The global PostgreSQL developer community (PGDG) has announced the release of PostgreSQL 18, a new version of the open-source database management system.
Among the main innovations:
- Asynchronous I/O improves the performance of read operations such as sequential scan (Seq Scan), bitmap heap scan (Bitmap Heap Scan), table and index cleanup, and some other operations.
- pg_upgrade preserves basic statistics of tables and indexes when updating the server.
- Queries will be able to use multi-column indexes, even if there is no condition on the leading column of the index.
- The uuidv7 function generates monotonically increasing unique values tied to a timestamp, which significantly optimizes the maintenance of Btree indexes.
- Computed table columns can be not only stored but also virtual.
- OAuth 2.0 protocol support allows centralizing authorization and access management in an external system, without the need to enter passwords when connecting.
- DML commands in the RETURNING clause can access old and new values using the keywords OLD and NEW.
- Temporal primary, unique, and foreign keys will help track the state of data not only at the current moment but also in the past.
More than 40 employees of Postgres Professional participated in the development of PostgreSQL 18, making at least 140 changes. According to Postgres Professional, all the innovations of PostgreSQL 18 will soon appear in the company's commercial products — Postgres Pro Standard and Postgres Pro Enterprise.