--- title: "Let's talk pgvector" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 539 published_at: "2024-01-24" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/539" --- Plus Citus Con becomes POSETTE, and finding the source of Postgres locks. | #​539 — January 24, 2024 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/539) 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/tuning-postgres-autovacuum?utm_source=PostgresWeeklyPrimary01242024) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1920,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/e9xvgoqdrvbiofjz2n8v.jpg)](https://www.crunchydata.com/blog/one-pid-to-lock-them-all-finding-the-source-of-the-lock-in-postgres) [One PID to Lock Them All: Finding the Source of the Lock](https://www.crunchydata.com/blog/one-pid-to-lock-them-all-finding-the-source-of-the-lock-in-postgres) — One process can lock your database, blocking other processes and queries from doing their jobs. How can you find _which_ process? Jesse goes down the rabbit hole and shares some useful queries along the way. Jesse Soyland ▶[Jonathan Katz on `pgvector`](https://postgres.fm/episodes/pgvector) — Postgres core team member Jonathan Katz went on the [Postgres.fm podcast](https://postgres.fm/) to talk about the increasingly popular [pgvector extension](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector), its use cases, indexing approaches, and how [TOAST](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/storage-toast.html) gets involved, along with host Michael Christofides. Postgres FM [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/1e9331a3.png)](https://pganalyze.com/ebooks/tuning-postgres-autovacuum?utm_source=PostgresWeeklyPrimary01242024) [eBook: Tuning Autovacuum for Best Postgres Performance](https://pganalyze.com/ebooks/tuning-postgres-autovacuum?utm_source=PostgresWeeklyPrimary01242024) — Learn about tuning settings for scheduling and performance, reducing autovacuum overhead during business hours, the xmin horizon and how it blocks vacuums, why to avoid anti-wraparound vacuums and how to reduce bloat by tuning dead tuple thresholds. pganalyze sponsor _IN BRIEF:_ - [Tembo has hired PGXN creator David Wheeler](https://tembo.io/blog/welcoming-david-wheeler/) to work on Postgres extension discovery and distribution. - The PostgreSQL project [is now a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)](https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/170560803915.664.7446821114417423023%40wrigleys.postgresql.org) meaning it can directly issue [CVE](https://cve.mitre.org/) IDs for vulnerabilities within its scope. - 🎧 Marco Slot and Jelte Fennema went on the _Path to Citus Con_ podcast (.. _Path to POSETTE_? 😁) to [talk about performance benchmarking](https://pathtocituscon.transistor.fm/episodes/my-journey-into-performance-benchmarking-with-jelte-fennema-nio-marco-slot) in the context of Postgres, including the best tools and techniques to use. - 📊 Pavlo Golub introduces [a new Grafana dashboard for monitoring `pg_timetable` jobs.](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/grafana-dashboard-for-pg_timetable-scheduled-jobs/) - Hans-Jürgen Schönig [reflects on his PGConf EU 2023 keynote](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/postgresql-why-true-open-source-matters/) and the importance of open source when trusting how to store data. [POSETTE: _Citus Con_ Renames for 2024](https://www.citusdata.com/posette/2024/) — Microsoft has run the virtual _Citus Con_ event for two years now, but in 2024 it becomes _POSETTE_ (standing for the less-than-euphonic _“Postgres Open Source Ecosystem Talks Training & Education”_). It's on June 11-12 and [the CFP is open](https://www.citusdata.com/posette/2024/cfp/) if you'd like to speak. Microsoft 🍕 [How to Use `SUBSTRING`](https://ftisiot.net/posts/postgresql-substr/) — String slicing and dicing.. along with a little pizza, in this case. Francesco Tisiot [Why Postgres RDS Didn’t Work for Us](https://medium.com/@mkremer_75412/why-postgres-rds-didnt-work-for-us-and-why-it-won-t-work-for-you-if-you-re-implementing-a-big-6c4fff5a8644) Max Kremer 📰 Classifieds Catch up on the [PostgreSQL 101 series](https://www.red-gate.com/hub/events/series/postgresql-101?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mc-202401-t2-sodl-xdb-ubi-gc-all&utm_content=pg_webinar_series) - available to watch on-demand, the series covers a series of key topics for new PostgreSQL users. 🛠 Code and Tools [Apache AGE 1.5rc: A Graph Extension for Postgres](https://age.apache.org/) — AGE provides graph database functionality (by way of openCypher) to Postgres and was inspired by AgensGraph. [v1.5](https://github.com/apache/age/releases/tag/PG14%2Fv1.5.0-rc0) is now in the release candidate stage and adds Postgres 16 support while otherwise making minor enhancements. [Main repo.](https://github.com/apache/age) Apache Foundation [A 'Fairly Full Featured' Ansible Role for Postgres](https://github.com/ANXS/postgresql) — An Ansible 2.4+ role that installs and configures Postgres 12 upwards along with extensions, and can set up databases and users too. Postgres 16 support landed this week. ANXS [pgmoneta: A Backup / Restore Solution for Postgres](https://pgmoneta.github.io/) — Formerly a Red Hat project, but now independent, pgmoneta is a complete database backup and restore toolkit, with support for encryption, compression, retention policies, Prometheus, and more. [GitHub repo.](https://github.com/pgmoneta/pgmoneta) The pgmoneta Community [supa_audit: Generic Table Auditing for Postgres](https://github.com/supabase/supa_audit) — A generic solution for tracking changes to tables’ data over time by storing history in a separate audit table. Supabase [oracle_fdw: A Foreign Data Wrapper for Oracle Database](https://github.com/laurenz/oracle_fdw) — Provides efficient access to Oracle databases, including pushdown of `WHERE` conditions and required columns as well as comprehensive `EXPLAIN` support. Laurenz Albe [Reshape 0.7: A Zero-Downtime Schema Migration Tool](https://github.com/fabianlindfors/reshape) — During a migration, Reshape ensures both the old and new schema are available at the same time, allowing you to gradually roll out your app. Fabian Lindfors - [PLV8 3.2.2](https://github.com/plv8/plv8) – Use JavaScript for Postgres procedures. - [ScalikeJDBC 4.2](https://github.com/scalikejdbc/scalikejdbc) – Database client library for Scala. **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. Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom Postgres, PostgreSQL and the Slonik Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada. [Stop getting this newsletter](https://postgresweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*).