PostgreSQL 8.3 on Debian, Ubuntu

I recall a couple of people asking about when 8.3 would be available for
Debian and Ubuntu. Here's an update now that some useful packages have
come out this week.

Debian has the new source version available for their some distance in the
future Sid release at http://packages.debian.org/sid/postgresql-8.3 A
related component is their common PostgreSQL package; you can follow
recent QA on getting that compatible with 8.3 at
http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/postgresql-common.html

Binary backports for current releases are now trickling out; see
http://www.nabble.com/Postgresql-8.3-to15290017.html for more information.
That will lead you to unofficial packages at
http://rhonda.deb.at/debian/bpo/postgresql-common/ and
http://rhonda.deb.at/debian/bpo/postgresql-8.3/

Unbuntu will be including 8.3 in their upcoming Hardy Heron release:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/misc/postgresql-8.3

This has been backported to the current 7.10 by the Unofficial Backports
group:
http://backports.trausch.us/2008/02/11/new-package-backports-postgresql-83-and-dependencies/

The about page their tells how to use their repository to install their
version easily.

Now that the source versions for Debian and Ubuntu are out, a sufficiently
industrious person might do their own backport for an earlier version.
Once upon a time I was able to do that for 8.2 following the instructions
at http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/373 , that may be helpful
if you're interested in starting down that trail.

Note that these are all very unofficial at this point. You should follow
the appropriate level of due dilligance for your site to confirm these are
reliable sources before installing their packages or trusting their
repositories.

--
* Greg Smith gsmith(at)gregsmith(dot)com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD