Howdy to all database enthusiasts! PostgreSQL 8.0 is out to the public for a few weeks now, and the amount of emails asking "When can we get the debs?" is increasing every day. In addition, the current structure and packaging of the existing PostgreSQL 7.4 packages became too clumsy and inflexible to be supported forever.
So some time ago, Oliver Elphick and I developed a completely new architecture specification for PostgreSQL packages which allow to run several major versions in parallel (which finally resolves the upgrading hell) and to run arbitrarily many clusters (which makes the package much more interesting for e. g. web hosters or safe playgrounds). The detailled architecture description can be found at http://people.debian.org/~mpitt/postgresql-ng.html After some weeks of hacking and sleepless nights I am now proud to present the first usable set of 7.4 and 8.0 packages (in experimental) for this new structure: postgresql-<version>: server binaries postgresql-client-<version>: frontend programs postgresql-common: cluster management and frontend wrapper In addition, there are new packages "postgresql", "postgresql-client", "postgresql-contrib", etc., which provide a smooth upgrade path: they register the existing database from the current Hoary PostgreSQL packages to the new multicluster structure, clean up old stuff and immediately start the server again. Please note that this process will install the 7.4 server/client. (Of course you can additionally install the 8.0 server and client to play around with the new version). There is still a lot of work to do. But I feel that the packages now are mature enough to be tested by a wider audience, and also to attract more developers :) Take the plunge today and upgrade, test, and give feedback! i386 debs for Sid (and source packages) are now in experimental. If you just dist-upgrade to the experimental packages, your sid postgresql package should automatically be upgraded to the new structure, your existing database should be configured (check with pg_lsclusters), the new cluster should run and psql etc. should behave as before. If you install postgresql-7.4 or postgresql-8.0 from scratch (i. e. without "postgresql" already installed), you should end up with a fully functional and running "main" cluster. If you are interested in development: the package is developed with tla (or bazaar) in the following repository: tla register-archive http://arch.debian.org/arch/pkg-postgresql/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ The following projects are relevant for these PostgreSQL packages: postgresql--devel--7.4 postgresql--devel--8.0 postgresql-common--devel--1 postgresql-transition--devel--1 If you want to work on them, either just check them out and send me patches, or do it the arch way and branch off to your own repository and tell me where to merge from. Happy testing and databasing! Martin P.S. This is _not_ Sarge stuff. The detailled reasons are explained in http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=274043 -- Martin Pitt http://www.piware.de Ubuntu Developer http://www.ubuntulinux.org Debian GNU/Linux Developer http://www.debian.org
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