From cbcd3f9a927af05e2c4f0c74a5507641790f9522 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bruce Momjian Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:20:46 +0000 Subject: New TODO list URL wiki location listed; contents truncated. --- doc/src/FAQ/TODO.html | 1868 +------------------------------------------------ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1865 deletions(-) (limited to 'doc/src') diff --git a/doc/src/FAQ/TODO.html b/doc/src/FAQ/TODO.html index bc9ea5e3bf..a269186897 100644 --- a/doc/src/FAQ/TODO.html +++ b/doc/src/FAQ/TODO.html @@ -2,1875 +2,13 @@ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> -PostgreSQL TODO List +The TODO list is now maintained at: -

PostgreSQL TODO List

Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (bruce@momjian.us)
-Last updated: Tue Aug 19 15:19:46 EDT 2008 +

The TODO list is now maintained at:

The most recent version of this document can be viewed at
-http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs.TODO.html. -

A hyphen, "-", marks changes that will appear in the upcoming 8.4 release.
-A percent sign, "%", marks items that are easier to implement. -

This list contains all known PostgreSQL bugs and feature requests. If
-you would like to work on an item, please read the Developer's FAQ
-first. There is also a developer's wiki at
-http://developer.postgresql.org. -

Administration

- -

-Allow administrators to safely terminate individual sessions either - via an SQL function or SIGTERM -
Check for unreferenced table files created by transactions that were - in-progress when the server terminated abruptly -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00096.php -
-
Set proper permissions on non-system schemas during db creation -
Currently all schemas are owned by the super-user because they are copied - from the template1 database. However, since all objects are inherited - from the template database, it is not clear that setting schemas to the db - owner is correct. -
-
-Add function to report the time of the most recent server reload -
Allow log_min_messages to be specified on a per-module basis -
This would allow administrators to see more detailed information from - specific sections of the backend, e.g. checkpoints, autovacuum, etc. - Another idea is to allow separate configuration files for each module, - or allow arbitrary SET commands to be passed to them. -
-
Simplify ability to create partitioned tables -
This would allow creation of partitioned tables without requiring - creation of triggers or rules for INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE, and constraints - for rapid partition selection. Options could include range and hash - partition selection. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00375.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00151.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00028.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00248.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00387.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00413.php -
-
Allow auto-selection of partitioned tables for min/max() operations -
Allow more complex user/database default GUC settings -
Currently ALTER USER and ALTER DATABASE support per-user and - per-database defaults. Consider adding per-user-and-database - defaults so things like search_path can be defaulted for a - specific user connecting to a specific database. -
-
Allow custom variables to appear in pg_settings() -
Allow custom variable classes that can restrict who can set the values -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00911.php -
-
Implement the SQL standard mechanism whereby REVOKE ROLE revokes only - the privilege granted by the invoking role, and not those granted - by other roles -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-05/msg00010.php -
-
Allow SSL authentication/encryption over unix domain sockets -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00924.php -
-
Allow SSL key file permission checks to be optionally disabled when - sharing SSL keys with other applications -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-12/msg00069.php -
-
Allow SSL client certificate names to be checked against the client - hostname -
This is already implemented in - libpq/fe-secure.c::verify_peer_name_matches_certificate() but the code - is commented out. -
-
Add 'hostgss' pg_hba.conf option to allow GSS link-level encryption -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-07/msg01454.php -
-
Improve server security options -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01875.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00000.php -
-
Prevent query cancel packets from being replayed by an attacker, - especially when using SSL -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-08/msg00345.php -
-
Configuration files -
- Allow pg_hba.conf to specify host names along with IP addresses -
  Host name lookup could occur when the postmaster reads the - pg_hba.conf file, or when the backend starts. Another - solution would be to reverse lookup the connection IP and - check that hostname against the host names in pg_hba.conf. - We could also then check that the host name maps to the IP - address. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-06/msg00569.php -
  -
- %Allow postgresql.conf file values to be changed via an SQL - API, perhaps using SET GLOBAL -
- Allow the server to be stopped/restarted via an SQL API -
- Issue a warning if a change-on-restart-only postgresql.conf value - is modified and the server config files are reloaded -
- Consider normalizing fractions in postgresql.conf, perhaps - using '%' -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00550.php -
  -
- Allow Kerberos to disable stripping of realms so we can - check the username@realm against multiple realms -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00009.php -
  -
- Add functions to syntax check configuration files -
- Improve LDAP authentication configuration options -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01745.php -
  -
- Add external tool to auto-tune some postgresql.conf parameters -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-06/msg00000.php -
  -
-
Tablespaces -
- Allow a database in tablespace t1 with tables created in - tablespace t2 to be used as a template for a new database created - with default tablespace t2 -
  Currently all objects in the default database tablespace must - have default tablespace specifications. This is because new - databases are created by copying directories. If you mix default - tablespace tables and tablespace-specified tables in the same - directory, creating a new database from such a mixed directory - would create a new database with tables that had incorrect - explicit tablespaces. To fix this would require modifying - pg_class in the newly copied database, which we don't currently - do. -
  -
- Allow reporting of which objects are in which tablespaces -
  This item is difficult because a tablespace can contain objects - from multiple databases. There is a server-side function that - returns the databases which use a specific tablespace, so this - requires a tool that will call that function and connect to each - database to find the objects in each database for that tablespace. -
  -
- Allow WAL replay of CREATE TABLESPACE to work when the directory - structure on the recovery computer is different from the original -
- Allow per-tablespace quotas -
-
Statistics Collector -
- Allow statistics collector information to be pulled from the collector - process directly, rather than requiring the collector to write a - filesystem file twice a second? -
- Reduce file system activity overhead of statistics file pgstat.stat -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-12/msg00106.php -
  -
- Allow statistics last vacuum/analyze execution times to be displayed - without requiring stats_row_level to be enabled -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2007-04/msg00028.php -
  -
- Clear table counters on TRUNCATE -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00169.php -
  -
-
Point-In-Time Recovery (PITR) -
- Allow a warm standby system to also allow read-only statements -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00050.php -
  -
- %Create dump tool for write-ahead logs for use in determining - transaction id for point-in-time recovery -
  This is useful for checking PITR recovery. -
  -
- Allow recovery.conf to support the same syntax as - postgresql.conf, including quoting -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00497.php -
  -
- -Fix server restart problem when the server was shutdown during - a PITR backup -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00800.php -
  -
- Recreate pg_xlog/archive_status/ if it doesn't exist after - restoring from a PITR backup -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00487.php -
  -
- Reduce PITR WAL file size by removing full page writes and - by removing trailing bytes to improve compression -
-

Data Types

- -

Change NUMERIC to enforce the maximum precision -
Reduce storage space for small NUMERICs -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg01331.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-02/msg00505.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00715.php -
-
Fix data types where equality comparison isn't intuitive, e.g. box -
Add support for public SYNONYMs -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-03/msg00519.php -
-
Fix CREATE CAST on DOMAINs -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-05/msg00072.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01681.php -
-
Allow domains to be cast -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2003-06/msg01206.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00289.php -
-
Add support for SQL-standard GENERATED/IDENTITY columns -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-07/msg00543.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00038.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00344.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00076.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00604.php -
-
Improve XML support -
http://developer.postgresql.org/index.php/XML_Support -
-
Consider placing all sequences in a single table, or create a system - view -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00008.php -
-
Allow the UUID type to accept non-standard formats -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01214.php -
-
Consider a special data type for regular expressions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg01067.php -
-
Reduce BIT data type overhead using short varlena headers -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-12/msg00273.php -
-
Allow xml arrays to be cast to other data types -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00981.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00231.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00471.php -
-
Simplify integer cross-data-type operators -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-01/msg00189.php -
-
Allow adding/renaming/removing enumerated values to an existing - enumerated data type -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01718.php -
-
Dates and Times -
- Allow infinite dates and intervals just like infinite timestamps -
- Merge hardwired timezone names with the TZ database; allow either - kind everywhere a TZ name is currently taken -
- Allow TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE to store the original timezone - information, either zone name or offset from UTC -
  If the TIMESTAMP value is stored with a time zone name, interval - computations should adjust based on the time zone rules. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-10/msg00705.php -
  -
- Fix SELECT '0.01 years'::interval, '0.01 months'::interval -
- Add a GUC variable to allow output of interval values in ISO8601 - format -
- Have timestamp subtraction not call justify_hours()? -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-sql/2006-10/msg00059.php -
  -
- Improve timestamptz subtraction to be DST-aware -
  Currently subtracting one date from another that crosses a - daylight savings time adjustment can return '1 day 1 hour', but - adding that back to the first date returns a time one hour in - the future. This is caused by the adjustment of '25 hours' to - '1 day 1 hour', and '1 day' is the same time the next day, even - if daylight savings adjustments are involved. -
  -
- Fix interval display to support values exceeding 2^31 hours -
- Add overflow checking to timestamp and interval arithmetic -
- Extend timezone code to allow 64-bit values so we can - represent years beyond 2038 -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01363.php -
  -
- -Use LC_TIME for localized weekday/month names, rather than - LC_MESSAGES -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00390.php -
  -
-
Add ISO INTERVAL handling -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-01/msg00250.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2006-04/msg00248.php -
-
- Support ISO INTERVAL syntax if units cannot be determined from - the string, and are supplied after the string -
  The SQL standard states that the units after the string - specify the units of the string, e.g. INTERVAL '2' MINUTE - should return '00:02:00'. The current behavior has the units - restrict the interval value to the specified unit or unit - range, INTERVAL '70' SECOND returns '00:00:10'. -
  -
  For syntax that isn't uniquely ISO or PG syntax, like '1' or - '1:30', treat as ISO if there is a range specification clause, - and as PG if there no clause is present, e.g. interpret '1:30' - MINUTE TO SECOND as '1 minute 30 seconds', and interpret - '1:30' as '1 hour, 30 minutes'. -
  -
  This makes common cases like SELECT INTERVAL '1' MONTH - SQL-standard results. The SQL standard supports a limited - number of unit combinations and doesn't support unit names in - the string. The PostgreSQL syntax is more flexible in the - range of units supported, e.g. PostgreSQL supports '1 year 1 - hour', while the SQL standard does not. -
  -
- Add support for year-month syntax, INTERVAL '50-6' YEAR - TO MONTH -
- Interpret INTERVAL '1 year' MONTH as CAST (INTERVAL '1 - year' AS INTERVAL MONTH), and this should return '12 months' -
- Round or truncate values to the requested precision, e.g. - INTERVAL '11 months' AS YEAR should return one or zero -
- Support precision, CREATE TABLE foo (a INTERVAL MONTH(3)) -
-
Arrays -
- Delay resolution of array expression's data type so assignment - coercion can be performed on empty array expressions -
- Add support for arrays of domains -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00114.php -
  -
- Allow single-byte header storage for array elements -
-
Binary Data -
- Improve vacuum of large objects, like contrib/vacuumlo? -
- Add security checking for large objects -
- Auto-delete large objects when referencing row is deleted -
  contrib/lo offers this functionality. -
  -
- Allow read/write into TOAST values like large objects -
  This requires the TOAST column to be stored EXTERNAL. -
  -
- Add API for 64-bit large object access -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00781.php -
  -
-
MONEY data type -
- Add locale-aware MONEY type, and support multiple currencies -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2005-08/msg01432.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01181.php -
  -
- MONEY dumps in a locale-specific format making it difficult to - restore to a system with a different locale -
- Allow MONEY to be easily cast to/from other numeric data types -
-
Text Search -
- Allow dictionaries to change the token that is passed on to - later dictionaries -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-11/msg00081.php -
  -
- Consider a function-based API for '@@' searches -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00511.php -
  -
- Improve text search error messages -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00966.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg01146.php -
  -
- Consider changing error to warning for strings larger than one - megabyte -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-02/msg00190.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-03/msg00062.php -
  -
-

Functions

- -

Allow INET subnet tests using non-constants to be indexed -
Allow to_date() and to_timestamp() accept localized month names -
Fix to_date()-related functions to consistently issue errors -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00915.php -
-
Add missing parameter handling in to_char() -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg00948.php -
-
Allow substring/replace() to get/set bit values -
Allow to_char() on interval values to accumulate the highest unit - requested -
Some special format flag would be required to request such - accumulation. Such functionality could also be added to EXTRACT. - Prevent accumulation that crosses the month/day boundary because of - the uneven number of days in a month. -
-
- to_char(INTERVAL '1 hour 5 minutes', 'MI') => 65 -
- to_char(INTERVAL '43 hours 20 minutes', 'MI' ) => 2600 -
- to_char(INTERVAL '43 hours 20 minutes', 'WK:DD:HR:MI') => 0:1:19:20 -
- to_char(INTERVAL '3 years 5 months','MM') => 41 -
-
Implement inlining of set-returning functions defined in SQL -
Allow SQL-language functions to return results from RETURNING queries -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00665.php -
-
Allow SQL-language functions to reference parameters by parameter name -
Currently SQL-language functions can only refer to dollar parameters, - e.g. $1 -
-
Add SPI_gettypmod() to return the typemod for a TupleDesc -
Enforce typmod for function inputs, function results and parameters for - spi_prepare'd statements called from PLs -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01403.php -
-
Allow holdable cursors in SPI -
Tighten function permission checks -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00568.php -
-
Fix IS OF so it matches the ISO specification, and add documentation -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2003-08/msg00060.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00060.php -
-
Add missing operators for geometric data types -
Some geometric types do not have the full suite of geometric operators, - e.g. box @> point -
-
Implement Boyer-Moore searching in strpos() -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-08/msg00012.php -
-
Prevent malicious functions from being executed with the permissions - of unsuspecting users -
Index functions are safe, so VACUUM and ANALYZE are safe too. - Triggers, CHECK and DEFAULT expressions, and rules are still vulnerable. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00268.php -
-
Reduce memory usage of aggregates in set returning functions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2008-01/msg00031.php -
-
-Add temporal versions of generate_series() -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg01180.php -
-
Add array_accum() and array_to_set() functions for arrays -
The standards specify array_agg() and UNNEST. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00464.php -
-
Fix /contrib/ltree operator -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-11/msg00044.php -
-
Fix inconsistent precedence of =, >, and < compared to <>, >=, and <= -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-12/msg00145.php -
-
Fix regular expression bug when using complex back-references -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-10/msg00000.php -
-
Have /contrib/dblink reuse unnamed connections -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00895.php -
-
Add SQL-standard array_agg() and unnest() array functions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01017.php -
-
Allow calling of a procedure outside a SELECT that can control the - transaction state -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg01375.php -
-
Fix all set-returning system functions so they support a wildcard - target list -
SELECT * FROM pg_get_keywords() works but SELECT * FROM - pg_show_all_settings() does not. -
-

Multi-Language Support

- -

Add NCHAR (as distinguished from ordinary varchar), -
Allow locale to be set at database creation -
Currently locale can only be set during initdb. No global tables have - locale-aware columns. However, the database template used during - database creation might have locale-aware indexes. The indexes would - need to be reindexed to match the new locale. -
-
Allow encoding on a per-column basis optionally using the ICU library; - Add CREATE COLLATE -
Right now only one encoding is allowed per database. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-03/msg00932.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-08/msg00039.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-08/msg00309.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00110.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-09/msg00020.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg01121.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-01/msg00767.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-03/msg00233.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg00662.php - http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Todo:Collate - http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Todo:ICU -
-
Support multiple simultaneous character sets, per SQL92 -
Improve UTF8 combined character handling? -
Add octet_length_server() and octet_length_client() -
Make octet_length_client() the same as octet_length()? -
Fix problems with wrong runtime encoding conversion for NLS message files -
Add URL to more complete multi-byte regression tests -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-07/msg00272.php -
-
Fix ILIKE and regular expressions to handle case insensitivity - properly in multibyte encodings -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2005-10/msg00001.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-11/msg00173.php -
-
Set client encoding based on the client operating system encoding -
Currently client_encoding is set in postgresql.conf, which - defaults to the server encoding. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg01696.php -
-
Change memory allocation for multi-byte functions so memory is - allocated inside conversion functions -
Currently we preallocate memory based on worst-case usage. -
-

Views / Rules

- -

Automatically create rules on views so they are updateable, per SQL99 -
We can only auto-create rules for simple views. For more complex - cases users will still have to write rules manually. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-03/msg00586.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-08/msg00255.php -
-
Add the functionality for WITH CHECK OPTION clause of CREATE VIEW -
Allow VIEW/RULE recompilation when the underlying tables change -
Another issue is whether underlying table changes should be reflected - in the view, e.g. should SELECT * show additional columns if they - are added after the view is created. -
-
Make it possible to use RETURNING together with conditional DO INSTEAD - rules, such as for partitioning setups -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00577.php -
-
Add the ability to automatically create materialized views -
Right now materialized views require the user to create triggers on the - main table to keep the summary table current. SQL syntax should be able - to manager the triggers and summary table automatically. A more - sophisticated implementation would automatically retrieve from the - summary table when the main table is referenced, if possible. -
-
Improve ability to modify views via ALTER TABLE -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00691.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-07/msg01410.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-08/msg00300.php -
-

SQL Commands

- -

Add CORRESPONDING BY to UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT -
Add ROLLUP, CUBE, GROUPING SETS options to GROUP BY -
%Allow SET CONSTRAINTS to be qualified by schema/table name -
%Add a separate TRUNCATE permission -
Currently only the owner can TRUNCATE a table because triggers are not - called, and the table is locked in exclusive mode. -
-
Fix TRUNCATE ... RESTART IDENTITY so its affect on sequences is rolled - back on transaction abort -
Allow PREPARE of cursors -
Allow finer control over the caching of prepared query plans -
Currently queries prepared via the libpq API are planned on first - execute using the supplied parameters --- allow SQL PREPARE to do the - same. Also, allow control over replanning prepared queries either - manually or automatically when statistics for execute parameters - differ dramatically from those used during planning. -
-
Improve logging of prepared transactions recovered during startup -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00092.php -
-
Improve failure message when DROP DATABASE is used on a database that - has prepared transactions -
Allow prepared transactions with temporary tables created and dropped - in the same transaction, and when an ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS temporary - table is accessed -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00047.php -
-
Add a GUC variable to warn about non-standard SQL usage in queries -
Add SQL-standard MERGE/REPLACE/UPSERT command -
MERGE is typically used to merge two tables. REPLACE or UPSERT - command does UPDATE, or on failure, INSERT. This is similar to UPDATE, - then for unmatched rows, INSERT. Whether concurrent access allows - modifications which could cause row loss is implementation independent. - To implement this cleanly requires that the table have a unique index - so duplicate checking can be easily performed. It is possible to do it - without a unique index if we require the user to LOCK the table before - the MERGE. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-11/msg00501.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-11/msg00536.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01157.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01475.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01890.php -
-
Add NOVICE output level for helpful messages like automatic sequence/index - creation -
Add GUC to issue notice about statements that use unjoined tables -
Allow EXPLAIN to identify tables that were skipped because of - constraint_exclusion -
Allow EXPLAIN output to be more easily processed by scripts, perhaps XML -
Enable standard_conforming_strings -
Make standard_conforming_strings the default in 8.5? -
When this is done, backslash-quote should be prohibited in non-E'' - strings because of possible confusion over how such strings treat - backslashes. Basically, '' is always safe for a literal single - quote, while \' might or might not be based on the backslash - handling rules. -
-
Simplify dropping roles that have objects in several databases -
Allow COMMENT ON to accept an expression rather than just a string -
Allow the count returned by SELECT, etc to be represented as an int64 - to allow a higher range of values -
Add SQL99 WITH clause to SELECT -
Add SQL:2003 WITH RECURSIVE (hierarchical) queries to SELECT -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01375.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00642.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00139.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg01334.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00105.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-03/msg00327.php -
-
Add DEFAULT .. AS OWNER so permission checks are done as the table - owner -
This would be useful for SERIAL nextval() calls and CHECK constraints. -
-
Allow DISTINCT to work in multiple-argument aggregate calls -
Add column to pg_stat_activity that shows the progress of long-running - commands like CREATE INDEX and VACUUM -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-04/msg00203.php -
-
Implement SQL:2003 window functions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-06/msg00380.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-07/msg00232.php -
-
Allow INSERT/UPDATE ... RETURNING inside a SELECT 'FROM' clause or - target list -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2006-09/msg00803.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00693.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-06/msg00124.php -
-
Increase locking when DROPing objects so dependent objects cannot - get dropped while the DROP operation is happening -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00937.php -
-
-Allow AS in "SELECT col AS label" to be optional in certain cases -
Allow INSERT ... DELETE ... RETURNING, namely allow the DELETE ... - RETURNING to supply values to the INSERT - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/thrd2.php#00979 -
Add comments on system tables/columns using the information in - catalogs.sgml -
Ideally the information would be pulled from the SGML file - automatically. -
-
Improve reporting of UNION type mismatches -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00944.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00597.php -
-
CREATE -
- Allow CREATE TABLE AS to determine column lengths for complex - expressions like SELECT col1 || col2 -
- Have WITH CONSTRAINTS also create constraint indexes -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00149.php -
  -
- Have CONSTRAINT cname NOT NULL record the contraint name -
  Right now pg_attribute.attnotnull records the NOT NULL status - of the column, but does not record the contraint name -
  -
- Prevent concurrent CREATE TABLE table1 from sometimes returning - a cryptic error message -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-10/msg00169.php -
  -
- Add CREATE SCHEMA ... LIKE that copies a schema -
- Add CREATE TABLE LIKE ... INCLUDING COMMENTS -
-
UPDATE -
- Allow UPDATE tab SET ROW (col, ...) = (SELECT...) -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-07/msg01306.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00865.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00315.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-03/msg00237.php -
  -
- Research self-referential UPDATEs that see inconsistent row versions - in read-committed mode -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00507.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00016.php -
  -
- Allow GLOBAL temporary tables to exist as empty by default in - all sessions -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00006.php -
  -
-
ALTER -
- Have ALTER TABLE RENAME rename SERIAL sequence names -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00008.php -
  -
- Have ALTER SEQUENCE RENAME rename the sequence name stored - in the sequence table -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-09/msg00092.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-10/msg00007.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00008.php -
  -
- Add ALTER DOMAIN to modify the underlying data type -
- %Allow ALTER TABLE ... ALTER CONSTRAINT ... RENAME -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-02/msg00168.php -
  -
- %Allow ALTER TABLE to change constraint deferrability and actions -
- Add missing object types for ALTER ... SET SCHEMA -
- Allow ALTER TABLESPACE to move to different directories -
- Allow databases to be moved to different tablespaces -
- Allow moving system tables to other tablespaces, where possible -
  Currently non-global system tables must be in the default database - tablespace. Global system tables can never be moved. -
  -
- -Prevent parent tables from altering or dropping constraints - like CHECK that are inherited by child tables unless CASCADE - is used -
- -Prevent child tables from altering or dropping constraints - like CHECK that were inherited from the parent table -
- Have ALTER INDEX update the name of a constraint using that index -
- Add ALTER TABLE RENAME CONSTRAINT, update index name also -
- Allow column display reordering by recording a display, - storage, and permanent id for every column? -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00782.php -
  -
- Allow an existing index to be marked as a table's primary key -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00500.php -
  -
-
CLUSTER -
- Automatically maintain clustering on a table -
  This might require some background daemon to maintain clustering - during periods of low usage. It might also require tables to be only - partially filled for easier reorganization. Another idea would - be to create a merged heap/index data file so an index lookup would - automatically access the heap data too. A third idea would be to - store heap rows in hashed groups, perhaps using a user-supplied - hash function. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2004-08/msg00349.php -
  -
- %Add default clustering to system tables -
  To do this, determine the ideal cluster index for each system - table and set the cluster setting during initdb. -
  -
- %Add VERBOSE option to report tables as they are processed, - like VACUUM VERBOSE -
-
COPY -
- Allow COPY to report error lines and continue -
  This requires the use of a savepoint before each COPY line is - processed, with ROLLBACK on COPY failure. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00572.php -
  -
- Allow COPY on a newly-created table to skip WAL logging -
  On crash recovery, the table involved in the COPY would - be removed or have its heap and index files truncated. One - issue is that no other backend should be able to add to - the table at the same time, which is something that is - currently allowed. This currently is done if the table is - created inside the same transaction block as the COPY because - no other backends can see the table. -
  -
- Consider using a ring buffer for COPY FROM -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00140.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01080.php -
  -
- Allow COPY FROM to create index entries in bulk -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00811.php -
  -
- Allow COPY in CSV mode to control whether a quoted zero-length - string is treated as NULL -
  Currently this is always treated as a zero-length string, - which generates an error when loading into an integer column - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00905.php -
  -
- Impove COPY performance -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00954.php -
  -
- Allow COPY to report errors sooner -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01169.php -
  -
-
GRANT/REVOKE -
- Allow column-level privileges -
- %Allow GRANT/REVOKE permissions to be applied to all schema objects - with one command -
  The proposed syntax is: -
  GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN public TO phpuser; - GRANT SELECT ON NEW TABLES IN public TO phpuser; -
  -
- Allow GRANT/REVOKE permissions to be inherited by objects based on - schema permissions -
- Allow SERIAL sequences to inherit permissions from the base table? -
-
CURSOR -
- Prevent DROP TABLE from dropping a row referenced by its own open - cursor? -
-
INSERT -
- Allow INSERT/UPDATE of the system-generated oid value for a row -
- In rules, allow VALUES() to contain a mixture of 'old' and 'new' - references -
-
SHOW/SET -
- Add SET PERFORMANCE_TIPS option to suggest INDEX, VACUUM, VACUUM - ANALYZE, and CLUSTER -
-
LISTEN/NOTIFY -
- Allow LISTEN/NOTIFY to store info in memory rather than tables? -
  Currently LISTEN/NOTIFY information is stored in pg_listener. - Storing such information in memory would improve performance. -
  -
- Add optional textual message to NOTIFY -
  This would allow an informational message to be added to the notify - message, perhaps indicating the row modified or other custom - information. -
  -
- Allow multiple identical NOTIFY events to always be communicated - to the client, rather than sent as a single notification to the - listener -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-01/msg00057.php -
  -
- Allow NOTIFY in rules involving conditionals -
- Improve LISTEN concurrency -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01106.php -
  -
-

Referential Integrity

- -

Add MATCH PARTIAL referential integrity -
Change foreign key constraint for array -> element to mean element - in array? -
Fix problem when cascading referential triggers make changes on - cascaded tables, seeing the tables in an intermediate state -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00174.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-09/msg00174.php -
-
Allow DEFERRABLE and end-of-statement UNIQUE constraints? -
This would allow UPDATE tab SET col = col + 1 to work if col has - a unique index. Currently, uniqueness checks are done while the - command is being executed, rather than at the end of the statement - or transaction. - http://people.planetpostgresql.org/greg/index.php?/archives/2006/06/10.html - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01458.php -
-
Optimize referential integrity checks -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2005-10/msg00458.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00744.php -
-

Server-Side Languages

- -

PL/pgSQL -
- Fix RENAME to work on variables other than OLD/NEW -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2002-03/msg00591.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01615.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg01587.php -
  -
- Allow function parameters to be passed by name, - get_employee_salary(12345 AS emp_id, 2001 AS tax_year) -
- Allow handling of %TYPE arrays, e.g. tab.col%TYPE[] -
- Allow listing of record column names, and access to - record columns via variables, e.g. columns := r.(*), - tval2 := r.(colname) -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-07/msg00458.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-05/msg00302.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00031.php -
  -
- Add support for SCROLL cursors -
- Add support for WITH HOLD cursors -
- Allow row and record variables to be set to NULL constants, - and allow NULL tests on such variables -
  Because a row is not scalar, do not allow assignment - from NULL-valued scalars. -
  -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00070.php -
  -
- Review handling of MOVE and FETCH -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00527.php -
  -
- Improve logic of determining if an identifier is a a - variable or column name -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00436.php -
  -
- Consider keeping seperate cached copies when search_path changes -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01009.php -
  -
- -Add CASE capability to language (already in SQL) -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00696.php -
  -
-
Other -
- Add table function support to pltcl, plpythonu -
- Add support for polymorphic arguments and return types to - languages other than PL/PgSQL -
- Add capability to create and call PROCEDURES -
- Add support for OUT and INOUT parameters to languages other - than PL/PgSQL -
- Add PL/PythonU tracebacks -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-02/msg00288.php -
  -
- Allow data to be passed in native language formats, rather - than only text -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00289.php -
  -
- Add ability to obfuscate function bodies -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00125.php -
  -
-

Clients

- -

Have pg_ctl look at PGHOST in case it is a socket directory? -
Allow pg_ctl to work properly with configuration files located outside - the PGDATA directory -
pg_ctl can not read the pid file because it isn't located in the - config directory but in the PGDATA directory. The solution is to - allow pg_ctl to read and understand postgresql.conf to find the - data_directory value. -
-
Add a function like pg_get_indexdef() that report more detailed index - information -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-12/msg00166.php -
-
psql -
- -Have psql show current values for a sequence -
- Move psql backslash database information into the backend, use - mnemonic commands? -
  This would allow non-psql clients to pull the same information out - of the database as psql. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-01/msg00191.php -
  -
- Make psql's \d commands more consistent -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00014.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00014.php -
  -
- Consistently display privilege information for all objects in psql -
- Add auto-expanded mode so expanded output is used if the row - length is wider than the screen width. -
  Consider using auto-expanded mode for backslash commands like \df+. -
  -
- Prevent tab completion of SET TRANSACTION from querying the - database and therefore preventing the transaction isolation - level from being set. -
  Currently SET <tab> causes a database lookup to check all - supported session variables. This query causes problems - because setting the transaction isolation level must be the - first statement of a transaction. -
  -
- Add a \set variable to control whether \s displays line numbers -
  Another option is to add \# which lists line numbers, and - allows command execution. -
  -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00255.php -
  -
- Prevent escape string warnings when object names have - backslashes -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00227.php -
  -
- Have \d show foreign keys that reference a table's primary key -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00424.php -
  -
- Have \d show child tables that inherit from the specified parent -
- -Have \l+ show database size, if permissions allow -
  Ideally it will not generate an error for invalid permissions -
  -
- Include the symbolic SQLSTATE name in verbose error reports -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-09/msg00438.php -
  -
- -Improve display of enums to show valid enum values -
- Add prompt escape to display the client and server versions -
- Add option to wrap column values at whitespace boundaries, - rather than chopping them at a fixed width. -
  Currently, "wrapped" format chops values into fixed - widths. Perhaps the word wrapping could use the same - algorithm documented in the W3C specification. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00404.php - http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/tables.htmlauto-table-layout -
- Add "auto" expanded mode that outputs in expanded format if - "wrapped" mode can't wrap the output to the screen width -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00417.php -
  -
-
pg_dump / pg_restore -
- %Add dumping of comments on index columns and composite type columns -
- %Add full object name to the tag field. eg. for operators we need - '=(integer, integer)', instead of just '='. -
- Add pg_dumpall custom format dumps? -
- Allow selection of individual object(s) of all types, not just - tables -
- In a selective dump, allow dumping of an object and all its - dependencies -
- Add options like pg_restore -l and -L to pg_dump -
- Stop dumping CASCADE on DROP TYPE commands in clean mode -
- Allow pg_dump --clean to drop roles that own objects or have - privileges -
- Change pg_dump so that a comment on the dumped database is - applied to the loaded database, even if the database has a - different name. This will require new backend syntax, perhaps - COMMENT ON CURRENT DATABASE. -
- Remove unnecessary function pointer abstractions in pg_dump source - code -
- Allow pg_dump to utilize multiple CPUs and I/O channels by dumping - multiple objects simultaneously -
  The difficulty with this is getting multiple dump processes to - produce a single dump output file. It also would require - several sessions to share the same snapshot. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00205.php -
  -
- Allow pg_restore to utilize multiple CPUs and I/O channels by - restoring multiple objects simultaneously -
  This might require a pg_restore flag to indicate how many - simultaneous operations should be performed. Only pg_dump's - -Fc format has the necessary dependency information. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00963.php -
  -
- To better utilize resources, allow pg_restore to check foreign - keys simultaneously, where possible -
- Allow pg_restore to create all indexes of a table - concurrently, via a single heap scan -
  This requires a pg_dump -Fc file because that format contains - the required dependency information. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-05/msg01274.php -
  -
- Allow pg_restore to load different parts of the COPY data - simultaneously -
- -Prevent pg_dump/pg_restore from being affected by - statement_timeout -
  Using psql to restore a pg_dump dump is also affected. -
  -
- Remove pre-7.3 pg_dump code that assumes pg_depend does not exit -
- Allow pre/data/post files when schema and data are dumped - separately, for performance reasons -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00205.php -
  -
-
ecpg -
- Docs -
  Document differences between ecpg and the SQL standard and - information about the Informix-compatibility module. -
  -
- Solve cardinality > 1 for input descriptors / variables? -
- Add a semantic check level, e.g. check if a table really exists -
- fix handling of DB attributes that are arrays -
- Use backend PREPARE/EXECUTE facility for ecpg where possible -
- Implement SQLDA -
- Fix nested C comments -
- %sqlwarn[6] should be 'W' if the PRECISION or SCALE value specified -
- Make SET CONNECTION thread-aware, non-standard? -
- Allow multidimensional arrays -
- Add internationalized message strings -
- Implement COPY FROM STDIN -
-
libpq -
- Add PQescapeIdentifierConn() -
- Prevent PQfnumber() from lowercasing unquoted the column name -
  PQfnumber() should never have been doing lowercasing, but - historically it has so we need a way to prevent it -
  -
- Allow statement results to be automatically batched to the client -
  Currently all statement results are transferred to the libpq - client before libpq makes the results available to the - application. This feature would allow the application to make - use of the first result rows while the rest are transferred, or - held on the server waiting for them to be requested by libpq. - One complexity is that a statement like SELECT 1/col could error - out mid-way through the result set. -
  -
- Consider disallowing multiple queries in PQexec() as an - additional barrier to SQL injection attacks -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00184.php -
  -
- Add PQexecf() that allows complex parameter substitution -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01803.php -
  -
- Add SQLSTATE severity to PGconn return status -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-interfaces/2007-11/msg00015.php -
  -
-

Triggers

- -

Add deferred trigger queue file -
Right now all deferred trigger information is stored in backend - memory. This could exhaust memory for very large trigger queues. - This item involves dumping large queues into files, or doing some - kind of join to process all the triggers, or some bulk operation. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00876.php -
-
Allow triggers to be disabled in only the current session. -
This is currently possible by starting a multi-statement transaction, - modifying the system tables, performing the desired SQL, restoring the - system tables, and committing the transaction. ALTER TABLE ... - TRIGGER requires a table lock so it is not ideal for this usage. -
-
With disabled triggers, allow pg_dump to use ALTER TABLE ADD FOREIGN KEY -
If the dump is known to be valid, allow foreign keys to be added - without revalidating the data. -
-
Allow statement-level triggers to access modified rows -
Support triggers on columns -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-07/msg00107.php -
-
Allow AFTER triggers on system tables -
System tables are modified in many places in the backend without going - through the executor and therefore not causing triggers to fire. To - complete this item, the functions that modify system tables will have - to fire triggers. -
-
Tighten trigger permission checks -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00564.php -
-
Allow BEFORE INSERT triggers on views -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-02/msg01466.php -
-
-Add ability to trigger on TRUNCATE -
Add database and transaction-level triggers -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00451.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00620.php -
-
Reduce locking requirements for creating a trigger -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-06/msg00635.php -
-

Indexes

- -

Add UNIQUE capability to non-btree indexes -
Prevent index uniqueness checks when UPDATE does not modify the column -
Uniqueness (index) checks are done when updating a column even if the - column is not modified by the UPDATE. -
-
Allow the creation of on-disk bitmap indexes which can be quickly - combined with other bitmap indexes -
Such indexes could be more compact if there are only a few distinct values. - Such indexes can also be compressed. Keeping such indexes updated can be - costly. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-07/msg00512.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg01107.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00265.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01214.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00013.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00741.php -
-
Allow accurate statistics to be collected on indexes with more than - one column or expression indexes, perhaps using per-index statistics -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2006-10/msg00222.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01131.php -
-
Consider increasing the default and maximum number of statistics targets, - and reduce statistics target overhead -
Also consider having a larger statistics target for indexed columns - and expression indexes. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-05/msg01228.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-06/msg00542.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01066.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00188.php -
-
Consider smaller indexes that record a range of values per heap page, - rather than having one index entry for every heap row -
This is useful if the heap is clustered by the indexed values. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00341.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg01264.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00465.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00163.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00014.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00487.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01589.php -
-
Add REINDEX CONCURRENTLY, like CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY -
This is difficult because you must upgrade to an exclusive table lock - to replace the existing index file. CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY does not - have this complication. This would allow index compaction without - downtime. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-08/msg00289.php -
-
Allow multiple indexes to be created concurrently, ideally via a - single heap scan, and have pg_restore use it -
Consider sorting entries before inserting into btree index -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-01/msg01010.php -
-
Allow index scans to return matching index keys, not just the matching - heap locations -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg01657.php -
-
Inheritance -
- Allow inherited tables to inherit indexes, UNIQUE constraints, - and primary/foreign keys -
- Honor UNIQUE INDEX on base column in INSERTs/UPDATEs - on inherited table, e.g. INSERT INTO inherit_table - (unique_index_col) VALUES (dup) should fail -
  The main difficulty with this item is the problem of - creating an index that can span multiple tables. -
  -
- Allow SELECT ... FOR UPDATE on inherited tables -
- Require all CHECK constraints to be inherited -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-04/msg00026.php -
  -
- Add checks to prevent a CREATE RULE views on inherited tables -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-02/msg01420.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-03/msg00077.php -
  -
-
GIST -
- Add more GIST index support for geometric data types -
- Allow GIST indexes to create certain complex index types, like - digital trees (see Aoki) -
-
Hash -
- http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00051.php -
- Pack hash index buckets onto disk pages more efficiently -
  Currently only one hash bucket can be stored on a page. Ideally - several hash buckets could be stored on a single page and greater - granularity used for the hash algorithm. -
  -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-06/msg00168.php -
  -
- Consider sorting hash buckets so entries can be found using a - binary search, rather than a linear scan -
- In hash indexes, consider storing the hash value with or instead - of the key itself -
- Add WAL logging for crash recovery -
- Allow multi-column hash indexes -
- -During index creation, pre-sort the tuples to improve build speed -
-

Sorting

Consider using hash buckets to do DISTINCT, rather than sorting -
This would be beneficial when there are few distinct values. This is - already used by GROUP BY. -
-
Consider whether duplicate keys should be sorted by block/offset -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00558.php -
-
-Avoid tuple some tuple copying in sort routines -
Consider being smarter about memory and external files used during - sorts -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg01101.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00045.php -
-
Consider detoasting keys before sorting -

Fsync

- -

Determine optimal fdatasync/fsync, O_SYNC/O_DSYNC options -
Ideally this requires a separate test program that can be run - at initdb time or optionally later. Consider O_SYNC when - O_DIRECT exists. -
-
Add program to test if fsync has a delay compared to non-fsync -
Consider sorting writes during checkpoint -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg00541.php -
-

Cache Usage

- -

Speed up COUNT(*) -
We could use a fixed row count and a +/- count to follow MVCC - visibility rules, or a single cached value could be used and - invalidated if anyone modifies the table. Another idea is to - get a count directly from a unique index, but for this to be - faster than a sequential scan it must avoid access to the heap - to obtain tuple visibility information. -
-
Provide a way to calculate an "estimated COUNT(*)" -
Perhaps by using the optimizer's cardinality estimates or random - sampling. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-11/msg00943.php -
-
Allow data to be pulled directly from indexes -
Currently indexes do not have enough tuple visibility information - to allow data to be pulled from the index without also accessing - the heap. One way to allow this is to set a bit on index tuples - to indicate if a tuple is currently visible to all transactions - when the first valid heap lookup happens. This bit would have to - be cleared when a heap tuple is expired. -
-
Another idea is to maintain a bitmap of heap pages where all rows - are visible to all backends, and allow index lookups to reference - that bitmap to avoid heap lookups, perhaps the same bitmap we might - add someday to determine which heap pages need vacuuming. Frequently - accessed bitmaps would have to be stored in shared memory. One 8k - page of bitmaps could track 512MB of heap pages. -
-
A third idea would be for a heap scan to check if all rows are visible - and if so set a per-table flag which can be checked by index scans. - Any change to the table would have to clear the flag. To detect - changes during the heap scan a counter could be set at the start and - checked at the end --- if it is the same, the table has not been - modified --- any table change would increment the counter. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-10/msg00166.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00049.php -
-
Consider automatic caching of statements at various levels: - parsed query tree, query execution plan, query results -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00823.php -
-
Consider increasing internal areas when shared buffers is increased -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-10/msg01419.php -
-
Consider decreasing the amount of memory used by PrivateRefCount -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00797.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00752.php -
-
Consider allowing higher priority queries to have referenced buffer - cache pages stay in memory longer -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00562.php -
-

Vacuum

- -

Improve speed with indexes -
For large table adjustments during VACUUM FULL, it is faster to cluster - or reindex rather than update the index. Also, index updates can bloat - the index. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg00024.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-05/msg00296.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00307.php -
-
Auto-fill the free space map by scanning the buffer cache or by - checking pages written by the background writer -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-02/msg01125.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-03/msg00011.php -
-
Create a bitmap of pages that need vacuuming -
Instead of sequentially scanning the entire table, have the background - writer or some other process record pages that have expired rows, then - VACUUM can look at just those pages rather than the entire table. In - the event of a system crash, the bitmap would probably be invalidated. - One complexity is that index entries still have to be vacuumed, and - doing this without an index scan (by using the heap values to find the - index entry) might be slow and unreliable, especially for user-defined - index functions. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg01188.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00121.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00508.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-04/msg00347.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00156.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00546.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00416.php -
-
Allow FSM to return free space toward the beginning of the heap file, - in hopes that empty pages at the end can be truncated by VACUUM -
Allow FSM page return free space based on table clustering, to assist - in maintaining clustering? -
-Improve dead row detection during multi-statement transactions usage -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-03/msg00358.php -
-
Consider a more compact data representation for dead tuples -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00143.php -
-
Auto-vacuum -
- %Issue log message to suggest VACUUM FULL if a table is nearly - empty? -
- Improve control of auto-vacuum -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00876.php -
  -
- -Prevent long-lived temporary tables from causing frozen-xid - advancement starvation -
  The problem is that autovacuum cannot vacuum them to set frozen xids; - only the session that created them can do that. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-06/msg01645.php -
  -
- Store per-table autovacuum settings in pg_class.reloptions. -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg01440.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00724.php -
  -
- Prevent autovacuum from running if an old transaction is still - running from the last vacuum -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00899.php -
  -
-

Locking

- -

Fix priority ordering of read and write light-weight locks -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00893.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-11/msg00905.php -
-
Fix problem when multiple subtransactions of the same outer transaction - hold different types of locks, and one subtransaction aborts -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg01011.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg00001.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00435.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00773.php -
-
Allow UPDATEs on only non-referential integrity columns not to conflict - with referential integrity locks -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00073.php -
-
Add idle_in_transaction_timeout GUC so locks are not held for long - periods of time -
Improve deadlock detection when a page cleaning lock conflicts - with a shared buffer that is pinned -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-01/msg00138.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00873.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-committers/2008-01/msg00365.php -
-
Detect deadlocks involving LockBufferForCleanup() -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00873.php -
-

Startup Time Improvements

- -

Experiment with multi-threaded backend for backend creation -
This would prevent the overhead associated with process creation. Most - operating systems have trivial process creation time compared to - database startup overhead, but a few operating systems (Win32, - Solaris) might benefit from threading. Also explore the idea of - a single session using multiple threads to execute a statement faster. -
-

Write-Ahead Log

- -

Eliminate need to write full pages to WAL before page modification -
Currently, to protect against partial disk page writes, we write - full page images to WAL before they are modified so we can correct any - partial page writes during recovery. These pages can also be - eliminated from point-in-time archive files. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2002-06/msg00655.php -
-
- When off, write CRC to WAL and check file system blocks - on recovery -
  If CRC check fails during recovery, remember the page in case - a later CRC for that page properly matches. -
  -
- Write full pages during file system write and not when - the page is modified in the buffer cache -
  This allows most full page writes to happen in the background - writer. It might cause problems for applying WAL on recovery - into a partially-written page, but later the full page will be - replaced from WAL. -
  -
-
Allow WAL traffic to be streamed to another server for stand-by - replication -
Reduce WAL traffic so only modified values are written rather than - entire rows -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01589.php -
-
Allow WAL information to recover corrupted pg_controldata -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-06/msg00025.php -
-
Find a way to reduce rotational delay when repeatedly writing - last WAL page -
Currently fsync of WAL requires the disk platter to perform a full - rotation to fsync again. One idea is to write the WAL to different - offsets that might reduce the rotational delay. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2002-11/msg00483.php -
-
Allow WAL logging to be turned off for a table, but the table - might be dropped or truncated during crash recovery -
Allow tables to bypass WAL writes and just fsync() dirty pages on - commit. This should be implemented using ALTER TABLE, e.g. ALTER - TABLE PERSISTENCE [ DROP | TRUNCATE | DEFAULT ]. Tables using - non-default logging should not use referential integrity with - default-logging tables. A table without dirty buffers during a - crash could perhaps avoid the drop/truncate. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg01016.php -
-
Allow WAL logging to be turned off for a table, but the table would - avoid being truncated/dropped -
To do this, only a single writer can modify the table, and writes - must happen only on new pages so the new pages can be removed during - crash recovery. Readers can continue accessing the table. Such - tables probably cannot have indexes. One complexity is the handling - of indexes on TOAST tables. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-12/msg01016.php -
-
Speed WAL recovery by allowing more than one page to be prefetched -
This should be done utilizing the same infrastructure used for - prefetching in general to avoid introducing complex error-prone code - in WAL replay. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-12/msg00683.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00497.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg01279.php -
-
Improve WAL concurrency by increasing lock granularity -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00556.php -
-
Be more aggressive about creating WAL files -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg01325.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-07/msg01075.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2005-04/msg00556.php -
-
Have resource managers report the duration of their status changes -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg01468.php -
-
Move pgfoundry's xlogdump to /contrib and have it rely more closely - on the WAL backend code -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00035.php -
-

Optimizer / Executor

- -

Improve selectivity functions for geometric operators -
Precompile SQL functions to avoid overhead -
Create utility to compute accurate random_page_cost value -
Improve ability to display optimizer analysis using OPTIMIZER_DEBUG -
Have EXPLAIN ANALYZE issue NOTICE messages when the estimated and - actual row counts differ by a specified percentage -
Improve how ANALYZE computes in-doubt tuples -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-11/msg00771.php -
-
Log statements where the optimizer row estimates were dramatically - different from the number of rows actually found? -
Consider compressed annealing to search for query plans -
This might replace GEQO, http://sixdemonbag.org/Djinni. -
-
Improve merge join performance by allowing mark/restore of - tuple sources -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-01/msg00096.php -
-
Consider using a hash for joining to a large IN (VALUES ...) list -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-05/msg00450.php -
-

Background Writer

- -

Consider having the background writer update the transaction status - hint bits before writing out the page -
Implementing this requires the background writer to have access to system - catalogs and the transaction status log. -
-
Consider adding buffers the background writer finds reusable to the - free list -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00781.php -
-
Automatically tune bgwriter_delay based on activity rather then using a - fixed interval -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-04/msg00781.php -
-
Consider wither increasing BM_MAX_USAGE_COUNT improves performance -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-06/msg01007.php -
-
Test to see if calling PreallocXlogFiles() from the background writer - will help with WAL segment creation latency -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-06/msg00340.php -
-

Miscellaneous Performance

http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Todo:Todo

Do async I/O for faster random read-ahead of data -
Async I/O allows multiple I/O requests to be sent to the disk with - results coming back asynchronously. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00820.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-09/msg00255.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00027.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-01/msg00170.php -
-
Use mmap() rather than SYSV shared memory or to write WAL files? -
This would remove the requirement for SYSV SHM but would introduce - portability issues. Anonymous mmap (or mmap to /dev/zero) is required - to prevent I/O overhead. -
-
Consider mmap()'ing files into a backend? -
Doing I/O to large tables would consume a lot of address space or - require frequent mapping/unmapping. Extending the file also causes - mapping problems that might require mapping only individual pages, - leading to thousands of mappings. Another problem is that there is no - way to prevent I/O to disk from the dirty shared buffers so changes - could hit disk before WAL is written. -
-
Add a script to ask system configuration questions and tune postgresql.conf -
Consider ways of storing rows more compactly on disk -
- Reduce the row header size? -
- Consider reducing on-disk varlena length from four bytes to - two because a heap row cannot be more than 64k in length -
-
Consider increasing NUM_CLOG_BUFFERS -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00030.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-08/msg00024.php -
-
Consider transaction start/end performance improvements -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00948.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00361.php -
-
Allow user configuration of TOAST thresholds -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-02/msg00213.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00082.php -
-
Allow configuration of backend priorities via the operating system -
Though backend priorities make priority inversion during lock - waits possible, research shows that this is not a huge problem. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-02/msg00493.php -
-
Experiment with multi-threaded backend better I/O utilization -
This would allow a single query to make use of multiple I/O channels - simultaneously. One idea is to create a background reader that can - pre-fetch sequential and index scan pages needed by other backends. - This could be expanded to allow concurrent reads from multiple devices - in a partitioned table. -
-
Experiment with multi-threaded backend better CPU utilization -
This would allow several CPUs to be used for a single query, such as - for sorting or query execution. -
-
Consider increasing the minimum allowed number of shared buffers -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2008-02/msg00157.php -
-
Expire published xmin for read-only and idle transactions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00343.php -
-
Consider if CommandCounterIncrement() can avoid its - AcceptInvalidationMessages() call -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-committers/2007-11/msg00585.php -
-
-Improve performance of shared invalidation queue for multiple CPUs -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2008-01/msg00023.php -
-
Consider Cartesian joins when both relations are needed to form an - indexscan qualification for a third relation -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2007-12/msg00090.php -
-
Consider not storing a NULL bitmap on disk if all the NULLs are - trailing -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00624.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-12/msg00109.php -
-
Sort large UPDATE/DELETEs so it is done in heap order -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg01119.php -
-
SMP scalability improvements -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00439.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00206.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00361.php -
-
Research reducing deTOASTing in more places -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-09/msg00895.php -
-
Allow one transaction to see tuples using the snapshot of another - transaction -
This would assist multiple backends in working together. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00400.php -
-
Consider decreasing the I/O caused by updating tuple hint bits -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00847.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-07/msg00199.php -
-

Source Code

- -

Add use of 'const' for variables in source tree -
Move some things from contrib into main tree -
%Remove warnings created by -Wcast-align -
Move platform-specific ps status display info from ps_status.c to ports -
Add optional CRC checksum to heap and index pages -
Improve documentation to build only interfaces -
Remove or relicense modules that are not under the BSD license, if possible -
Acquire lock on a relation before building a relcache entry for it -
Allow cross-compiling by generating the zic database on the target system -
Improve NLS maintenance of libpgport messages linked onto applications -
Clean up casting in contrib/isn -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-11/msg00245.php -
-
Improve the /contrib installation experience -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-04/msg00132.php -
-
Use UTF8 encoding for NLS messages so all server encodings can - read them properly -
Update Bonjour to work with newer cross-platform SDK -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg02238.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-10/msg00048.php -
-
Consider GnuTLS if OpenSSL license becomes a problem -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-05/msg00040.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-12/msg01213.php -
-
Consider changing documentation format from SGML to XML -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2006-12/msg00152.php -
-
Consider making NAMEDATALEN more configurable in future releases -
Update our code to handle 64-bit timezone files to match the zic - source code, which now uses them -
Have configure choose integer datetimes by default -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-05/msg00046.php -
-
Support scoped IPv6 addresses -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2007-05/msg00111.php -
-
Consider allowing 64-bit integers and floats to be passed by value on - 64-bit platforms -
Also change 32-bit floats (float4) to be passed by value at the same - time. -
-
Research use of signals and sleep wake ups -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-07/msg00003.php -
-
Add automated check for invalid C++ source code constructs -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-07/msg00056.php -
-
Consider simplifying how memory context resets handle child contexts -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-08/msg00067.php -
-
Remove use of MAKE_PTR and MAKE_OFFSET macros -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-08/msg01510.php -
-
Convert single quotes to apostrophes in the PDF documentation -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2007-12/msg00059.php -
-
Create three versions of libpgport to simplify client code -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00154.php -
-
Remove old-style routines for manipulating tuples -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-10/msg00851.php -
-
Improve detection of shared memory segments being used by others - by checking the SysV shared memory field 'nattch' -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00656.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00673.php -
-
Implement the non-threaded Avahi service discovery protocol -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00939.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00097.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg01211.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-04/msg00001.php -
-
Implement a module capability for loading /contrib-style extensions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-04/msg00164.php -
-
Fix system views like pg_stat_all_tables to use set-returning - functions, rather than views of per-column functions -
Allow table and index WITH options to be specified via hooks, for use - with plugins like GiST index methods -
Win32 -
- Remove configure.in check for link failure when cause is found -
- Remove readdir() errno patch when runtime/mingwex/dirent.c rev - 1.4 is released -
- -Remove psql newline patch when we find out why mingw outputs an - extra newline -
- Allow psql to use readline once non-US code pages work with - backslashes -
- Fix problem with shared memory on the Win32 Terminal Server -
- Diagnose problem where shared memory can sometimes not be - attached by postmaster children -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2007-08/msg01377.php -
  -
- Improve signal handling -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-06/msg00027.php -
  -
- Convert MSVC build system to remove most batch files -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-08/msg00961.php -
  -
- Prevent SSL from sending network packets to avoid interference - with Win32 signal emulation -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-12/msg00455.php -
  -
- Support pgxs when using MSVC -
- Fix MSVC NLS support, like for to_char() -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-02/msg00485.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00038.php -
  -
- Find a correct rint() substitute on Windows -
  http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00808.php -
  -
-
Wire Protocol Changes -
- Allow dynamic character set handling -
- Add decoded type, length, precision -
- Use compression? -
- Update clients to use data types, typmod, schema.table.column names - of result sets using new statement protocol -
-

Exotic Features

- -

Add pre-parsing phase that converts non-ISO syntax to supported - syntax -
This could allow SQL written for other databases to run without - modification. -
-
Allow plug-in modules to emulate features from other databases -
Add features of Oracle-style packages -
A package would be a schema with session-local variables, - public/private functions, and initialization functions. It - is also possible to implement these capabilities - in any schema and not use a separate "packages" - syntax at all. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00384.php -
-
Consider allowing control of upper/lower case folding of unquoted - identifiers -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-04/msg00818.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg01527.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg00849.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-07/msg00415.php -
-
Add autonomous transactions -
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-01/msg00893.php -
-

Features We Do Not Want

- -

All backends running as threads in a single process (not wanted) -
This eliminates the process protection we get from the current setup. - Thread creation is usually the same overhead as process creation on - modern systems, so it seems unwise to use a pure threaded model. -
-
Optimizer hints (not wanted) -
Optimizer hints are used to work around problems in the optimizer. We - would rather have the problems reported and fixed. -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-08/msg00506.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00517.php - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-10/msg00663.php -
-
Because we support postfix operators, it isn't possible to make AS - optional and continue to use bison. - http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2003-04/msg00436.php -
-
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-sql/2006-08/msg00164.php -
-
Embedded server (not wanted) -
While PostgreSQL clients runs fine in limited-resource environments, the - server requires multiple processes and a stable pool of resources to - run reliabily and efficiently. Stripping down the PostgreSQL server - to run in the same process address space as the client application - would add too much complexity and failure cases.
-

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