Installing PostgreSQL on SLES 15 just got easier – and better!

Posted on 2024-02-29 by PostgreSQL PGDG RPM Repository
PostgreSQL Project

The PostgreSQL RPM repository for SuSE Enterprise Linux has supported SLES for quite some time. We followed the usual conventions and used zypper addrepo … to add the repositories.

This method mostly works, however it is (now, was…) not easy for us to make modifications to the repository files. This led to multiple issues in the past like not being able to add a common repository, not being able to archive old repos properly or not being able to change signatures, etc. We do not have this problem in the PostgreSQL YUM/DNF repository because it already has repository RPMs .

Good news: We now have the same infrastructure in the SLES 15 ! Please note that this will have a direct effect on the directory layout so the package locations will change for some of the packages (i.e. “common” packages) . It means all of the SLES 15 users will need to switch to the new repository RPMs at the earliest convenience to receive the updates or even install many of the packages.

As an unintentional good side effect of this change, “extras” repository is now available also on SLES 15 . This extras repo provides packages to support Patroni.

Here is a quick FAQ:

  1. How can I switch to the new repository RPM?

    zypper install https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/zypp/reporpms/SLES-15-x86_64/pgdg-suse-repo-latest.noarch.rpm

  2. I am a new user. How does it affect me?

    Not at all. Just follow the instructions and install PostgreSQL as usual: https://zypp.postgresql.org/repopackages/

  3. Can I disable specific PostgreSQL releases?

    Yes. You can run this command to disable PostgreSQL 12 repo:

    zypper mr -d pgdg-12