Changes/RemovalPostgreSQL15

Retirement of PostgreSQL 15

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

PostgreSQL version 15 will be retired from Fedora 42 since there are newer versions like 16 and 17. Version 16 is already the default version (announced in PostgreSQL16 change), and version 17 would be the alternative.

Owner

• Name: Lukas Javorsky, Filip Janus
• Email: ljavorsk@redhat.com, fjanus@redhat.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 42
• Last updated: 2024-11-07
• [Announced]
• [<will be assigned by the Wrangler> Discussion thread]
• FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

With the addition of PostgreSQL-17 to Fedora 42, maintaining PG15 is no longer necessary and creates a significant capacity burden. This will also mean the retirement of the dependent components like postgresql15-pgaudit, postgresql15-pg_repack, and postgresql15-decoderbufs.

Benefit to Fedora

Lesser PostgreSQL versions to maintain and newer versions with additional features.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Follow the Package Retirement Process

• Other developers:

• Release engineering: #Releng issue number

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with the Fedora Strategy:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

In the case user's still didn't upgrade to the default stream 16, the standard upgrade strategy should be followed:

1. Stop the postgresql service
2. Dump the databases using su - postgres -c "pg_dumpall > /PATH/TO/pgdump_file.sql"
3. Backup all of the data in /var/lib/pgsql/data/
4. Upgrade PostgreSQL using (e.g. for upgrading to PG-16) dnf swap postgresql15* postgresql16*
5. Copy the old configuration files to the /var/lib/pgsql/data/
6. Start the upgraded systemd service
7. Import data from the dumped file using su - postgres -c 'psql -f /PATH/TO/pgdump_file.sql postgres'

How To Test

The postgresql15* RPMs should not be in the Fedora mirrors and should not be installed.

Dependencies

The following dependencies (stand-alone packages) will be retired alongside the postgresql15:

• postgresql15-pgaudit, postgresql15-pg_repack, and postgresql15-decoderbufs

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)
• Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
• Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change), No

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)