Contribute to PostgreSQL by Testing
PGDay Lowlands invites the community to contribute to the next PostgreSQL major version
PostgreSQL 18 RC1 was released on the 4th of September, and being a release candidate, it's getting really close to the official major release. We invite you to test it and give your feedback to us and to the PostgreSQL developers before the official release.
What’s in for you?
We will add your name to the Wall of Testers, where we list all the participants of this initiative, so that your contribution is visible.
In addition to the glory of being listed in the Wall of Testers, on the day of the event, 12th of September, PGDay Lowlands will raffle:
- One signed copy of "PostgreSQL Mistakes and How to Avoid Them" - courtesy of the author, Jimmy Angelakos
- One special edition "electric elephant" - donated by Chris Ellis
- A handmade elephant - donated by Karen Jex
- A free copy of "Decoding PostgreSQL: Understanding the World's Most Powerful Open-Source Database Without Writing Code" in e-book format, courtesy of the author, Ellyne Phneah
Note that we have already given away one free ticket to the conference for the early testers
How to participate?
Download, install, test, report.
- Download and install PostgreSQL 18 RC1. See the PostgreSQL 18 RC1 release page for more information.
- Here is a direct link to download the sources.
- And a link to the installation instructions.
- Test your own application trying to spot anything that doesn’t work. If you can compare performance of your application running on PostgreSQL 17 vs PostgreSQL 18 even better. Be as creative as you want with the test. That's the best way to find bugs.
- If you don’t have an application, you can create ad hoc tests to verify and study new functionality (partitioning, indexes, replication, etc), or run pgbench, HammerDB or any other generic tool.
- More ideas on testing can be found on the wiki
- Report your test by sending an email to team@pgday.nl using the format
explained in the
wiki. Reporting success is also a valid test. We are interested
in knowing how confident we are in the new release, and sharing which
applications are ready to upgrade can also be useful to other users.
IMPORTANT: If you spot a bug or a performance issue, please send also an email to the psql-bugs or psql-hackers mailing lists, as specified on the wiki
If you report more than one test, you increase your chances in the raffles. The raffle entries are per each test.
Timeline
Thursday 11th of September, 23:58 Rotterdam time (CEST) is the deadline to submit a test to participate in the raffle for the remaining prizes
Winners will be announced at the conference
More tests can still be submitted until the day of the official release.
The Wall of Testers will include all tests reported up to the official release of PostgreSQL 18
Previously, on September 1st, the winner of the free ticket was notified
No elephants or tulips should be damaged during the testing process. Such a collateral effect will disqualify you from the Wall.
