PostgreSQL 13 Beta 2 Released!

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the second beta
release of PostgreSQL 13 is now available for download. This release
contains previews of all features that will be available in the final
release of PostgreSQL 13, though some details of the release could
change before then.

You can find information about all of the features and changes found in
PostgreSQL 13 in the release notes:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html

In the spirit of the open source PostgreSQL community, we strongly
encourage you to test the new features of PostgreSQL 13 in your systems
to help us eliminate any bugs or other issues that may exist. While we
do not advise you to run PostgreSQL 13 Beta 2 in your production
environments, we encourage you to find ways to run your typical
application workloads against this beta release.

You can read more about our beta testing process and how you can
contribute here:

https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/

Upgrading to PostgreSQL 13 Beta 2
---------------------------------

To upgrade to PostgreSQL 13 Beta 2 from Beta 1 or an earlier version of
PostgreSQL, you will need to use a strategy similar to upgrading between
major versions of PostgreSQL (e.g. `pg_upgrade` or `pg_dump` /
`pg_restore`). For more information, please visit the documentation
section on upgrading:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/static/upgrading.html

Changes Since Beta 1
--------------------

There have been many bug fixes for PostgreSQL 13 reported during the
Beta 1 period and applied to the Beta 2 release. This includes:

- The `effective_io_concurrency` configuration parameter is now simpler
to use. To convert from the old value to the new value, you can use this
formula: `SELECT round(sum(OLD / n::float)) from generate_series(1, OLD)
s(n);`.
- The `enable_hashagg_disk` configuration parameter is renamed to
`hashagg_avoid_disk_plan` and defaults to `off`.
- The `enable_groupingsets_hash_disk` configuration parameter has been
removed.
- `EXPLAIN ANALYZE` output for parallel query plans that have hash
aggregates spill to disk now show max memory and disk usage per worker.
- Several additional fixes and improvements for the hash aggregation
spilling to to disk feature.
- Fix a crash in the WAL sender when starting physical replication.

Please see the release notes for a complete list of new and changed
features:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html

Testing for Bugs & Compatibility
--------------------------------

The stability of each PostgreSQL release greatly depends on you, the
community, to test the upcoming version with your workloads and testing
tools in order to find bugs and regressions before the general
availability of PostgreSQL 13. As this is a Beta, changes to database
behaviors, feature details, and APIs are still possible. Your feedback
and testing will help determine the final tweaks on the new features, so
please test in the near future. The quality of user testing helps
determine when we can make a final release.

A list of open issues is publicly available in the PostgreSQL wiki:

https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/PostgreSQL_13_Open_Items

You can report bugs using this form on the PostgreSQL website:

https://www.postgresql.org/account/submitbug/

Beta Schedule
-------------

This is the second beta release of version 13. The PostgreSQL Project
will release additional betas as required for testing, followed by one
or more release candidates, until the final release in late 2020. For
further information please see the Beta Testing page:

https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/

Links
-----

* Download: https://www.postgresql.org/download/
* Beta Testing Information: https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/
* PostgreSQL 13 Beta Release Notes:
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html
* PostgreSQL 13 Open Issues:
https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/PostgreSQL_13_Open_Items
* Submit a Bug: https://www.postgresql.org/account/submitbug/
* Follow @postgresql on Twitter: https://twitter.com/postgresql