=============================
The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the first beta release of
-PostgreSQL 13 is now available for download. This release contains previews of
-all features that will be available in the final release of PostgreSQL 13,
-though some details of the release could change before then.
+PostgreSQL 13 is now [available for download](https://www.postgresql.org/download/).
+This release contains previews of all features that will be available in the
+final release of PostgreSQL 13, though some details of the release could change
+before then.
You can find information about all of the features and changes found in
PostgreSQL 13 in the [release notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html):
[https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html)
In the spirit of the open source PostgreSQL community, we strongly encourage you
-to test the new features of PostgreSQL 13 in your database systems to help us
-eliminate any bugs or other issues that may exist. While we do not advise you to
-run PostgreSQL 13 Beta 1 in your production environments, we encourage you to
-find ways to run your typical application workloads against this beta release.
+to test the new features of PostgreSQL 13 in your systems to help us eliminate
+any bugs or other issues that may exist. While we do not advise you to run
+PostgreSQL 13 Beta 1 in your production environments, we encourage you to find
+ways to run your typical application workloads against this beta release.
Your testing and feedback will help the community ensure that the PostgreSQL 13
release upholds our standards of providing a stable, reliable release of the
world's most advanced open source relational database. You can read more about
-the [beta testing process](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/) and how
+our [beta testing process](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/) and how
you can contribute here:
[https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/)
features introduced into this latest version of PostgreSQL.
Our goal is to make you aware of the upcoming features so you can help with the
-[testing effort](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/). We strongly
-encourage you provide feedback as well as any bug reports so we can ensure we
-can continue to deliver stable, reliable database software.
-
+[testing effort](https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/). We appreciate any
+feedback that you can provide as part of the beta process, including bug
+reports, as this helps us to ensure that PostgreSQL continues to be stable,
+reliable, and robust.
### Functionality
-There are many new features that improve the overall performance of
-PostgreSQL 13 and make it easier to work with simple and complex workloads.
+There are many new features in PostgreSQL 13 that help improve the overall
+performance of PostgreSQL while making it even easier to develop applications.
-On the performance front, B-tree indexes, the standard index of PostgreSQL,
-received improvements to how duplicate data is handled in the index. This helps
-to shrink the index size and improve the speed of lookups, particularly for
-indexes that have significant duplicates.
+B-tree indexes, the standard index of PostgreSQL, received improvements for
+how they handle duplicate data. These enhancements help to shrink index size and
+improve lookup speed, particularly for indexes that contain many repeat values.
PostgreSQL 13 adds incremental sorting, which accelerates sorting data when
-existing data in a query is already sorted. Queries with OR clauses or IN/ANY
-constant lists can now make use of extended statistics, created with
-`CREATE STATISTICS`, which can lead to better planning and performance gains.
+existing data in a query is already sorted. Additionally, queries with OR
+clauses or IN/ANY constant lists can use extended statistics (created via
+`CREATE STATISTICS`), which can lead to better planning and performance gains.
PostgreSQL 13 can now use disk storage for hash aggregation (used as part of
aggregate queries) with large aggregation sets.
`BEFORE` row-level triggers, and a partitioned table can now be fully replicated
via logical replication without having to publish individual partitions.
-PostgreSQL 13 brings more convenience to writing queries and introduces features
-such as `FETCH FIRST WITH TIES` that will return any additional rows that match
-the last row. There is also the addition of the ".datetime" function for
-jsonpath queries, which will automatically convert a date-like or time-like
-string to the appropriate PostgreSQL date/time datatype. It is also even easier
-now to generate random UUIDs, as the `gen_random_uuid()` can be used without
+PostgreSQL 13 brings more convenience to writing queries with features like
+`FETCH FIRST WITH TIES`, which returns any additional rows that match the last
+row. There is also the addition of the ".datetime" function for jsonpath
+queries, which will automatically convert a date-like or time-like string to the
+appropriate PostgreSQL date/time datatype. It is also even easier now to
+generate random UUIDs, as the `gen_random_uuid()` function can be used without
having to enable any extensions.
### Administration
One of the most anticipated features of PostgreSQL 13 is the ability for the
`VACUUM` command to process indexes in parallel. This functionality can be
-accessed with the new `PARALLEL` option on the `VACUUM` command (or `--parallel`
-on `vacuumdb`) allows you to specify the number of parallel workers to use for
-vacuuming indexes. Note that this does not work with the `FULL` option.
+accessed using the new `PARALLEL` option on the `VACUUM` command (or
+`--parallel` on `vacuumdb`), which allows you to specify the number of parallel
+workers to use for vacuuming indexes. Note that this does not work with the
+`FULL` option.
-The `reindexdb` command can now benefit from parallelism too: the new `--jobs`
-flag lets you specify the number of parallel workers to use when reindexing a
-database.
+The `reindexdb` command has also added parallelism with the new `--jobs` flag,
+which lets you specify the number of concurrent sessions to use when reindexing
+a database.
PostgreSQL 13 introduces the concept of a "trusted extension", which allows for
a superuser to specify extensions that a user can install in their database so
long as they have a `CREATE` privilege.
-This release includes more ways to track what is going on within a PostgreSQL
-database, as PostgreSQL 13 can now track WAL usage statistics and the progress
-of streaming `pg_basebackup`s, and the progress of an `ANALYZE` command.
+This release includes more ways to monitor actibity within a PostgreSQL
+database: PostgreSQL 13 can now track WAL usage statistics and the progress of
+streaming `pg_basebackup`s, and the progress of an `ANALYZE` command.
`pg_basebackup` can also generate a manifest that can be used to verify the
integrity of a backup using a new tool called `pg_verifybackup`.
-`pg_dump` now includes the `--include-foreign-data` flag that, if set, will
-include data from servers referenced by foreign data wrappers in the dump.
+A new flag for `pg_dump`, `--include-foreign-data`, includes data from servers
+referenced by foreign data wrappers in the dump output.
The `pg_rewind` command also has improvements in PostgreSQL 13. In addition to
-`pg_rewind` automatically performing crash recovery, you can now configure use
-it to configure standby PostgreSQL instances using the `--write-recovery-conf`
-flag. `pg_rewind` can also use the `restore_command` of the target instance to
-fetch needed write-ahead logs.
+`pg_rewind` automatically performing crash recovery, you can now use it to
+configure standby PostgreSQL instances using the `--write-recovery-conf` flag.
+`pg_rewind` can also use the `restore_command` of the target instance to fetch
+needed write-ahead logs.
### Security
release, introducing several features to help further deploy PostgreSQL safely.
libpq, the connection library that powers `psql` and many PostgreSQL connection
-drivers, added several new parameters to help secure connections. PostgreSQL 13
-introduces the `channel_binding` connection parameters, which lets a client
-specify that they want to require the channel binding functionality as part of
-SCRAM. Additionally, a client that is using a password protected TLS certificate
-can now specify its password using the `sslpassword` parameter. PostgreSQL 13
-also adds support for DER encoded certificates.
+drivers, includes several new parameters to help secure connections.
+PostgreSQL 13 introduces the `channel_binding` connection parameters, which
+lets a client specify that they want to require the channel binding
+functionality as part of SCRAM. Additionally, a client that is using a password
+protected TLS certificate can now specify its password using the `sslpassword`
+parameter. PostgreSQL 13 also adds support for DER encoded certificates.
The PostgreSQL foreign data wrapper (`postgres_fdw`) also received several
enhancements to how it can secure connections, including the ability to use
Additionally, unprivileged accounts can now connect to another PostgreSQL
database via the `postgres_fdw` without using a password.
+### Other Highlights
+
PostgreSQL 13 continues to improve operability on Windows, as now users who
run PostgreSQL on Windows now have the option to connect over UNIX domain
sockets.
-### Other Highlights
-
-PostgreSQL 13 introduces a [glossary](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/glossary.html)
+The PostgreSQL 13 documentation adds a [glossary](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/glossary.html)
of terms to help people familiarize themselves with both PostgreSQL and general
database concepts. This coincides with a significant rework in the display of
functions and operators in tables, which helps to improve readability both on
the web and in the PDF documentation.
-The `pgbench` utility, used for performance testing, now supports the
-partitioning of the "accounts" table that it uses, making it easier to benchmark
-workloads involving partitions.
+The `pgbench` utility, used for performance testing, now supports the ability to
+partition its "accounts" table, making it easier to benchmark workloads that
+contains partitions.
`psql` now includes the `\warn` command that is similar to the `\echo` command
in terms of outputting data, except `\warn` sends it to stderr. And in case you
-------------------
Many other new features and improvements have been added to PostgreSQL 13, some
-of which may be as or more important to specific users than what is mentioned
+of which may be as or more important to your use case than what is mentioned
above. Please see the [Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html)
-for a complete list of new and changed features.
+for a complete list of new and changed features:
+
+ [Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html)
Testing for Bugs & Compatibility
--------------------------------
projects / press.git / commitdiff