RHEA-2010:0276 - Product Enhancement Advisory

Topic

New postgresql84 packages are now available.

Description

PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system
(DBMS) that supports almost all SQL constructs (including transactions,
subselects and user-defined types and functions).

The postgresql84 packages provide the current 8.4.x release series of
PostgreSQL, superseding the 8.1.x series originally shipped with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5. Since there are many minor application-level
incompatibilities between 8.1.x and 8.4.x, the original postgresql package
set remains available and will continue to be updated.

postgresql84 is for those users who wish to migrate to a more current
PostgreSQL release.

postgresql84 and postgresql packages cannot be installed concurrently on
the same system, with the exception that the postgresql-libs package can
remain in place in parallel with postgresql84. The postgresql-libs package
contains client-side library code to which existing applications may be
linked. These libraries will still work with the newer server.

As 8.4.x also has on-disk data format differences from 8.1.x, it is not
possible to upgrade an existing 8.1.x PostgreSQL database to 8.4.x merely
by replacing the packages. Instead, first dump the contents of the existing
database using the pg_dumpall command, then shut down the old server and
remove the database files (under /var/lib/pgsql/data). Next, remove the old
packages and install the new ones; start the new server; and finally
restore the data from the pg_dumpall output.

Note, there are two known issues with this new package as follows:

• on Itanium, the only supported development subpackage architecture is

Itanium. While it is possible to install both i386 and ia64 packages, these
contain conflicting files and using the both architectures together may
lead to unpredictable results. The i386 version is unsupported, as the
Itanium version of gcc cannot compile code executable using the IA32
emulation capability. (BZ#489479)

• while postgresql84 packages are provided, rebuilding other packages with

this new version is not supported. If a package using postgresql-devel is
to be rebuilt, a downgrade from postgresql84 to postgresql is necessary.
(BZ#558746)

Subject to the limitations noted above, users wishing to run PostgreSQL
8.4.x are encouraged to install these new packages.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 489479 - Please add postgres version 8.4.x
• BZ - 550783 - postgresql-libs = 8.4.2-3.el5 is needed by package postgresql84

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)