PGDG PostgreSQL Debian package: Question on conditions for creation of new cluster

Hi

I'm trying to install the postgresql-17 Debian package from PGDG apt repo alongside an already existing PostgreSQL 16 installation. So there is already a PostgreSQL 16 cluster on my machine (which I want to upgrade to version 17 using the pg_upgrade command later on).

If I'm not wrong, the PostgreSQL packages used to automatically create a new cluster during installation, even if there already was an older cluster present. (Using a different port in this case.) But this doesn't happen with the 17.3 package. Does anyone know if this behavior has changed? Or anyone can explain on which conditions a new cluster is created and when not?

There was a now closed discussion on this topic on Stack Overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79441161/postgres-17-3-installation-no-longer-creates-a-new-cluster. Of course, I will create the additional cluster using pg_createcluster if this is the way to go. The point is that I'm installing PostgreSQL using an Ansible script, and pg_createcluster was not needed until now. So before I update my script, I hope to get some more information about the behavior of the PostgreSQL packages regarding automatic cluster creation.

Thanks a lot,
Andy