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<appendix id="release">

<para>

A dump/restore is not required for those running 8.0.*.

This releasedoes update the major version number of the

<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> libraries so it might be

This releaseupdates the major version number of the

<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> libraries, so it might be

necessary to re-link some user applications if they cannot

find the properly-numbered shared library.

</para>

<title>Changes</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>Use the proper default mask length for <type>INET</> data types with class

<literal>D</> addresses (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow plpgsql to assign a value to an array that is initially

<literal>NULL</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <command>CLUSTER</> failure after <command>ALTER TABLE

SET WITHOUT OIDS</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix ecpg bugs in parsing of <command>CREATE</> statement

(Michael)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Reduce memory usage of <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN</>

(Neil)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow SPI to handle utility commands like <command>EXPLAIN</>

that return rows (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <command>ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Document the Win32 <literal>register</> and <literal>

unregister</>

<application>pg_ctl</> options (Magnus)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Several <filename>/contrib/btree_gist</> fixes (Teodor)

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>New cache replacement policy <acronym>2Q</> replaces

<acronym>ARC</> (Tom)</para>

<para>

This was done to void a pending US patent on <acronym>ARC</>. The

<acronym>2Q</> code might be a few percentage points slower than

<acronym>ARC</> for busy sites. Another new cache replacement

policy will appear in 8.1.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Change the Win32 default for config variable

<varname>log_destination</> to <option>eventlog</> (Magnus)</para>

<para>

This, by default, will send all Win32 server log output to the Win32 event

logger rather than standard error.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix crash of some <filename>/contrib/pgcrypto</>

functions on some platforms (Neil)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow <command>ALTER DATABASE RENAME</> by superusers

who can't create databases (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Increment the major version number of all interface

libraries (Bruce)</para>

<para>

can be used on the same machine as 8.0.X applications. This might require

re-linking user applications that use these libraries.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Do not use locale-aware versions of <function>upper()</>,

<function>lower()</>, and <function>initcap()</> when the locale is <literal>C</>.

(Bruce)</para>

<listitem><para>Add Windows-only <varname>wal_sync_method</> setting of

<option>fsync_writethrough</> (Magnus, Bruce)</para>

<para>

This setting causes <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> to write through

any disk-drive write cache when writing to WAL.

This behavior was formerly called <option>fsync</>, but was

renamed because it acts quite differently from <option>fsync</> on other

platforms.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>Enable the <varname>wal_sync_method</> setting of

<option>open_datasync</> on Windows, and make it the default for that

platform (Magnus, Bruce)</para>

<para>

Because the default is no longer <option>fsync_writethrough</>,

data loss is possible during a power failure if the disk drive has

write caching enabled. To turn off the write cache on Windows,

from the <application>Device Manager</>, choose the drive properties,

then <literal>Policies</>.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>New cache management algorithm <acronym>2Q</> replaces

<acronym>ARC</> (Tom)</para>

<para>

This was done to avoid a pending US patent on <acronym>ARC</>. The

<acronym>2Q</> code might be a few percentage points slower than

<acronym>ARC</> for some work loads. A better cache management algorithm

will appear in 8.1.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Planner adjustments to improve behavior on freshly-created

tables (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow plpgsql to assign to an element of an array that is

initially <literal>NULL</> (Tom)</para>

<para>

Formerly the array would remain <literal>NULL</>, but now it becomes a

single-element array. The main SQL engine was changed to handle

<command>UPDATE</> of a null array value this way in 8.0, but the similar

case in plpgsql was overlooked.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>Convert <literal>\r\n</> and <literal>\r</> to <literal>\n</>

in plpython function bodies (Michael Fuhr)</para>

<para>

This allows these functions to work on platforms that sometimes

generate errors with a locale of <literal>C</> and a non-<literal>SQL_ASCII</>

encoding.

This prevents syntax errors when plpython code is written on a Windows or

Mac client.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow SPI cursors to handle utility commands that return rows,

such as <command>EXPLAIN</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <command>CLUSTER</> failure after <command>ALTER TABLE

SET WITHOUT OIDS</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Reduce memory usage of <command>ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN</>

(Neil)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <command>ALTER LANGUAGE RENAME</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Document the Windows-only <literal>register</> and

<literal>unregister</> options of <application>pg_ctl</> (Magnus)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Ensure operations done during backend shutdown are counted by

statistics collector</para>

<para>

This is expected to resolve reports of <application>pg_autovacuum</>

not vacuuming the system catalogs often enough &mdash; it was not being

told about catalog deletions caused by temporary table removal during

backend exit.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Enable the <varname>wal_sync_method</> variable value of

<option>open_datasync</> on Win32, and make it the default for that

platform. (Magnus, Bruce)</para>

<para>

This makes Win32 behave like other supported platforms that require the

administrator to make sure that data is guaranteed to be written to permanent

storage after a sync operation. To turn off the write cache on Win32,

from the <application>Device Manager</>, chose the drive properties,

then <literal>Policies</>.

<listitem><para>Change the Windows default for configuration parameter

<varname>log_destination</> to <option>eventlog</> (Magnus)</para>

<para>

By default, a server running on Windows will now send log output to the

Windows event logger rather than standard error.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Make Kerberos authentication work on Windows (Magnus)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow <command>ALTER DATABASE RENAME</> by superusers

who aren't flagged as having CREATEDB privilege (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Modify WAL log entries for <command>CREATE</> and

<command>DROP DATABASE</> to not specify absolute paths (Tom)</para>

<para>This allows point-in-time recovery on a different machine with possibly

different database location. Note that <command>CREATE TABLESPACE</> still

poses a hazard in such situations.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Add Win32-only <varname>wal_sync_method</> value of <option>

fsync_writethrough</> to write through any write cache between the

operating system and the drive when doing a sync.

(Magnus, Bruce)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix crash from a backend exiting an open transaction

with a <command>CREATE</> and a <command>FETCH</> (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix crash from a backend exiting with an open transaction

that created a table and opened a cursor on it (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <function>array_map()</> so it can call PL functions

(Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Several <filename>contrib/tsearch2</> and

<filename>contrib/btree_gist</> fixes (Teodor)

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix crash of some <filename>contrib/pgcrypto</>

functions on some platforms (Marko Kreen)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <filename>contrib/intagg</> for 64-bit platforms

(Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix ecpg bugs in parsing of <command>CREATE</> statement

(Michael)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Work around gcc bug on powerpc and amd64 causing problems in

ecpg (Christof Petig)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Modify WAL log entries for <command>CREATE</> and <command>

DROP DATABASE</> to not specify absolute paths</para>

<para>This allows point-in-time recovery on a different machine. (Tom)

<listitem><para>Do not use locale-aware versions of <function>upper()</>,

<function>lower()</>, and <function>initcap()</> when the locale is

<literal>C</> (Bruce)</para>

<para>

This allows these functions to work on platforms that generate errors

for non-7-bit data when the locale is <literal>C</>.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <filename>/contrib/intagg</> for 64-bit platforms

(Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Convert plpython function bodies containing <literal>\r\n</>

and <literal>\r</> to <literal>\n</> (Michael Fuhr)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Allow Kerberos to work on Win32 (Magnus)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <function>quote_ident()</> to quote names that match keywords (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix <function>to_date()</> to behave reasonably when

<literal>CC</> and <literal>YY</> fields are both used (Karel)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Prevent <function>to_char(interval)</> from failing

when given a zero-month interval (Tom)</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Fix wrong week returned by <function>date_trunc</>('week')</para>

<listitem><para>Fix wrong week returned by <function>date_trunc('week')</>

(Bruce)</para>

<para>

This was a problem for early January dates. <function>date_trunc('week')</>

returned the wrong year for <literal> 2005-01-01</> and <literal>2006-01-01</>

(Bruce)

<function>date_trunc('week')</>

returned the wrong year for the first few days of January in some years.

</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Use the correct default mask length for class <literal>D</>

addresses in <type>INET</> data types (Tom)</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect2>