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+September 14, 2023 - The PostgreSQL Global Development Group today announced the
+release of PostgreSQL 16, the latest version of the world’s most advanced open
+source database.
+
+PostgreSQL 16 raises its performance, with notable improvements to query
+parallelism, bulk data loading, and logical replication. There are many features
+in this release for developers and administrators alike, including more SQL/JSON
+syntax, new monitoring stats for your workloads, and greater flexibility in
+defining access control rules for large scale workloads.
+
+<HOLD FOR QUOTE>
+
+PostgreSQL, an innovative data management system known for its reliability and
+robustness, benefits from over 25 years of open source development from a global
+developer community and has become the preferred open source relational database
+for organizations of all sizes.
+
+### Performance Improvements
+
+PostgreSQL 16 improves the performance of existing PostgreSQL functionality
+through new query planner optimizations. In this latest release, the query
+planner can parallelize `FULL` and `RIGHT` joins, utilize incremental sorts for
+`SELECT DISTINCT` queries, and execute window functions more efficiently. It
+also introduces `RIGHT` and `OUTER` "anti-joins", which enable users to identify
+rows not present in a joined table.
+
+This release includes improvements for bulk loading using `COPY` in both single
+and concurrent operations, with tests showing up to a 300% performance
+improvement in some cases. PostgreSQL adds support for load balancing in clients
+that use `libpq`, and improvements to vacuum strategy that reduce the necessity
+of full-table freezes. Additionally, PostgreSQL 16 introduces CPU acceleration
+using `SIMD` in both x86 and ARM architectures, resulting in performance gains
+when processing ASCII and JSON strings, and performing array and subtransaction
+searches.
+
+### Logical replication
+
+Logical replication lets PostgreSQL users stream data to other PostgreSQL
+instances or subscribers that can interpret the PostgreSQL logical replication
+protocol. In PostgreSQL 16, users can perform logical decoding from a standby
+instance, meaning a standby can publish logical changes to other servers. This
+provides developers with new workload distribution options – for example, using
+a standby rather than the busier primary to logically replicate changes to
+downstream systems.
+
+Additionally, there are several performance improvements in PostgreSQL 16 to
+logical replication. Subscribers can now apply large transactions using parallel
+workers. For tables that do not have a `PRIMARY KEY`, subscribers can use B-tree
+indexes instead of sequential scans to find rows. Under certain conditions,
+users can also speed up initial table synchronization using the binary format.
+
+There are several access control improvements to logical replication in
+PostgreSQL 16, including the new predefined role pg_create_subscription, which
+grants users the ability to create a new logical subscription. Finally, this
+release begins adding support for bidirectional logical replication, introducing
+functionality to replicate data between two tables from different publishers.
+
+### Developer Experience
+
+PostgreSQL 16 adds more syntax from the SQL/JSON standard, including
+constructors and predicates such as `JSON_ARRAY()`, `JSON_ARRAYAGG()`, and
+`IS JSON`. This release also introduces the ability to use underscores for
+thousands separators (e.g. `5_432_000`) and non-decimal integer literals, such
+as `0x1538`, `0o12470`, and `0b1010100111000`.
+
+Developers using PostgreSQL 16 will also benefit from the addition of multiple
+commands to `psql` client protocol, including the `\bind` command, which allows
+users to execute parameterized queries (e.g `SELECT $1 + $2`) then use `\bind`
+to substitute the variables.
+
+PostgreSQL 16 improves general support for text collations, which provide rules
+for how text is sorted. PostgreSQL 16 builds with ICU support by default,
+determines the default ICU locale from the environment, and allows users to
+define custom ICU collation rules.
+
+### Monitoring
+
+A key aspect of tuning the performance of database workloads is understanding
+the impact of your I/O operations on your system. PostgreSQL 16 helps simplify
+how you can analyze this data with the new pg_stat_io view, which tracks key I/O
+statistics such as shared_buffer hits and I/O latency.
+
+Additionally, this release adds a new field to the pg_stat_all_tables view,
+capturing a timestamp representing when a table or index was last scanned.
+PostgreSQL also makes auto_explain more readable by logging values passed into
+parameterized statements, and improves accuracy of pg_stat_activity’s
+normalization algorithm.
+
+### Access Control & Security
+
+PostgreSQL 16 provides finer-grained options for access control and enhances
+other security features. The release improves management of `pg_hba.conf` and
+`pg_ident.conf` files, including allowing regular expression matching for user
+and database names and "include" directives for external configuration files.
+
+This release adds several security-oriented client connection parameters,
+including require_auth, which allows clients to specify which authentication
+parameters they are willing to accept from a server, and `sslrootcert="system"`,
+which indicates that PostgreSQL should use the trusted certificate authority
+(CA) store provided by the client’s operating system. Additionally, the release
+adds support for Kerberos credential delegation, allowing extensions such as
+`postgres_fdw` and `dblink` to use authenticated credentials to connect to
+trusted services.
+
+### About PostgreSQL
+
+[PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org) is the world's most advanced open
+source database, with a global community of thousands of users, contributors,
+companies and organizations. Built on over 35 years of engineering, starting at
+the University of California, Berkeley, PostgreSQL has continued with an
+unmatched pace of development. PostgreSQL's mature feature set not only matches
+top proprietary database systems, but exceeds them in advanced database
+features, extensibility, security, and stability.
+
+### Links
+
+* [Download](https://www.postgresql.org/download/)
+* [Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/16/release-16.html)
+* [Press Kit](https://www.postgresql.org/about/press/)
+* [Security Page](https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/)
+* [Versioning Policy](https://www.postgresql.org/support/versioning/)
+* [Follow @postgresql](https://twitter.com/postgresql)
+* [Donate](https://www.postgresql.org/about/donate/)
+
+## More About the Features
+
+For explanations of the above features and others, please see the following
+resources:
+
+* [Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/16/release-16.html)
+* [Feature Matrix](https://www.postgresql.org/about/featurematrix/)
+
+## Where to Download
+
+There are several ways you can download PostgreSQL 16, including:
+
+* The [Official Downloads](https://www.postgresql.org/download/) page, with contains installers and tools for [Windows](https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/), [Linux](https://www.postgresql.org/download/), [macOS](https://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/), and more.
+* [Source Code](https://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v16.0)
+
+Other tools and extensions are available on the
+[PostgreSQL Extension Network](http://pgxn.org/).
+
+## Documentation
+
+PostgreSQL 16 comes with HTML documentation as well as man pages, and you can also browse the documentation online in both [HTML](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/16/) and [PDF](https://www.postgresql.org/files/documentation/pdf/16/postgresql-16-US.pdf) formats.
+
+## Licence
+
+PostgreSQL uses the [PostgreSQL License](https://www.postgresql.org/about/licence/),
+a BSD-like "permissive" license. This
+[OSI-certified license](http://www.opensource.org/licenses/postgresql/) is
+widely appreciated as flexible and business-friendly, since it does not restrict
+the use of PostgreSQL with commercial and proprietary applications. Together
+with multi-company support and public ownership of the code, our license makes
+PostgreSQL very popular with vendors wanting to embed a database in their own
+products without fear of fees, vendor lock-in, or changes in licensing terms.
+
+## Contacts
+
+Website
+
+* [https://www.postgresql.org/](https://www.postgresql.org/)
+
+Email
+
+* [press@postgresql.org](mailto:press@postgresql.org)
+
+## Images and Logos
+
+Postgres, PostgreSQL, and the Elephant Logo (Slonik) are all registered
+trademarks of the [PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada](https://www.postgres.ca).
+If you wish to use these marks, you must comply with the [trademark policy](https://www.postgresql.org/about/policies/trademarks/).
+
+## Corporate Support
+
+PostgreSQL enjoys the support of numerous companies, who sponsor developers,
+provide hosting resources, and give us financial support. See our
+[sponsors](https://www.postgresql.org/about/sponsors/) page for some of these
+project supporters.
+
+There is also a large community of
+[companies offering PostgreSQL Support](https://www.postgresql.org/support/professional_support/),
+from individual consultants to multinational companies.
+
+If you wish to make a financial contribution to the PostgreSQL Global
+Development Group or one of the recognized community non-profit organizations,
+please visit our [donations](https://www.postgresql.org/about/donate/) page.
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