[postgis-users] postgis on postgresql 8.2 vs 8.3

[Mark Cave-Ayland]

Stephen Woodbridge wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I have been holding back on upgrading my postgis installations from 
> postgresql 8.2 to 8.3 because:
> 
> 1) it seemed like there was a lot of new postgresql stuff to figure out 
> in 8.3. What are the big changes I need to be aware of?
> 
> 2) it seemed like there were initially some bugs and issues in 
> postgresql 8.3 that I'm guessing have mostly been resolved
> 
> 3) seemed like there have been or still are some postgis issues when 
> running on postgresql 8.3
> 
> Is postgis and 8.3 safe and stable? are there specific bugs I need to be 
> aware of? Do we have a list somewhere and work-arounds?
> 
> On my Debian box, I installed postgresql 8.2 long ago and have just held 
> onto it, but the packages are no longer available in the archives and 
> sometime later I added liblq5-dev package which appears to have come 
> from 8.3 which is causing me headaches.
> 
> I can upgrade to 8.3, does this require a dump and restore, or is there 
> a hot upgrade for postgis databases?
> 
> I can try and find a debian postgresql-8.2 source package and see if I 
> can build the .deb files from that, but it seems like I will like need 
> to upgrade to 8.3 regardless at some point.
> 
> So I looking for advice, feedback, whatever.


Hi Steve,

Generally we would consider PostgreSQL 8.3 supported by PostGIS, so 
please go ahead and try this. You should make sure that you're using at 
least 8.3.6 to get around an indexing bug, but other than that you 
should be good.

As you are upgrading from 8.2 to 8.3 then a database dump and restore 
cycle will be required. And since you're upgrading to a new PostgreSQL 
version, make sure that you test your application thoroughly first 
before it goes live.


HTH,

Mark.

-- 
Mark Cave-Ayland - Senior Technical Architect
PostgreSQL - PostGIS
Sirius Corporation plc - control through freedom
http://www.siriusit.co.uk
t: +44 870 608 0063