--- title: "Postgres 17 is just a month away.." publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 566 published_at: "2024-08-21" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/566" --- Plus what do you get if you cross an elephant with a duck? | #​566 — August 21, 2024 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/566) 🏖️ Phew, it's been a while! Vacation over, and back to all things Postgres every week – for a few months at least ;-) __ _Peter Cooper, your editor_ Together with [![Percona logo\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_600,h_120/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/iplxngwgax1ktho5k45h.png)](https://learn.percona.com/postgresqlweekly-postgresql-upgrade-lp) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/ibspujzcfsdysseetixe.jpg)](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-164-158-1413-1316-1220-and-17-beta-3-released-2910/) [New Releases of Every Maintained Line of Postgres](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-164-158-1413-1316-1220-and-17-beta-3-released-2910/) — Namely 16.4, 15.8, 14.13, 13.16, 12.20, and even a third beta of Postgres 17. These are mainly for rolling out bug fixes, but a `pg_dump` vulnerability has also been resolved. **Postgres 17 final is (tentatively) expected to land in September.** PostgreSQL Global Development Group 🦆🐘 [Splicing Duck(DB) and Elephant DNA](https://motherduck.com/blog/pg_duckdb-postgresql-extension-for-duckdb-motherduck/) — [DuckDB](https://duckdb.org/) is a fast, in-process OLAP database system and a fantastic bit of engineering. It’s neat, then, to see an official [pg_duckdb extension](https://github.com/duckdb/pg_duckdb) to bring DuckDB’s powers into the Postgres world, complete with backup from Microsoft, Hydra, and Neon. Tigani and Griffin (MotherDuck) 💡 _The Register_ [has a news piece](https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/20/postgresql_duckdb_extension/) with a little more background on the effort. [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/915b7c92.png)](https://learn.percona.com/postgresqlweekly-postgresql-upgrade-lp) [PostgreSQL Upgrades, Simplified](https://learn.percona.com/postgresqlweekly-postgresql-upgrade-lp) — Streamline your PostgreSQL upgrade with zero downtime. Our expert DBAs ensure smooth transitions, addressing blockers and performance issues. Plan, test, set up, and upgrade with ease. Fill out the form to start your upgrade today! Percona sponsor [How Postgres Stores Data on Disk (This One's a Page Turner)](https://drew.silcock.dev/blog/how-postgres-stores-data-on-disk/) — A great overview of how Postgres stores data on disk, covering segments, pages, and more. More depth than you need to know, until one day, you suddenly do.. Drew Silcock [Using Postgres as a Search Engine](https://anyblockers.com/posts/postgres-as-a-search-engine) — Folks have used Postgres within search systems for years, not least with its strong full text indexing features. You can, however, go further with vector based semantic search and fuzzy matching. Eric brings together some ideas, complete with queries, here. Eric Zakariasson **QUICK BITS:** - As part of the Postgres releases (above), we're reminded that **Postgres 12 will stop receiving fixes from November 14, 2024.** - Did you know Postgres has _two_ JSON parsers included in it? Andrew Dunstan [tells the story as to why and how that occurred.](https://www.enterprisedb.com/blog/yet-another-json-parser-postgresql) [Posting Your Patch on pgsql-hackers](https://rhaas.blogspot.com/2024/08/posting-your-patch-on-pgsql-hackers.html) — Robert continues his efforts to encourage new Postgres contributors by giving some tips on how to best approach submitting patches, particularly if the [pgsql-hackers list](https://www.postgresql.org/list/pgsql-hackers/) was all crickets when you’ve tried to do so before. Robert Haas 💡 If you're not sure _what_ to even create a patch about, Tomas Vonda has written about [how to pick your first patch.](https://vondra.me/posts/how-to-pick-the-first-patch/) [Running Postgres Inside Node-RED via WASM and PGlite](https://conoroneill.net/2024/08/18/running-postgres-inside-node-red-via-wasm-and-pglite/) — [Node-RED](https://nodered.org/) is a popular Node.js-based ‘low code’ programming environment where you build ‘flows’ in the browser to connect code together. Conor O'Neill [Building a Custom HTTP Client in Amazon Aurora and RDS](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/build-a-custom-http-client-in-amazon-aurora-postgresql-and-amazon-rds-for-postgresql-an-alternative-to-oracles-utl_http/) — Oracle Database users can use the UTL_HTTP package to communicate with HTTP servers from their procedures, but when they migrate to Postgres on Aurora or RDS, a new approach is required. Gudivada, Jammula, et al. 📰 Classifieds 📊 How are you navigating the database landscape? Take part in [Redgate’s survey](https://redgate.research.net/r/QYKGFTX) and enter a prize draw for the chance to win a $250 Amazon voucher. --- [Blacksmith](https://blacksmith.sh/?ref=cooperpresspg) runs GitHub Actions up to 2x faster at half the cost with a one-line change. Trusted by 100+ companies like GitBook and Slope. 📄 [Will Postgres Development Rely on Mailing Lists Forever?](https://vondra.me/posts/will-postgres-rely-on-mailing-lists-forever/) Tomas Vondra 📄 [Dispelling Myths About Postgres' Default Privileges](https://www.percona.com/blog/dispelling-myths-about-postgresql-default-privileges/) Sagar Jadhav 📄 [The Best Postgres Feature You're Not Using: CTEs aka. WITH Clauses](http://www.craigkerstiens.com/2013/11/18/best-postgres-feature-youre-not-using/) – A golden oldie. Craig Kerstiens 📄 [Hash vs B-tree Indexes in Postgres](https://evgeniydemin.medium.com/postgresql-indexes-hash-vs-b-tree-84b4f6aa6d61) Evgeniy Demin 🛠 Code and Tools [Pigsty v3.0 Beta 1 Released with a Focus on Extensions](https://pigsty.io/blog/releases/v3.0.0-b1/) — [Pigsty](https://pigsty.io/) is an interesting Postgres distribution that promises ‘batteries included’. It’s basically an RDS-like platform but to deploy as you wish. It now lets you easily install 333 extensions as well as ‘pluggable kernels’ like Babelfish, IvorySQL, and PolarDB. Ruohang Feng [PostgREST 12.2 Released: Access Postgres RESTfully](https://supabase.com/blog/postgrest-12-2) — Now including Prometheus compatibility and statement timeouts, PostgREST is a Haskell based system for serving up a fully RESTful API from any Postgres database. [GitHub repo.](https://github.com/PostgREST/postgrest) Steve Chavez and Joe Nelson - [DoltgreSQL 0.11](https://github.com/dolthub/doltgresql) – Version-controlled Postgres-a-like. - [PGlite 0.2](https://github.com/electric-sql/pglite) – Lightweight Postgres packaged as WASM into a TypeScript library for the browser, Node.js, Bun and Deno. - [River 0.11.3](https://github.com/riverqueue/river) – Fast and reliable Postgres-powered background jobs for Go. - [pg_cron 1.6.4](https://github.com/citusdata/pg_cron) – Run periodic jobs. Simpler than`pg_timetable`. - [Good Job 4.2](https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job/releases/tag/v4.2.0) – Postgres-backed job queue for Ruby on Rails. - [SeaORM 1.0](https://github.com/SeaQL/sea-orm/releases/tag/1.0.0) – A dynamic, async ORM for Rust. - [sqlc 1.27](https://github.com/sqlc-dev/sqlc/releases/tag/v1.27.0) – Generate type-safe Go code from SQL. - [PostgreSQL High-Availability Cluster 2.0](https://github.com/vitabaks/postgresql_cluster/releases/tag/2.0.0) **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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