly to the backend (Tom)
* Add PQexecPrepared() and PQsendQueryPrepared() functions which
@ -749,15 +648,13 @@
* Prevent possible memory leak or core dump during libpgtcl shutdown
(Tom)
* Add ecpg Informix compatibility (Michael)
Note: This allows ecpg to process embedded C programs that were
written using certain Informix extensions.
This allows ecpg to process embedded C programs that were written
using certain Informix extensions.
* Add ecpg DECIMAL type that is fixed length, for Informix (Michael)
* Allow thread-safe ecpg with --enable-thread-safety (Lee Kindness,
Bruce)
Note: This allows multiple ecpg threads to access the database at
the same time.
This allows multiple ecpg threads to access the database at the
same time.
* Move python client interface to http://www.pygresql.org (Marc)
_________________________________________________________________
@ -786,13 +683,11 @@
* Improve Linux startup scripts (Slawomir Sudnik, Darko Prenosil)
* Add support for AMD Opteron and Itanium (Jeffrey W. Baker, Bruce)
* Remove --enable-recode option to configure
Note: This was no longer needed now that we have CREATE CONVERSION.
This was no longer needed now that we have CREATE CONVERSION.
* Generate a compile error if spinlock code is not found (Bruce)
Note: Platforms without spinlock code will now fail to compile,
rather than silently using semaphores. This failure can be disabled
with a new configure option.
Platforms without spinlock code will now fail to compile, rather
than silently using semaphores. This failure can be disabled with
a new configure option.
_________________________________________________________________
Contrib Changes

202
doc/src/sgml/release.sgml
View File

@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<!--
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.228 2003/10/31 04:30:22 momjian Exp $
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.229 2003/10/31 04:44:25 momjian Exp $
-->
<appendix id="release">
@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.228 2003/10/31 04:30:22 mo
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Improved GROUP BY processing by using hash buckets</para>
<note>
<para>
In previous releases, GROUP BY totals were accumulated by
sequentially scanning the list of groups looking for a match;
@ -33,76 +32,62 @@ $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release.sgml,v 1.228 2003/10/31 04:30:22 mo
significant in speeding up queries that have a large
number of distinct GROUP BY values.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> New multi-key hash join capability</para>
<note>
<para>
In previous releases, hash joins could only occur on single-column
joins. This release allows multi-column hash joins.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> ANSI joins are now better optimized</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior releases evaluated ANSI join syntax only in the order
specified by the query; 7.4 allows full optimization of
queries using ANSI join syntax, meaning the optimizer considers
all possible join orderings and chooses the most efficient.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Faster and more powerful regular expression code
</para>
<note>
<para>
The entire regular expression module has been replaced with a new
version by Henry Spencer, originally written for TCL. The code
greatly improves performance and supports several flavors
of regular expressions.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Function-inlining for simple SQL functions</para>
<note>
<para>
Simple SQL functions can now be inlined by including their SQL
in the main query. This improves performance by preventing
repeated calls to the SQL function --- this allows simple
SQL functions to behave like macros.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Full support for IPv6 connections and IPv6 address
data types</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior releases allowed only IPv6 connections and IP data types only
supported IPv4 addresses. This release adds full IPv6 support in
both of these areas.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Major improvements in SSL performance and
reliability</para>
<note>
<para>
Several people very familiar with the SSL API have overhauled our
SSL code to improve SSL key negotiation and error recovery.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Allow free space map to efficiently reuse empty index
pages, and other free space management improvements.</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, index pages that were left empty because of
deleted rows could only be reused by rows with index values similar
@ -110,7 +95,6 @@ pages, and other free space management improvements.</para>
empty index pages and allows them to be used for any future index
rows.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Implement information schema</para>
@ -135,36 +119,30 @@ also called holdable cursors
<listitem><para> libpq and ecpg are now fully thread-safe with
--enable-thread-safety</para>
<note>
<para>
While prior libpq releases already supported threads, this release
improves thread safety by fixing some non-thread-safe code that
was used in the database connection routines.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> New version of full text indexing in /contrib/tsearch2</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> New autovacuum tool in /contrib</para>
<note>
<para>
This new tool monitors the database statistics tables for
INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE activity and automatically vacuums tables when
needed.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Array handling has been improved and moved into the main
server</para>
<note>
<para>
Many array limitations have been removed and they behave more like
fully-supported data types.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para></sect2>
@ -177,14 +155,12 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para> The server-side autocommit setting was removed and reimplemented
in client applications and languages.</para>
<note>
<para>
Server-side autocommit was causing too many problems with
languages and applications that wanted to control their own
autocommit behavior so autocommit was removed from the server
and added to individual client API's as appropriate.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Error message wording has changed substantially in this release,
and error codes have been added.</para></listitem>
@ -192,21 +168,17 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para> A number of server variables have been renamed for
clarity, primarily those related to logging</para></listitem>
<listitem><para> MOVE/FETCH 0 now does nothing</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, FETCH 0 would fetch all remaining rows, and
MOVE 0 would move to the end of the cursor.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> MOVE/FETCH now returns the actual number of rows moved/fetched, or zero
if at the beginning/end of the cursor</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior releases would return the tuple count passed to the
command, not the actual number of rows FETCHed or MOVEd.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> COPY now can process carriage-return and
carriage-return/line-feed end-of-line terminated files.</para></listitem>
@ -217,7 +189,6 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<type>VARCHAR(n)</type> / <type>TEXT</type></para></listitem>
<listitem><para> <function>FLOAT(p)</function> now measures 'p' in bits, not digits</para></listitem>
<listitem><para> Ambiguous date values now must match the ordering specified by DateStyle</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, a date of <literal>10/20/03</> was
interpreted as a date in October even if the
@ -226,19 +197,15 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
values and will throw an error if the date is invalid for the
current <varname>DateStyle</>.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> The <function>oidrand()</function>, <function>oidsrand()</function>,
and <function>userfntest()</function> functions have been removed.</para>
<note>
<para>
These functions were determined to be no longer useful.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> <literal>'now'</literal> will no longer work as a column default; <function>now()</> or
<function>CURRENT_TIMESTAMP</> should be used instead</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, there was special code so the string
<literal>'now'</literal> was interpreted at
@ -249,24 +216,19 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<function>CURRENT_TIMESTAMP</>. These will work in all
situations.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> <literal>'today'</literal> will no longer work as a column default; <function>CURRENT_DATE</>
should be used instead</para>
<note>
<para>
Same description as above.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Dollar sign (<literal>$</>) is no longer allowed in operator names</para></listitem>
<listitem><para> Dollar sign (<literal>$</>) can be a non-first character in identifiers</para>
<note>
<para>
This was done to improve compatibility with other database
systems.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para></sect2>
@ -275,68 +237,54 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Allow IPv6 server connections (Nigel Kukard, Johan Jordaan, Bruce, Tom, Kurt
Roeckx, Andrew Dunstan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix SSL to handle errors cleanly (Nathan Mueller)
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, certain rare SSL API error reports were not
handled correctly. This release fixes those problems.
gracefully.
</para>
</note>
</para></listitem>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>SSL protocol security and performance improvements (Sean Chittenden)</para>
<note>
<para>
SSL key renegotiation was happening too frequently, causing poor SSL
performance. Also, initial key handling was improved.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Print lock information when a deadlock is detected (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows easier debugging of deadlock situations.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Update <filename>/tmp</filename> socket mod. times regularly to avoid their removal (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This should help prevent <filename>/tmp</filename> directory cleaner
administration scripts from removing server socket files.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Enable PAM for MAC OS X (Aaron Hillegass)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make btree indexes fully WAL-safe (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, under certain rare cases, a server crash could
cause btree indexes to become corrupt. This release removes those
last few rare cases.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow btree index compaction and empty page reuse (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix inconsistent index lookups during split of first root page (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, when a single-page index split into two page,
there was a brief period when another database session would miss
seeing an index entry. This failure was possible primarly on
multi-cpu machines. This release fixes that rare failure case.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve free space map allocation logic (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Preserve free space information between postmaster restarts (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, the free space map was not saved when the
postmaster was stopped, so newly started servers has no free space
information. This release saves the free space map, which is loaded
when the server is restarted.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Set proper schema permissions in initdb (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add start time to pg_stat_activity (Neil)</para></listitem>
@ -359,34 +307,28 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Improve constant folding (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ability to inline simple SQL functions (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reduce memory usage for queries using complex functions (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, functions returning allocated memory would
not free it until the query completed. This release allows the
freeing of function-allocated memory when the function call
completes, reducing the total memory used by functions.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve GEQO optimizer performance (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
There were several inefficiencies in the way the GEQO optimizer
managed potential query paths. This release fixes this.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow IN/NOT IN to be handled via hash tables (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve NOT IN (subquery) performance (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow most IN subqueries to be processed as joins (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow the postmaster to preload libraries using preload_libraries (Joe)</para>
<note>
<para>
For shared libraries that require a long time to load, this option
is available so the library can be pre-loaded in the postmaster and
inherited by all database sessions.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve optimizer cost computations, particularly for subqueries (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Avoid sort when subquery ORDER BY matches upper query (Tom)</para></listitem>
@ -398,41 +340,33 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Use faster and more powerful regular expression code from TCL (Henry Spencer, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Use bit-mapped relation sets in the optimizer (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve backend startup time (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
The new network protocol requires fewer network packets to start a
database session.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve trigger/constraint performance (Stephan)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve speed of col IN (const, const, const, ...) (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix hash indexes which were broken in rare cases (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve hash index concurrency and speed (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior releases suffered from poor hash index performance,
particularly for high concurrency situations. This release fixes
that, and the development group is interested in reports comparing
btree and hash index performance.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Align shared buffers on 32-byte boundary for copy speed improvement (Manfred Spraul)</para>
<note>
<para>
Certain CPU's perform faster data copies when addresses are 32-bit
aligned.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>The NUMERIC datatype has been reimplemented for better performance (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
NUMERIC used to be stored in base-100. The new code uses base-10000,
for significantly better performance.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
@ -440,88 +374,69 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Rename server parameter server_min_messages to log_min_messages (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
This was done so most parameters that control the server logs being
with <literal>log_</>.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename show_*_stats to log_*_stats (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename show_source_port to log_source_port (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Rename hostname_lookup to log_hostname (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add checkpoint_warning to warn of excessive checkpointing (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, it was difficult to determine if checkpoint was
happening too frequently. This feature adds a warning to the server
logs when excessive checkpointing happens.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New read-only server parameters for localization (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Change debug server log messages to output as DEBUG rather than LOG (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent server log variables from being turned off by non-super users (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
This is a security feature so non-super-users can't disable logging
that was enabled by the administrator.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>log_min_messages/client_min_messages now controls debug_* output (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
This centralizes client debug information so all debug output can
be sent to either the client or server logs.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add OS X Rendezvous server support (Chris Campbell)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows OS X machines to query the network for available
PostgreSQL servers.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ability to print only slow statements using log_min_duration_statement
(Christopher)</para>
<note>
<para>
This is an often requested debugging feature that allows administrators to
see only slow queries in their server logs.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_hba.conf to accept netmasks in CIDR format (Andrew Dunstan)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows administrators to merge the host IP address and netmask
fields into a single CIDR field in pg_hba.conf.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New is_superuser read-only variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New server-side parameter log_error_verbosity to control error detail (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This works with the new error reporting feature to supply additional
error information like hints, file names and line numbers.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>postgres --describe-config now dumps server config variables (Aizaz Ahmed, Peter)</para>
<note>
<para>
This option is useful for administration tools that need to know the
configuration variable names and their minimum, maximums, defaults,
and descriptions.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Make default shared_buffers 1000 and max_connections 100, if possible (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior versions defaulted to 64 shared buffers so PostgreSQL would
start on even old computers. This release tests the amount of shared
@ -529,17 +444,14 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
course, users are still encouraged to evaluate their resource load
and size shared_buffers accordingly.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add new columns in pg_settings: context, type, source, min_val, max_val (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New pg_hba.conf 'hostnossl' to prevent SSL connections (Jon Jensen)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, there was no way to prevent SSL connections if
both the client and server supported SSL. This option allows that
capability.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove geqo_random_seed server parameter (Tom)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
@ -548,63 +460,49 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New SQL-standard information schema (Peter)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add read-only transactions (Peter)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add server variable regex_flavor to control regular expression
processing (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Print key name and value in foreign-key violation messages (Dmitry Tkach)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow users to see their own queries in pg_stat_activity (Kevin Brown)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, only the super-user could see query strings using
pg_stat_activity. Now ordinary users can see their own query
strings.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix subquery aggregates of upper query columns to match SQL spec. (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add option to prevent auto-addition of tables referenced in query (Nigel J.
Andrews) </para>
<note>
<para>
By default, tables mentioned in the query are automatically added
to the FROM clause if they are not already there. This option
disabled that behavior.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow UPDATE ... SET col = DEFAULT (Rod)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows UPDATE to set a column to its default value.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow expressions to be used in LIMIT/OFFSET (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, LIMIT/OFFSET could only use constants, not
expressions.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Change EXECUTE INTO to CREATE TABLE AS EXECUTE (Peter)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm ?
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
@ -612,149 +510,117 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Make CREATE SEQUENCE grammar more SQL1999 standards compliant (Neil)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm ?
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add FOR EACH STATEMENT statement-level triggers (Neil)</para>
<note>
<para>
While this allows a trigger to fire at the end of a statement, it
does not allow the trigger to access all rows modified by the
query. This capability is planned for a future release.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add DOMAIN CHECK constraints (Rod)</para>
<note>
<para>
This greatly increases the usefulness of domains by allowing them to
use CHECK constraints.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER DOMAIN .. SET / DROP NOT NULL, SET / DROP DEFAULT, ADD / DROP
CONSTRAINT (Rod) </para>
<note>
<para>
This allows manipulation of existing domains.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix several zero-column table bugs (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
PostgreSQL supports zero-column tables. This fixes various bugs
that occur when using such tables.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Have ALTER TABLE ... ADD PRIMARY KEY add NOT NULL constraint (Rod)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY would add a unique index,
but not a NOT NULL constraint. That is fixed in this release.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER DOMAIN OWNER (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE ... WITHOUT OIDS (Rod)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows control over whether new and updated rows will have an
oid column. This is most useful for saving storage space.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER SEQUENCE to modify min/max/increment/cache/cycle values (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ALTER TABLE ... CLUSTER ON (Alvaro Herrera)</para>
<note>
<para>
This command is used by pg_dump to record the CLUSTER column
for each table previously clustered. This information is used by database-wide
cluster to cluster all previously clustered tables.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve DOMAIN automatic type casting (Rod, Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow dollar signs in identifiers, except as first character (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow dollar signs in operator names, so x=$1 works (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow SQL200X inheritance syntax LIKE <emphasis>subtable</emphasis>, INCLUDING DEFAULTS (Rod)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add WITH GRANT OPTION clause to GRANT, per SQL spec (Peter)</para>
<note>
<para>
Allow GRANT to give other users the ability to grant permissions on
a object.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
<sect2><title>Utility Command Changes</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add ON COMMIT clause to CREATE TABLE for temp tables (Gavin)</para>
<note>
<para>
This adds the ability for a table to be dropped or all rows deleted
on transaction commit.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow cursors outside transactions using WITH HOLD (Neil)</para>
<note>
<para>
In previous releases, cursors were removed at the end of the
transaction. Using WITH HOLD, the current release allows transaction
to remain outside their own transaction.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>MOVE/FETCH 0 now does nothing (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
In previous releases, MOVE 0 moved to the end of the cursor, and
FETCH 0 fetched all remaning rows.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Cause MOVE/FETCH to return the number of rows moved/fetched, or zero if at the beginning/end of cursor,
per SQL spec (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, the row count returned by MOVE and FETCH did
not accurately reflect the number of rows processed.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Properly handle SCROLL with cursors, or report an error (Neil)</para>
<note>
<para>
Certain cursors can not be fetched backwards optimally. By specifying SCROLL,
extra work will be performed to guarantee that the cursor can be
fetched in reverse or random order.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Implement SQL92-compatible FIRST, LAST, ABSOLUTE n, RELATIVE n options
for FETCH and MOVE (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow EXPLAIN on DECLARE CURSOR (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior versions would not allow EXPLAIN on a DECLARE statement.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow CLUSTER to use index marked as pre-clustered by default (Alvaro Herrera)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow CLUSTER to cluster all tables (Alvaro Herrera)
<note>
<para>
This allows all previously clustered tables in a database to be
reclustered with a single command.
</para>
</note>
</para></listitem>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent CLUSTER on partial indexes (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow \r and \r\n termination for COPY files (Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow literal carriage return as a data value, backslash-carriage-return
@ -763,21 +629,17 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Recover from COPY IN/OUT failure cleanly (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Prevent possible memory leaks in COPY (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make TRUNCATE transaction-safe (Rod)</para>
<note>
<para>
Truncate can now be used inside a transaction, and rolled back if
the transaction aborts.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Multiple pggla_dump fixes, including tar format and large objects</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_dump to dump specific schemas (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_dump to preserve column storage characteristics (Christopher)</para>
<note>
<para>
This preserves ALTER TABLE ... SET STORAGE information.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_dump to preserve CLUSTER characteristics (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have pg_dumpall use GRANT/REVOKE to dump database-level permissions (Tom)</para></listitem>
@ -790,50 +652,40 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Improve VACUUM performance on indexes by reducing WAL traffic (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow pg_ctl to better handle non-standard ports (Greg)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Functional indexes have been generalized into expressional indexes (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In prior releases, only columns could be used in functional indexes.
This release allows any type of expression.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Syntax errors now reported as 'syntax error' rather than 'parse error' (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have SHOW TRANSACTION_ISOLATION match input to SET TRANSACTION_ISOLATION (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Have COMMENT ON DATABASE on non-local database generate a warning (Rod)</para>
<note>
<para>
Database comments are stored in database-local tables so comments on
a database have to be stored in each database.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve reliability of LISTEN/NOTIFY (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow REINDEX to reliably reindex non-shared system catalog indexes (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows system tables to be reindexed without the requirement of
a standalone backend, which was necessary in previous releases. The
only tables that now require a standalone backend for reindex are
the global system tables pg_database, pg_shadow, and pg_group.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>pg_dump --use-set-session-authorization and --no-reconnect now do nothing,
all dumps use SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION </para>
<note>
<para>
pg_dump now no longer reconnects to switch users, but instead uses
SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION. This should reduce password prompting
during restores.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Long options for <application>pg_dump</application> are now available on all platforms</para>
<note>
<para>
We now include our own long option processing routines.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
@ -842,29 +694,23 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>New extra_float_digits server parameter to control float precision display
(Pedro Ferreira, Tom) </para>
<note>
<para>
This controls precision output which was causing regression
testing problems.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow +1300 as a numeric timezone specifier, for FJST (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove rarely used oidrand(), oidsrand(), and userfntest() functions (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add md5() function to main server, already in /contrib/pgcrypto (Joe)</para>
<note>
<para>
An md5 function was frequently requested. For more complex
encryption capabilities, use /contrib/pgcrypto.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Increase date range of timestamp (John Cochran)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm ??
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Change EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM timestamp) so timestamp without time zone
is assumed to be in local time, not GMT (Tom)</para></listitem>
@ -874,12 +720,10 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Fixes for to_char() (Karel)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow functions that can take any argument data type and return
any data type, using ANYELEMENT and ANYARRAY (Joe) </para>
<note>
<para>
This allows the creation of functions that can work with any data
type.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Arrays may now be specified as ARRAY[1,2,3], ARRAY[['a','b'],['c','d']],
or ARRAY[ARRAY[ARRAY[2]]] (Joe)</para></listitem>
@ -887,47 +731,37 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Allow array concatenation with '||' (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow indexes on array columns, and used in ORDER BY and DISTINCT (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow WHERE qualification 'expr &gt;oper&lt; ANY/SOME/ALL (array-expr)' (Joe)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows arrays to behave like subqueries or a list of values:
SELECT * FROM tab WHERE col IN array_val
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow polymorphic SQL functions (Joe)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm ??
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New array functions array_append(), array_cat(), array_lower(),
array_prepend(), array_to_string(), array_upper(), string_to_array() (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow user defined aggregates to use polymorphic functions (Joe)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm ??
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow polymorphic user defined aggregates (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow assignments to empty arrays (Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow 60 in seconds fields of timestamp, time, interval input values (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
Sixty-second values are needed for leap seconds.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow CIDR data type to be cast to text (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow the creation of special LIKE indexes for non-C locales (Peter)</para>
<note>
<para>
There is no way for non-ASCII locales to use indexes for LIKE
comparisons. However, this release adds a way to create a special
index for LIKE. bjm ??
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Disallow invalid timezone names (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Trim trailing spaces when CHAR() is cast to VARCHAR or TEXT (Tom)</para></listitem>
@ -938,18 +772,14 @@ required for those wishing to migrate data from any previous release.</para>
<listitem><para>Make EXTRACT(TIMEZONE) and SET/SHOW TIMEZONE follow the SQL convention
for the sign of timezone offsets, ie, positive is east from UTC (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix date_trunc('quarter',...) (B?jthe Zolt?n)</para>
<note>
<para>
Prior releases returned an incorrect value for this function call.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Make initcap() more compatible with Oracle (Mike Nolan)</para>
<note>
<para>
bjm ??
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow only DateStyle field order for date values not in ISO format (Greg)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add new DateStyle values MDY, DMY, and YMD; honor US and European for
@ -971,14 +801,12 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow PL/pgSQL to declare variables of composite types without %ROWTYPE (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fix PL/python _quote() function to handle big integers (?)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Make PL/python an untrusted language, now called plpythonu (Kevin Jacobs, Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
The Python language no longer supports a restricted execution
environment, so we removed the trusted version of PL/python. If this
situation changes, we will re-add a version of PL/python that can be
used by non-super users.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow polymorphic PL/pgSQL functions (Tom, Joe)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improved compiled function caching mechanism in PL/pgSQL with full
@ -994,48 +822,38 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Add "\pset pager always" to always use pager (Greg)</para>
<note>
<para>
This forces the pager to be used even if the number of rows is less
than the screen height --- this is valuable for rows that wrap
across several screen rows.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve tab completion (Rod, Ross Reedstrom, Ian Barwick)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Reorder \? help into groupings (Harald Armin Massa, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add backslash commands for listing schemas, casts, and conversions (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>\encoding now changes based on the client_encoding server variable (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
In previous versions, \encoding was not aware of encoding changes
made using SET CLIENT_ENCODING.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Save edit history into readline history (Ross)</para>
<note>
<para>
When \e is used to edit a query, the result is saved in the readline
history for retrieval using the up arrow.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve \d display (Christopher)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Enhance HTML mode to be more standards-compliant (Greg)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New '\set AUTOCOMMIT off' capability (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This takes the place of the remove server variable 'autocommit'.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New '\set VERBOSITY' to control error detail (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This controls the new error reporting details.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>New %T prompt string to show transaction status (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Long options for <application>psql</application> are now available on all platforms</para></listitem>
@ -1046,7 +864,6 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Allow PQcmdTuples() to return row counts for MOVE and FETCH (Neil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add PQfreemem() for freeing memory on Win32, suggest for NOTIFY (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
Win32 requires that memory allocated in a library be freed by a
function in the same library, hence free() doesn't work for freeing
@ -1054,15 +871,12 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
libpq memory, especially on Win32, and is recommended for other
platforms as well.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Document service capability, and add sample file (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows clients to look up connection information in a central
file on the client machine.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Make PQsetdbLogin() have the same defaults as PQconnectdb() (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow libpq to cleanly fail when result sets are too large (Tom)</para></listitem>
@ -1074,13 +888,11 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
"prefer", and "require" (Jon Jensen)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow new error codes and levels of text (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow access to the underlying table and column of a query result (Tom)</para>
<note>
<para>
This is helpful for query-builder applications that want to know the
underlying table and column names associated with a specific result
set.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow access to the current transaction status (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ability to pass binary data directly to the backend (Tom)</para></listitem>
@ -1102,21 +914,17 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Prevent possible memory leak or core dump during libpgtcl shutdown (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ecpg Informix compatibility (Michael)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows ecpg to process embedded C programs that were written
using certain Informix extensions.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Add ecpg DECIMAL type that is fixed length, for Informix (Michael)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Allow thread-safe ecpg with --enable-thread-safety (Lee Kindness, Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
This allows multiple ecpg threads to access the database at the same
time.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Move python client interface to http://www.pygresql.org (Marc)</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
@ -1145,20 +953,16 @@ zero-row record variable (Tom)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Improve Linux startup scripts (Slawomir Sudnik, Darko Prenosil)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add support for AMD Opteron and Itanium (Jeffrey W. Baker, Bruce)</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Remove --enable-recode option to configure</para>
<note>
<para>
This was no longer needed now that we have CREATE CONVERSION.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Generate a compile error if spinlock code is not found (Bruce)</para>
<note>
<para>
Platforms without spinlock code will now fail to compile, rather
than silently using semaphores. This failure can be disabled with a
new configure option.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>