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PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

postgresql.org

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Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#11

Post by grzm »

todd3834 wrote: post #7
micmil wrote: post #4

I'm not a database guy so have no clue, but why are there so many versions receiving support? Is there just that much legacy crap they can't get away from, like Python?

With semantic versioning each time the major version changes it signifies a breaking change. If you have an application that breaks from one of those breaking changes you may not see it as a business opportunity to update because it “works” as it is. However, minor version changes can include anything that doesn’t break. So security patches are hopefully added to any major version that is officially supported.

PostgreSQL versioning is similar to semantic versioning, but doesn't follow it precisely. Major versions require a dump and restore (or other transform, such as an upgrade) of the on-disk data. Minor versions are fixes. Prior to PostgreSQL 10, the changes in the second numeric place are considered "major" versions. So, the past 5 major versions are 11, 10, 9.6, 9.5, and 9.4. The most recent versions of each of those are respectively 11.3, 10.8, 9.6.13, 9.5.17, and 9.4.22.

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#13

Post by rtpg »

For those stuck on older versions of Postgres, I highly recommend paying the downtime to upgrade. Going from 9.x to 11 will get you a measurably large performance gain for free.

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#14

Post by SnowingXIV »

Running 10.7 and 10.6 on two production applications with Heroku. Thinking about moving to 11 to ensure support for the long run as I rarely need to touch this and it's very stable but would like to minimize any headaches in the future.

Any complications or hiccups I need to worry about moving from 10 to 11?

Per Heroku Docs: By supporting at least 3 major versions, users are required to upgrade roughly once every three years. However, you can upgrade your database at any point to gain the benefits of the latest version.

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#15

Post by dspillett »

micmil wrote: post #4

I'm not a database guy so have no clue, but why are there so many versions receiving support? Is there just that much legacy crap they can't get away from, like Python?

People are slow to upgrade database systems, as it can take a log of regression testing to make absolutely sure your applications don't rely on unsupported/undocumented/undefined behaviours that make them compatible with the newest release (or are affected by officially acknowledged breaking changes). Especially in enterprise systems. Even if developers upgrade quickly, their clients with on-prem installations may not. That means that to be taken seriously you need to support your major and minor releases for some time to be accepted as a serious option in some arenas.

Supporting five versions is no more than MS do: currently SQL Server versions 2017, 2016sp2, 2016sp1, 2014sp3, 2014sp2, 2012sp4, 2008R2sp2 and 2008sp3. 2008sp3, 2008R2sp2, and 2016sp1 will hit their final EOL in a couple of months taking SQL Servers's supported list back down to 5 too.

I expect other significant DB maintainers have similar support life-time requirements for much the same reasons, though I'll leave researching who does[n't] as an exercise for the reader.

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#16

Post by baq »

micmil wrote: post #4

I'm not a database guy so have no clue, but why are there so many versions receiving support? Is there just that much legacy crap they can't get away from, like Python?

not broken, don't fix

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#17

Post by dspillett »

rtpg wrote: post #13

For those stuck on older versions of Postgres, I highly recommend paying the downtime to upgrade. Going from 9.x to 11 will get you a measurably large performance gain for free.

Out of interest (SQL Server guy mainly, so only partly keep up with what other engines are doing), what changes significantly affect performance (without making changes to your own code/configuration to make use of new features) in 10.x & 11.x?

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#18

Post by chungy »

baq wrote: post #16
micmil wrote: post #4

I'm not a database guy so have no clue, but why are there so many versions receiving support? Is there just that much legacy crap they can't get away from, like Python?

not broken, don't fix

There are some shockingly old releases of PostgreSQL still in production for this reason.

Security updates should push the upgrade path a little harder, but there are still cases where a database can be completely isolated from the network and that might not even matter.

Re: PostgreSQL 11.3 and 10.8

#20

Post by greggyb »

dspillett wrote: post #17
rtpg wrote: post #13

For those stuck on older versions of Postgres, I highly recommend paying the downtime to upgrade. Going from 9.x to 11 will get you a measurably large performance gain for free.

Out of interest (SQL Server guy mainly, so only partly keep up with what other engines are doing), what changes significantly affect performance (without making changes to your own code/configuration to make use of new features) in 10.x & 11.x?

Big parallelism updates that the query planner can take advantage of.

I believe also updates to index seek or scan in that time.

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