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PostgreSQL 12 Beta 4 Released!

Posted on 2019-09-12 by PostgreSQL Global Development Group
PostgreSQL Project

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the fourth beta release of PostgreSQL 12 is now available for download. This release contains previews of all features that will be available in the final release of PostgreSQL 12, though some details of the release could change before then.

This is likely the final beta release of PostgreSQL 12 before a release candidate is made available.

In the spirit of the open source PostgreSQL community, we strongly encourage you to test the new features of PostgreSQL 12 in your database systems to help us eliminate any bugs or other issues that may exist.

Upgrading to PostgreSQL 12 Beta 4

To upgrade to PostgreSQL 12 Beta 4 from Beta 3 or an earlier version of PostgreSQL 12, 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.

Changes Since 12 Beta 3

There have been many bug fixes for PostgreSQL 12 reported during the Beta 3 period and applied to the Beta 4 release. This release also includes other bug fixes that were reported for supported versions of PostgreSQL that also affected PostgreSQL 12.

These changes include:

  • Fix for crash that could occur with nested queries that contain locks
  • Only allow chained transactions to work in an explicitly set transaction block, otherwise error
  • Changed the log level for several types of messages around partitioning to DEBUG1
  • Add the default_table_access_method configuration parameter to the sample configuration kept in postgresql.sample.conf
  • Fix handling of duplicate entries in postgresql.auto.conf when ALTER SYSTEM is called. Now, when a configuration parameter with duplicate entries is updated, PostgreSQL will remove all entries and append the new entry to the end
  • Ensure ALTER SYSTEM makes case-insensitive comparisons when adjusting entries in the configuration

For a detailed list of fixes, please visit the open items page.

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 12. As this is a Beta, minor 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. You can report bugs using this form on the PostgreSQL website:

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

Beta Schedule

This is the fourth beta release of version 12. In all likelihood, this is the final beta release of PostgreSQL 12 before one or more release candidates are made available. For further information please see the Beta Testing page.

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