PostgreSQL 19 RC 1 Released!

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the first release
candidate of PostgreSQL 19 is now available for download. As a release
candidate, PostgreSQL 19 RC 1 will be mostly identical to the initial release of
PostgreSQL 19, though some more fixes may be applied prior to the general
availability of PostgreSQL 19.

The next [scheduled update release](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/roadmap/)
for supported versions of PostgreSQL, on November 12, 2026, will include a large
number of fixes. Because of this, the release team decided to include these
fixes in PostgreSQL 19 before its general availability. This means a second
release candidate, PostgreSQL 19 RC 2, will be available on the same day as the
update release.

The planned date for the general availability of PostgreSQL 19 is
November 19, 2026. Please see the "Release Schedule" section for more details.

Upgrading to PostgreSQL 19 RC 1
-------------------------------

To upgrade to PostgreSQL 19 RC 1 from earlier versions of PostgreSQL, you will
need to use a major version upgrade strategy, e.g. `pg_upgrade` or
`pg_dump` / `pg_restore`. For more information, please visit the documentation
section on [upgrading](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/upgrading.html):

[https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/upgrading.html](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/upgrading.html)

Changes Since 19 Beta 4
-----------------------

Several bug fixes were applied to PostgreSQL 19 during the Beta 4 period. These
include:

* Several fixes for [`REPACK (CONCURRENTLY)`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-repack.html)
* Several fixes for [`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html).
* Several fixes for new query planner optimizations that rely on whether an
expression can be `NULL`.
* Several fixes for the [automatic enablement of logical replication](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-preset.html#GUC-EFFECTIVE-WAL-LEVEL)
when `wal_level` is set to `replica`.
* Fix [`postgres_fdw`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/postgres-fdw.html)
statistics import to run as the owner of the foreign table instead of the user
running `ANALYZE`.
* Several fixes for [parallel autovacuum](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-vacuum.html#GUC-AUTOVACUUM-MAX-PARALLEL-WORKERS).
* Fix [`COPY (query) TO ... (FORMAT json)`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-copy.html)
to use the query's column names, including aliases, as the JSON keys instead of
the table's column names.

For a detailed list of fixes, please visit the
[open items](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/PostgreSQL_19_Open_Items#resolved_before_19rc1)
page.

Release Schedule
----------------

This is the first release candidate for PostgreSQL 19. The release team plans to
issue a second release candidate, PostgreSQL 19 RC 2, on November 12, 2026.
Unless an issue is discovered that requires a delay or an additional release
candidate, PostgreSQL 19 should be made generally available on
November 19, 2026.

For further information please see the
[Beta Testing](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/) page.

Links
-----

* [Download](https://www.postgresql.org/download/)
* [Beta Testing Information](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/)
* [PostgreSQL 19 Beta Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/release-19.html)
* [PostgreSQL 19 Open Issues](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/PostgreSQL_19_Open_Items)
* [Submit a Bug](https://www.postgresql.org/account/submitbug/)
* [Donate](https://www.postgresql.org/about/donate/)

If you have corrections or suggestions for this release announcement, please send them to the _pgsql-www(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org_ public [mailing list](https://www.postgresql.org/list/).