--- title: "Tom Lane on threads, MVCC and 30 years of Postgres" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 665 published_at: "2026-09-16" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/665" --- Plus what 'one more index' really costs, PlanetScale launches Neki, and plan advice in Postgres 19. #​665 — September 16, 2026 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/665) Together with [![Render\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_500,h_100/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/bil3olyaqqkao0fkbhis.png)](https://dashboard.render.com/register?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2026_newsletter_cooperpress&utm_content=pg_weekly) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/fs6z3yph6p3jzdk4akbg.jpg)](https://www.snowflake.com/en/blog/engineering/30-years-of-postgres-architecture-tom-lane/) [Tom Lane on 30 Years of Postgres Architecture](https://www.snowflake.com/en/blog/engineering/30-years-of-postgres-architecture-tom-lane/) — The hugely prolific Postgres core team member (who also co-wrote the original PNG spec!) tackles a _lot_ here, including why Postgres uses processes rather than threads, reliability, MVCC, and how v13 was his least favorite version. There's also [▶️ an hour-long video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ajXkLeVXxQ) of the entire interview. Elizabeth Garrett Christensen and Tom Lane [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_limit,w_480,h_480,q_auto/copm/9c656ab3.jpg)](https://dashboard.render.com/register?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2026_newsletter_cooperpress&utm_content=pg_weekly) [Render Runs Postgres Alongside Your Apps](https://dashboard.render.com/register?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2026_newsletter_cooperpress&utm_content=pg_weekly) — Spin up a production-ready Postgres database in seconds. Connect from web services, background workers, and agent workflows over a private network, all on one platform. Manage backups, scaling, and high availability without the operational overhead. [Start free and scale from there](https://dashboard.render.com/register?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2026_newsletter_cooperpress&utm_content=pg_weekly). Render sponsor [The Lifecycle of a Sharded Postgres Query](https://planetscale.com/blog/the-lifecycle-of-a-sharded-postgres-query) — PlanetScale has [launched Neki](https://planetscale.com/blog/introducing-neki), a sharded Postgres system where a router speaks the wire protocol and plans queries across shards of standard Postgres servers. This illustrated walkthrough is the more interesting read, though. PlanetScale Team 💡 PlanetScale is ['undecided'](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49646445) as to whether Neki will be open sourced. [Citus](https://github.com/citusdata/citus) is the established open-source distributed Postgres option, taking a more integrated extension-based approach instead. **IN BRIEF:** - [postgres-contrib.org now has a submissions form](https://postgres-contrib.org/post/96/) for telling them about non-code Postgres contributions (talks, meetups, translations, reviews, mentoring). No account or email is needed. - 🇨🇳 你会说中文吗？Ruohang Feng [has unveiled `pgsql.cc`](https://vonng.com/en/pg/pgsql-cc-online/), a Chinese-language Postgres site with full Chinese documentation for 11 versions. - 🇨🇭 [CERN PGDay 2027](https://www.swisspug.org/cern-pgday-2027.html) takes place on February 12, 2027 at CERN in Geneva. A [CFP is open](https://indico.cern.ch/event/1720940/abstracts/) until November 8. - 🇪🇺 [PGConf.EU 2026](https://2026.pgconf.eu/) is only a month away on October 20–22 in Valencia, Spain. [Plan Advice in Postgres 19](https://tapoueh.org/blog/2026/09/plan-advice-in-postgresql-19/) — Two new modules, `pg_plan_advice` and `pg_stash_advice`, let you capture planner advice, selectively enforce it, and apply advice automatically by query ID. Dimitri shows off the workflow. Dimitri Fontaine [The Unbearable Lightness of 'One More Index'](https://boringsql.com/posts/unbearable-lightness-of-one-more-index/) — Adding an index to tackle a problem on a hot table can seem sensible, but the costs can quickly rack up as they accumulate. This post looks at the tradeoffs involved and how to assess them. Radim Marek 📊 [Postgres Development Activity Over 28 Years](https://vondra.me/posts/postgres-development-activity/) — Armed with charts, Tomas shows how the `pgsql-hackers` list has got much busier over time, while commits and insertions/deletions have been slowly and steadily growing. Tomas Vondra [Troubleshooting Row Lock Contention in Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/troubleshooting-row-lock-contention-in-amazon-aurora-postgresql-part-1-understanding-row-lock-contention-in-postgresql/) — How to trace row lock contention with built-in views, `pgrowlocks`, and lock-wait logging. [Part two](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/resolve-amazon-aurora-postgresql-lock-contention-with-database-insights-part-2/) covers using AWS's tooling to locate the contention, then explores ways to fix it. Kumar and Manivasakan (Amazon) 📄 [Optimizing Aggregates: What Can an Extension Do?](https://www.pgedge.com/blog/optimising-postgresql-aggregates-what-can-an-extension-do) – Using Postgres 19's new planner hook to prototype stripping a needless sort from `SUM(x ORDER BY x)`. Andrei Lepikhov 📰 Classifieds 🎟️ Join us at [Supabase Select](https://supabase.link/JKX1Ifb) and learn how we’re building the next generation operating system for Postgres with Multigres. [Apply to attend with 25% off: SUPAWEEKLY](https://supabase.link/JKX1Ifb). --- 🧊 Paying SSD prices for data nobody reads? [ColdFront tiers old Postgres rows to S3 automatically](https://github.com/pgEdge/coldfront), the open source way. **RELEASES AND CODE:** [pgrust 0.3: A Rust Rewrite of Postgres, Now Ready to Try](https://pgrust.com/blog/pgrust-v0-3/) — A noteworthy milestone for a Rust reimplementation of Postgres that you're invited to try on real world workloads (in a non-critical environment!). [v0.3](https://github.com/malisper/pgrust/releases/tag/v0.3) now tracks Postgres 18.6 and focuses on reliability. There's also [a browser-based demo](https://pgrust.com/) so you can kick the tires without installing it. [GitHub repo](https://github.com/malisper/pgrust). Michael Malis [WalShadow: Replicating Postgres to ClickHouse from Physical WAL](https://clickhouse.com/blog/introducing-walshadow) — A new open-source engine to replicate Postgres data into ClickHouse without logical decoding. ClickHouse reports ~200ms commit-to-visible latency. Sai Srirampur (ClickHouse) [PostgreSQL Migrator 1.0: Migrate Oracle and MySQL to Postgres](https://blog.dalibo.com/2026/09/07/postgresql-migrator-1-en.html) — A single-binary tool for migrating Oracle and MySQL/MariaDB databases, with a web UI for spotting problems and fast `COPY`-based data transfers. Étienne Bersac (Dalibo) - [OrioleDB beta17](https://github.com/orioledb/orioledb/releases/tag/beta17) – Supabase's alternative storage engine for Postgres adds `CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY` and `REINDEX CONCURRENTLY` for btree indexes, page checksums, and cross-major `pg_upgrade`support. - [pgstream 1.5](https://github.com/xataio/pgstream/releases/tag/v1.5.0) – CDC for Postgres that replicates DDL and schema changes too. - [PostgREST 16.3](https://github.com/PostgREST/postgrest) – Serve a fully RESTful API from any existing database. - [pgmq 1.13.0](https://github.com/pgmq/pgmq/releases/tag/v1.13.0) – The lightweight message queue extension. **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|*).