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Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

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Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#1

Post by DumBthInker007 »

Hi HN,

I'm a developer diving deep into PostgreSQL internals, aiming to contribute meaningfully to the project. I have a strong grasp of core components like the internal architecture, physical replication, WAL (Write-Ahead Logging), and buffer management. I'm now expanding into areas like logical replication, asynchronous I/O (AIO), the optimizer, and beyond.

To learn and grow as a Postgres hacker, I want to hear directly from you—PostgreSQL users—about the problems you face, big or small. These could be operational challenges, performance bottlenecks, confusing behaviors, missing features, or friction points in your workflows.

For me, it's a win-win: you get a contributor trying to tackle real problems, and I get to deepen my understanding by working on issues that matter in the real world. If a problem resonates with me, I’ll do my best to investigate, learn, and potentially create a patch to address it.

Thanks—and I look forward to hearing from you!

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#2

Post by znpy »

I'd like to see something like MySQL's Group Replication in PostgreSQL.

HA is still a wheel you have to re-invent yourself every time with PostgreSQL.

References for what i'm talking about:

- Group Replication: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/group-replication.ht...

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#3

Post by DumBthInker007 »

znpy wrote: post #2

I'd like to see something like MySQL's Group Replication in PostgreSQL. HA is still a wheel you have to re-invent yourself every time with PostgreSQL. References for what i'm talking about: - Group Replication: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/group-replication.ht...

thanks for the quick reply, will surely look into it.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#4

Post by znpy »

DumBthInker007 wrote: post #3
znpy wrote: post #2

I'd like to see something like MySQL's Group Replication in PostgreSQL. HA is still a wheel you have to re-invent yourself every time with PostgreSQL. References for what i'm talking about: - Group Replication: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/group-replication.ht...

thanks for the quick reply, will surely look into it.

You're welcome. The bigger picture is probably this: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/mysql-innodb-cluster...

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#5

Post by DumBthInker007 »

znpy wrote: post #4
DumBthInker007 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks for the quick reply, will surely look into it.

You're welcome. The bigger picture is probably this: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/mysql-innodb-cluster...

thanks for sharing.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#6

Post by WilcoKruijer »

I’d like to see a true monotonic counter in Postgres. Serials can increment out of order when multiple transactions are active. We can obtain the WAL LSN, but it’s not related to the currently active transaction. I really like FoundationDB’s versionstamp, would be great to have that in Postgres.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#7

Post by DumBthInker007 »

WilcoKruijer wrote: post #6

I’d like to see a true monotonic counter in Postgres. Serials can increment out of order when multiple transactions are active. We can obtain the WAL LSN, but it’s not related to the currently active transaction. I really like FoundationDB’s versionstamp, would be great to have that in Postgres.

Thanks for the reply,will surely look into it.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#9

Post by DumBthInker007 »

hyperman1 wrote: post #8

Parallell insert. I can easily saturate a CPU with insert statements, with io very low.

Hi thanks for the reply ,i guess there was some ongoing work for this and for some reason it didn't continued this is the thread https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/CAJcOf-cXnB5cnMKq... if you are interested in, but for sure i will look into this(added to my list:).

Re: Ask HN: I'm a New PostgreSQL Hacker – What Problems Do You Face with Postgres?

#10

Post by hyperman1 »

DumBthInker007 wrote: post #9
hyperman1 wrote: post #8

Parallell insert. I can easily saturate a CPU with insert statements, with io very low.

Hi thanks for the reply ,i guess there was some ongoing work for this and for some reason it didn't continued this is the thread https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/CAJcOf-cXnB5cnMKq... if you are interested in, but for sure i will look into this(added to my list:).

What can I say, except thank you very much.
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