[WBEL-users] PostgreSQL 8.0 ?

[Lamar Owen]

On Tuesday 07 December 2004 15:11, Mário Gamito wrote:
> Now i need PostgreSQL 8.0 even though it's not been realesed as stable
> yet. I cannot wait. My deadline is around the corner :(
> I saw on PostgreSQL's FTP they have RHEL's RPMs for 8.0RC1

> Straight to the point: if i grab them and make a rpm -Uvh to upgrade
> from 7.3 to 8.0 (on WBEL, remember), will things run smoothly ?

No, it will not.

You must dump your data, wipe the PGDATA directory tree, do the rpm upgrade, 
start it with service postgresql start (NOT service rhdb start), let it do 
the initdb, then restore your dump.  It may or may not restore cleanly, 
depending on your customizations.

There may be other issues. 

But I seriously question the need to use non-stable software in release 
candidate stage due to a deadline.  You may get egg in your face due to that; 
IOW, what feature of 8.0 do you need that you absolutely cannot wait for?

BTW, I say all this with more than a little experience.  Up until last month I 
was the RPM maintainer for the PostgreSQL Global Development Group (and had 
been for five years), so this is an issue over which I have agonized time and 
time again.  My lack of extra time, particularly in the 8.0 cycle, led me to 
pass the torch to Devrim Gunduz in Turkey last month.

PostgreSQL major version upgrades are nearly as hard as kernel major version 
upgrades (like 2.4.x to 2.6.x), so tread carefully.
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu