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<sect1 id="release-8-4">

<title>Release 8.4</title>

<note>

<title>Release date</title>

<simpara>2009-??-??, ITEMS CURRENT AS OF 2009-05-14</simpara>

<simpara>2009-??-??, ITEMS CURRENT AS OF 2009-06-11</simpara>

</note>

<sect2>

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

When archiving is enabled, rotate the last WAL segment at shutdown

so that all transactions can be archived immediately

(Guillaume Smet, Heikki)

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Delay <quote>smart</> shutdown while a continuous archiving base backup

<listitem>

<para>

Make parsing of <type>interval</> literals more standard-compliant (Tom)

Make parsing of <type>interval</> literals more standard-compliant

(Tom, Ron Mayer)

</para>

<para>

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Allow the second argument of <function>pg_get_expr()</> to be zero

when deparsing an expression that does not contain variables (Tom)

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Modify <function>pg_relation_size()</> to use <literal>regclass</>

<listitem>

<para>

Fix the behavior of information schema columns

<literal>is_insertable_into</> and <literal>is_updatable</> to

<structfield>is_insertable_into</> and <structfield>is_updatable</> to

be consistent (Peter)

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Improve the behavior of information schema

<structfield>datetime_precision</> columns (Peter)

</para>

<para>

These columns now show zero for <type>date</> columns, and 6

(the default precision) for <type>time</>, <type>timestamp</>, and

<type>interval</> without a declared precision, rather than showing

null as formerly.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Convert remaining builtin set-returning functions to use

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Enable <filename>contrib/dblink</> to use connection information

stored in the SQL/MED catalogs (Joe Conway)

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Improve <filename>contrib/dblink</>'s reporting of errors from

the remote server (Joe Conway)

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Make <filename>contrib/dblink</> set <varname>client_encoding</>

to match the local database's encoding (Joe Conway)

</para>

<para>

This prevents encoding problems when communicating with a remote

database that uses a different encoding.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Make sure <filename>contrib/dblink</> uses a password supplied