--- title: "Eight Postgres extensions worth knowing" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 530 published_at: "2023-11-15" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/530" --- Plus a Postgres-powered SQL Server drop in for Windows, and saying goodbye to Postgres 11. | #​530 — November 15, 2023 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/530) Together with [![pgAnalyze\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_350,h_100/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/lhwcvgc1asd4fzaahty4.png)](https://pganalyze.com/ebooks/advanced-database-programming-rails-postgres?utm_source=PostgresWeeklyPrimary11232023) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/knva7pu6zhv8xiyp2f8j.jpg)](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-161-155-1410-1313-1217-and-1122-released-2749/) [Postgres 16.1, 15.5, 14.10, 13.13, 12.17, and 11.22 Released](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-161-155-1410-1313-1217-and-1122-released-2749/) — Every release line of Postgres from 11 through 16 gets an update to fix three security issues, but Postgres 16 also gets many bug fixes in its first minor update. The team notes **this is the final release of Postgres 11** and it is now considered ‘end of life’ having been [first released](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-11-released-1894/) five years ago 👋 PostgreSQL Global Development Group [Two Exciting Postgres Features to Improve NULL Handling](https://www.pgrs.net/2023/11/14/two-exciting-postgresql-features-to-improve-null-handling/) — Covers `UNIQUE NULLS NOT DISTINCT` (introduced in Postgres 15) and the ability to create a constraint that ensures there is only _one_ non-NULL value among a set of columns. Paul Gross [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/2744c0aa.png)](https://pganalyze.com/ebooks/advanced-database-programming-rails-postgres?utm_source=PostgresWeeklyPrimary11232023) [Free eBook: Advanced Database Programming with Rails and Postgres](https://pganalyze.com/ebooks/advanced-database-programming-rails-postgres?utm_source=PostgresWeeklyPrimary11232023) — Learn about subqueries, materialized views, and custom data types in Postgres and Rails. We walk through realistic real-life examples, translating first into SQL, and then into Rails code. Every example comes with source code so you can follow along. pganalyze sponsor [Top 8 Postgres Extensions to Know About](https://www.timescale.com/blog/top-8-postgresql-extensions/) — Timescale engineers share a selection of extensions they use and are excited by, running the gamut from large, popular ones like PostGIS through to the lesser spotted `pgpcre`. Sewrathan and Clark (Timescale) **IN BRIEF:** - 📅 [PgConf.Dev 2024](https://2024.pgconf.dev/) is taking place in Vancouver, Canada next May – they have [a call for papers](https://2024.pgconf.dev/cfp/) open until January 15. Registration opens soon. - At the recent _AI Engineer Summit_, Supabase's Paul Copplestone gave [▶️ a talk about Supabase Vector](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDxEXKkxf2Q) and its [pgvector](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector) underpinnings. - Redgate's Ryan Booz and Grant Fritchey presented an hour-long [▶️ session on getting the most out of Postgres's documentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhVNrWBC5QY) and other community resources. They forgot to mention us, but other than that it's pretty good! 😅 - First introduced in Postgres 10, [SCRAM authentication is here to stay](https://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2023.html#November_8_2023), says Bruce Momjian. [Fun with Postgres Floats, Positioning, and Sequencing](https://www.crunchydata.com/blog/fun-with-postgres-floats-positioning-and-sequencing) — Greg continues to amaze with his PL/pgSQL-based solutions to 2022’s _Advent of Code._ This outing deftly brings together several pieces of functionality in one place. Greg Mullane ▶[PostgreSQL Takes a New Turn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KvYy4FkSfk) — A 20-minute chat between Alex Williams (of _The New Stack_) and Jonathan Katz, a core contributor to Postgres. They tackle Postgres 16, how some features can take so long to develop, and Jonathan’s community work. The New Stack [Boosting Query Performance with Incremental Materialized Views!](https://docs.epsio.io/?utm_source=pgwk11) Epsio sponsor [`kill -9` Explained for Postgres](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/kill-9-explained-postgresql/) — If you want to kill a Postgres process in the most abrupt way possible, hold that thought until you see how `kill -9` works versus a normal process kill and how Postgres handles it. Hans-Jürgen Schönig [Building a Streaming Platform in Go for Postgres](https://blog.peerdb.io/building-a-streaming-platform-in-go-for-postgres) Kaushik Iska (PeerDB) Code and Tools [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/rlmtdujyzbofbltdhyq2.jpg)](https://wiltondb.com/) [WiltonDB: A Drop-in for SQL Server on Windows, Powered by Postgres](https://wiltondb.com/) — [Babelfish](https://babelfishpg.org/) is an Amazon project that lets Postgres understand the SQL Server wire protocol and the T-SQL language. WiltonDB packages Babelfish together with Postgres and provides it _on Windows itself_ to act as a drop-in replacement for SQL Server. WiltonDB Software 💡 On a related tangent, Ryan Booz recent spoke on [▶️ 10 key differences between Postgres and SQL Server.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3MFUi3_Hw) It's a good overview of Postgres generally, too. [PGMQ: A Lightweight Message Queue on Postgres with No Background Worker](https://tembo.io/blog/pgmq-self-regulating-queue/) — Three months ago, Adam [introduced PGMQ](https://tembo.io/blog/introducing-pgmq/) for the first time, but now explains how PGMQ can keep a message queue working cleanly _without_ any external watcher, all thanks to `FOR UPDATE` and `SKIP LOCKED`. Adam Hendel [RisingWave 1.4: 'Postgres-Like' Distributed SQL Stream Processing](https://github.com/risingwavelabs/risingwave) — _Not_ Postgres but a project that opens itself to the Postgres ecosystem with wire protocol compatibility. RisingWave Labs - [pg_stat_monitor 2.0.3](https://github.com/percona/pg_stat_monitor) – Query performance monitoring tool. - [temBoard 8.2](https://github.com/dalibo/temboard) – Manage Postgres from a web interface. - [usql 0.16](https://github.com/xo/usql) – Universal CLI for SQL databases. - [pspg 5.8.1](https://github.com/okbob/pspg) – Unix terminal pager for tabular data. - [Hydra 1.0.2](https://github.com/hydradatabase/hydra/releases/tag/v1.0.2) – Column-oriented Postgres. - [plpgsql_check 2.6.1](https://github.com/okbob/plpgsql_check) – PL/pgSQL linter. **Got a new email?** You can [change your address here](https://postgresweekly.com/edit_subscription/*|UID|*). --- **Bored of us?** [Click here to stop getting Postgres Weekly](https://postgresweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*). --- **Got a link for us?** Reply and tell us. We can't include everything but we'll look at anything you send. _Thanks!_ --- Published by Cooper Press Ltd. 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