The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces today that the third beta release of PostgreSQL 9.6 is available for download. This release contains previews of all of the features which will be available in the final release of version 9.6, including fixes to many of the issues found in the first and second betas. Users are encouraged to continue testing their applications against 9.6 beta 3.
Our users and contributors tested the first two betas, and found and reported many bugs and usability issues. This beta release fixes many of those issues. If you reported an issue, please test this beta to ensure that it's completely fixed.
This included many more fixes to parallel query:
Among the other issues addressed were:
Due to changes in system catalogs, a pg_upgrade or dump and restore will be required for users migrating databases from earlier betas. This includes a version update to the pg_control tool, making it incompatible with PostgreSQL 9.4 and earlier. This beta also includes patches to many issues shared with earlier versions, which will be updated in an upcoming minor release.
Note that some known issues remain unfixed. Before reporting a bug in the beta, please check the Open Items page.
This is the third beta release of version 9.6. The PostgreSQL Project will release additional betas as required for testing, followed by one or more release candidates, until the final release in late 2016. For further information please see the Beta Testing page.