PostgreSQL 7.4 Press Kit Contents: Original Release Full Feature List New Enterprise Features Adopting Postgresql Other Major Features Full Text of Quotes International Contact List Links to More Information Official translations of this document. October ##, 2003 PostgreSQL Version 7.4 Released    The PostgreSQL Global Development Group (PGDG) is pleased to announce the availability of version 7.4 of the PostgreSQL Object Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS). This major release is the work of our world wide network of hundreds of developers and contributors over the lst nine months. It provides commercial-grade enterprise database functionality and performance with the flexibility and low total cost of ownership widely associated with Open Source software.    Version 7.4 includes a host of new features which make PostgreSQL a more powerful and scalable database for large enterprises. These include AMD Opteron(tm) optimization, improved index maintenance tools, and enhanced support of full text indexing which adds ranked result sets. Combined with the recent contribution of the eRServer(c) replication solution by PostgreSQL Inc., these advances fulfill PostgreSQL's potential to run high-availability, large-scale data centers. View the original press release here. Full Feature List New Enterprise Features in 7.4   Among the large enterprise features which have been added, expanded, or improved in version 7.4 are the following: REPLICATION   PostgreSQL Inc. has contributed their eRServer Java-based replication solution to the PostgreSQL community. eRServer provides a highly scalable, battle-tested replication option significantly more powerful than previously available Open Source solutions. For more information, see the release on PostgreSQL Inc.'s web site. PERFORMANCE   Several major performance enhancements have been added in version 7.4, enabling PostgreSQL to match or exceed the speed of other enterprise database systems. These include: Hash aggregation in memory to make data warehousing and OLAP queries up to 20 times faster; Improvements in subquery handling by the planner resulting in up to 400% speed increases in some complex queries; New script to set more reasonable postgresql.conf defaults for shared buffers, yielding better "out of the box" performance; New wire protocol (version 3) increases the speed of data transfers; Enhanced implementation of functional indexes allows better indexing on custom data types and composite fields; HIGH AVAILABILITY   Expansion of PostgreSQL's Free Space Map disk management feature to support continuous index maintenance is the last "piece of the puzzle" in providing 24/7/365 uptime for PostgreSQL databases. The many hardware solutions vendors who include PostgreSQL as the embedded database in their applications may now eliminate the need for any data locking or downtime in their applications. OPTERON SUPPORT   PostgreSQL is now optimized on the AMD Opteron, thanks to the work of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, adding to the family of proven 64-bit platforms which includes HP/Compaq, Alpha, Sun UltraSPARC, MIPS, PA-RISC, and RS6000*. 64-bit platforms are an emerging class of high-performance computing, with greater power and scalability needed for enterprise systems. FULL TEXT INDEXING   PostgreSQL's TSearch module now includes a ranked preference system, making TSearch equal to or better than many full text indexing solutions offered by other RDBMSs. Adopting PostgreSQL Easier Than Ever   The following enhancements aid in the testing, prototyping, and porting efforts of database professionals considering a switch to PostgreSQL: REORGANIZED AND EXPANDED DOCUMENTATION   Completely reorganized and expanded online documentation, making it easier for first-time PostgreSQL database developers to get their databases built, tuned, and running. SQL-STANDARD ERROR FRAMEWORK   Completely redesigned error logging and reporting, providing developers with an SQL99 compliant mechanism for debugging and troubleshooting, and giving users real time suggestions on how to avoid error conditions in their applications. SQL-STANDARD INFORMATION SCHEMA   7.4 includes an SQL99 compliant Information Schema (or "metadata"). This provides application developers with database, type, object, and configuration information in a way which eases the migration of interfaces and middleware between database systems, and even the replication of data between commercial databases and PostgreSQL. NEW GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) VERSIONS   PGAdmin and PHPPgAdmin, two of the three most popular GUIs for PostgreSQL will have new, extensively rewritten versions for PostgreSQL 7.4, making it more comfortable than ever for database administrators to switch. QUERY REWRITING   Includes a new option for explicit join rewriting by the query planner, easing the transition of existing applications and queries running on Sybase and MS SQL Server, which handle queries this way by default. Other Major Features ADVANCED SQL FEATURES   PostgreSQL continues to expand its support for the SQL 92 and SQL 99 standards, maintaining its place as the industry leader in standards compliance by including many SQL features not found in other databases. New in 7.4 are statement-level triggers, enhanced data type domains, and read-only transactions, as well as improved support for SQL 92 schema introduced in version 7.3. MORE DATABASE PROGRAMMING OPTIONS   Extending database server programming beyond the SQL standard, 7.4 adds multibyte regular expressions for text searching in Asian and Middle Eastern languages, polymorphic functions for more rapid development of custom data types and aggregates, and enhanced array data type handling for scientific databases. PostgreSQL is already the acknowledged leader in database customizability, and these new features widen the lead over other major RDBMSs. NEW ARRAY FEATURES   Array data type support has been extended by introducing a host of new features. New functions and operators exist to support array operations such as insertion, concatenation and comparrison. In addition, array columns may now have btree indexes built on them, and they may be included in ORDER BY and DISTINCT clauses. See the release notes for more information. NEW NETWORK SUPPORT   Now supports IPv6 Standard for TCP/IP networking, and Apple Computer's Rendezvous zero-configuration networking protocol. Complete List   For a complete list of changes in version 7.4 of the PostgreSQL RDBMS, see the Developers Change Log and the Release Notes. Unfortunately, these documents are available in English only. Full Text of Quotes From PostgreSQL Users "If you tried PostgreSQL before, and went with a commercial database like Oracle or DB2 instead, it's time to re-evaluate. PostgreSQL's expanding enterprise feature set and performance improvements over the last two years make PostgreSQL competitive with even the highest-end database systems. And you can't beat the cost." - Rod Taylor, Inquent Technologies:   http://www.inquent.com   Contact: Celal Ulgen   416-645-4600   press@inquent.com "The improved performance of PostgreSQL 7.4 for very large, data-warehouse tables will allow me to provide efficient access to a huge library of astronomical photography and spectrography, correlated with geological and meteorological observations, over the Internet. The improved indexing capabilities for custom and composite types will allow unprecedented ease in analyzing this data, which tends to be difficult to shoehorn into traditional index paradigms. The additional contribution of a proven-robust replication solution will allow me to easily provide hot failover and backup mechanisms for this data, some of which currently resides on priceless photographic plates, some of which are over 100 years old. PostgreSQL's proven performance, robustness, and programmability make the decision to use PostgreSQL for this application an easy one to make." - Lamar Owen, Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute:   http://www.pari.edu   Contact: Lamar Owen   828-862-5554   lowen@pari.edu "We have used PostgreSQL successfully for over two years in a mission-critical capacity to support our registry systems. This upgrade of PostgreSQL improves the scalability and capacity of PostgreSQL and will help to ensure continued advancements to future releases. For real-time operations, the planner/optimizer enhancements adds more intelligence and allows more efficient operation of the database. In addition, the expanded trigger capabilities sets up the basis for even further gains in future versions of PostgreSQL." - Ram Mohan, CTO, Afilias Limited :   http://www.afilias.info/about_afilias/backgrounder   Contact: Heather Carle   215-706-5777   hcarle@afilias.info For more information, please contact: In English: Josh Berkus press@postgresql.org USA 415-565-7293 In Links to More Information General The PostgreSQL Home Page or one of its mirrors. The PostgreSQL Advocacy Home Page PostgreSQL Logos PostgreSQL in the News For the technically inclined PostgreSQL Technical Documentation Meet the Postgresql Development Team GBorg - The PostgreSQL-related projects page Get PostgreSQL FTP Mirror List All content for this website and code used in it, unless otherwise marked, is Copyright © 2001-2003 PostgreSQL Global Development Group . All rights reserved.