Re: upgrade?

Yes there is documentation, yes there are changes.
if you're happy with what you're on, don't bother.
The main change I noticed was that it no longer allows the illegal syntax of
= NULL
( I KNOW I KNOW, but I liked using it! :p)

From the History file in Redhat RPM documentation for 7.2

Overview

This release improves PostgreSQL for use in high-volume applications.

Major changes in this release:

VACUUM

Vacuuming no longer locks tables, thus allowing normal user
access
during the vacuum. A new "VACUUM FULL" command does old-style
vacuum by locking the table and shrinking the on-disk copy of the
table.

Transactions

There is no longer a problem with installations that exceed four
billion transactions.

OID's

OID's are now optional. Users can now create tables without OID's
for cases where OID usage is excessive.

Optimizer

The system now computes histogram column statistics during
"ANALYZE", allowing much better optimizer choices.

Security

A new MD5 encryption option allows more secure storage and
transfer of passwords. A new Unix-domain socket authentication
option is available on Linux and BSD systems.

Statistics

Administrators can use the new table access statistics module to
get fine-grained information about table and index usage.

Internationalization

Program and library messages can now be displayed in several
languages.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Migration to version 7.2

A dump/restore using "pg_dump" is required for those wishing to migrate
data from any previous release.

Observe the following incompatibilities:

* The semantics of the "VACUUM" command have changed in this release.
You may wish to update your maintenance procedures accordingly.

* In this release, comparisons using = NULL will always return false
(or
NULL, more precisely). Previous releases automatically transformed
this syntax to IS NULL. The old behavior can be re-enabled using a
"postgresql.conf" parameter.

* The "pg_hba.conf" and "pg_ident.conf" configuration is now only
reloaded after receiving a SIGHUP signal, not with each connection.

* The function "octet_length()" now returns the uncompressed data
length.

* The date/time value 'current' is no longer available. You will need
to
rewrite your applications.

* The timestamp() function is no longer available. Use timestamp
'string' instead, or CAST.

The SELECT ... LIMIT #,# syntax will be removed in the next release. You
should change your queries to use separate LIMIT and OFFSET clauses, e.g.
LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20.
-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
[mailto:pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org]On Behalf Of Jodi Kanter
Sent: 13 May 2002 15:39
To: Postgres Admin List
Subject: [ADMIN] upgrade?

We are still running 7.1.3. Can anyone highlight the big differences or
reasons to upgrade? Is there some documentation on this?
Thanks
Jodi
_______________________________
Jodi L Kanter
BioInformatics Database Administrator
University of Virginia
(434) 924-2846
jkanter(at)virginia(dot)edu