He PostgreSQL Global Development Group announced the release of PostgreSQL 17the newest version of the open source database.
According to the group’s announcement, PostgreSQL 17 has improved performance and scalability while adapting to new data access and storage patterns required by cloud-native computing and the rise of AI.
Among the key new features is improved JSON support, which was one of the reasons users began adopting the database. In this release, implementation of the SQL/JSON standard is virtually complete, according to Tom Kincaid, senior vice president of database server development at EDB, a major contributor to the project. “I think one of the things people ask for the most is the implementation of JSON_TABLE, which allows you to take a JSON document and view it as a relational table… it really speaks to the extensibility of Postgres, but also the continuous evolution to facilitate its adoption”.
PostgreSQL 17 is now supported SQL/JSON constructors (JSON, JSON_SCALAR, JSON_SERIALIZE) and query functions (JSON_EXISTS, JSON_QUERY, JSON_VALUE), according to the group’s announcement, giving developers other ways to interact with their JSON data. This version adds more jsonpath expressionswith an emphasis on converting JSON data to a native PostgreSQL data type, including numeric, boolean, string, and date/time types, the group announced.
Furthermore, according to the group’s announcement, the new version brings more features to MERGEwhich is used for conditional updates. New capabilities include a RETURNING clause and the possibility of updating views., as well as bulk loading and data export, including up to a 2x performance improvement when exporting large rows using the COPY domain. “COPY Performance also has improvements when the source and destination encodings match, and includes a new option, ON_ERRORwhich allows the import to continue even if there is an insertion error,” the announcement said.
Another key feature Kincaid pointed out is the addition of incremental backup. “Postgres databases can be tens of terabytes, in some cases 100 terabytes or more, and being able to fully back them up could take several days, depending only on your hardware, your architecture, and your tools,” said. “But now, with incremental backup, you can combine incremental backups into one full backup, separate from the actual database server, so you don’t have to put a lot of load on your database server to perform a backup.” full backup”.
PostgreSQL 17 delivers system-wide performance improvements and a more robust developer experience. Here are the release notes for a complete list of new and changed features.
