CREATE EXTENSION
CREATE EXTENSION — install an extension
Synopsis
CREATE EXTENSION [ IF NOT EXISTS ]extension_name
[ WITH ] [ SCHEMAschema_name
] [ VERSIONversion
] [ FROMold_version
] [ CASCADE ]
Description
CREATE EXTENSION
loads a new extension into the current database. There must not be an extension of the same name already loaded.
Loading an extension essentially amounts to running the extension's script file. The script will typically create newSQL objects such as functions, data types, operators and index support methods.CREATE EXTENSION
additionally records the identities of all the created objects, so that they can be dropped again ifDROP EXTENSION
is issued.
Notes
Before you can useCREATE EXTENSION
to load an extension into a database, the extension's supporting files must be installed. Information about installing the extensions supplied withPostgres Pro can be found inAdditional Supplied Modules.
The extensions currently available for loading can be identified from thepg_available_extensions
orpg_available_extension_versions
system views.
Caution
Installing an extension as superuser requires trusting that the extension's author wrote the extension installation script in a secure fashion. It is not terribly difficult for a malicious user to create trojan-horse objects that will compromise later execution of a carelessly-written extension script, allowing that user to acquire superuser privileges. However, trojan-horse objects are only hazardous if they are in thesearch_path
during script execution, meaning that they are in the extension's installation target schema or in the schema of some extension it depends on. Therefore, a good rule of thumb when dealing with extensions whose scripts have not been carefully vetted is to install them only into schemas for which CREATE privilege has not been and will not be granted to any untrusted users. Likewise for any extensions they depend on.
The extensions supplied withPostgres Pro are believed to be secure against installation-time attacks of this sort, except for a few that depend on other extensions. As stated in the documentation for those extensions, they should be installed into secure schemas, or installed into the same schemas as the extensions they depend on, or both.
For information about writing new extensions, seeSection 35.15.
Examples
Install thehstore extension into the current database, placing its objects in schemaaddons
:
CREATE EXTENSION hstore SCHEMA addons;
Another way to accomplish the same thing:
SET search_path = addons;CREATE EXTENSION hstore;
Update a pre-9.1 installation ofhstore
into extension style:
CREATE EXTENSION hstore SCHEMA public FROM unpackaged;
Be careful to specify the schema in which you installed the existinghstore
objects.
Compatibility
CREATE EXTENSION
is aPostgres Pro extension.