Waiting for 8.4 – timing on/off
Yes, finally! David Fetter wrote, and Heikki Linnakangas committed patch which adds on/off arguments to \timing: Before you could simply do: \timing to switch timing information: # SELECT 1; ?COLUMN?...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – sequence details
On 15th of July, Bruce Momjian commited patch written by Dickson S. Guedes, which: Have psql \d show the value of sequence columns. before it, output of \d of sequence was like this: # \d some_sequence...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – storage types for table columns
Gregory Stark wrote, and Bruce Momjian committed (on 14th of July) patch which shows storage type in psql. Log Message: ----------- Add column storage type to psql \d+ display. Gregory Stark How does...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – variadic functions
Pavel Stehule wrote, and then Tom Lane committed (on 16th of July), patch which adds to PostgreSQL support for functions with variable number of arguments. These function are called “VARIADIC", and up...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – RETURNS TABLE
Pavel Stehule wrote, and Tom Lane committed patch which ads new syntax for set-returning functions: “RETURNS TABLE". Commit was on 18th of July, and the message was: Implement SQL-spec RETURNS TABLE...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – hash based DISTINCT
Today Tom Lane committed patch which gives DISTINCT ability to use hash aggregate – just like GROUP BY. Log message: Improve SELECT DISTINCT TO consider hash aggregation, AS well AS sort/uniq, AS...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – UNION / INTERSECT / EXCEPT
During last month or so, Tom Lane commited changes in PostgreSQL, which were foundations for adding hash-based versions of popular features. I already described first such feature – DISTINCT. Now,...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – case insensitive text ( citext )
On 29th of July, Tom Lane committed patch written by David E. Wheeler, which added new contrib module: citext. Log message is rather laconic: Add a new, improved version of citext as a contrib module....
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – \ef in psql
Today, Tom Lane committed patch, written by Abhijit Menon-Sen, which adds interesting feature to psql. Namely – it simplifies changing definition of functions. Commit message pretty much explains...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – ordered data loading in pg_dump
Great (and admittedly long overdue) patch by Tom Lane: Make pg_dump --data-only try to order the table dumps so that foreign keys' referenced tables are dumped before the referencing tables. This...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – pgbench with timed execution
Takahiro Itagaki wrote, and Tom Lane committed nice patch, which I personally find really helpful: Add a duration option to pgbench, so that test length can be specified in seconds instead of by number...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – database-level lc_collation and lc_ctype
On 23rd of September, Heikki Linnakangas committed patch that was written by Radek Strnad (actually committed patch is a stripped-down version of original). What it does? It adds ability to have...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – new FSM (Free Space Map)
On 30th of September, Heikki Linnakangas committed his patch that changes FSM: Rewrite the FSM. Instead of relying on a fixed-size shared memory segment, the free space information is stored in a...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – Common Table Expressions (WITH queries)
On 4th of September Tom Lane committed another great patch. This one is very large, and even after applying – it's has some rough edges. There will be need for additional patches to make the...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – pl/* srf functions in selects
On 28th of October Tom Lane committed his patch that changes some internals of functions, but it also adds interesting capability. Commit message: Extend ExecMakeFunctionResult() to support...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – sql-wrappable RETURNING
In PostgreSQL 8.2, we got “RETURNING" clause in INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE queries. Unfortunately it could not be used as source of rows for anything in sql. INSERT INTO table_backup DELETE FROM TABLE WHERE...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – suppress_redundant_updates_trigger
On 3rd of November Andrew Dunstan committed his patch which adds new function to PostgreSQL – suppress_redundant_updates_trigger(). This function is not for using in selects, but it can help you...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – array aggregate and array unpacker
Finally, we got very important addons to PostgreSQL, which help with dealing with arrays. It solves a lot of problems, which were usually solved with standard cookbook code, which was in faqs, blog...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – auto-explain
On 19th of November Tom Lane committed patch by Takahiro Itagaki which does: Add auto-explain contrib module for automatic logging of the plans of slow-running queries. What exactly does it do? Before...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – TABLE
On Thursday, 20th of November, Peter Eisentraut committed his own patch, which adds new command to PostgreSQL: TABLE. While this command doesn't do anything that wasn't available earlier, it's worth...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – Visibility maps
Yeah. This one patch alone is worth upgrading to 8.4. On 3rd of December Heikki Linnakangas committed his patch. Commit message: Introduce visibility map. The visibility map is a bitmap with one bit...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – Default values for function arguments + integer in any base
On 4th of December Peter Eisentraut committed patch by Pavel Stehule (with Peters tweaks) which adds default values for function arguments: Default values for function arguments Pavel Stehule, with...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – Window Functions – teaser
Yesterday Tom Lane committed enormous patch, which had commit log: Support window functions a la SQL:2008. Hitoshi Harada, with some kibitzing from Heikki and Tom. … and that would be all. I will...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – remove system objects from \dX
On 6th of January Bruce Momjian committed patch by Greg Sabino Mulane, which fixes one of a very long standing annoyances in PostgreSQL – removes system objects from \dX commands in psql. Commit...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – pg_stat_statements
On 4th of January, Tom Lane committed patch by Takahiro Itagaki, which adds new contrib module – pg_stat_statements: Log Message: ----------- Add contrib/pg_stat_statements for server-wide tracking of...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – window functions
A long overdue post about new functionality. At this moment it is no longer such new, as it was committed on 28th of December (yes, I know, I should have written it earlier, Sorry). On this day Tom...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – column level privileges.
On 22nd of January, Tom Lane committed patch by Stephen Frost, which adds column level privileges: Log Message: ----------- Support column-level privileges, as required by SQL standard. Stephen...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – parallel restoration of dumps
On 2nd of February Andrew Dunstan committed his patch (with editing by Tom Lane) that: Log Message: ----------- Provide for parallel restoration from a custom format archive. Each data and post-data...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – no more -d in pg_dump!
Usually I write about new features in 8.4, but this time I'd like to write about feature that will be actually missing in 8.4. And thank God, it will be missing. On Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:22:47 -0400 Greg...
View ArticleWaiting for 8.4 – final post (?)
For quite some time I've been posting about new features in 8.4. First post was over a year ago, on 16th of February 2008. Now, we just (yesterday) got nice surprise: beta is here:...
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