Beta Information

Feature freeze for PostgreSQL 8.3 took place on April 1st. Since that time we have gone through the submitted patch queue and applied all outstanding patches that were deemed ready for release. As of this time, we are now releasing beta releases for all to test. What can you do to help?

• Take a backup of your current database system with both old and new versions of pg_dump and load them into 8.3. Test any application you have that runs against a PostgreSQL database against the updated server. You can report any PostgreSQL bugs or errors using the bug reporting form.
• If your platform is not listed in the automatic build farm, please download the source code and verify that you can build the release. Better still, add a machine to the buildfarm with your platform included. You can send positive or negative results to pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org.
• Read through the 8.3 documentation, especially for new features, and suggest areas for improvement or clarification.
• You might want to subscribe to the pgsql-hackers mailing list. This is where development of PostgreSQL takes place, and users involved in the beta program should be subscribed in order to receive the most up to date information.

Current Release: RC 2

Some important links you will need for testing PostgreSQL 8.3

• You can find the latest release candidate at http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v8.3RC2/
• You can find the latest release candidate win32 binaries at http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/binary/v8.3RC2/win32/
• The list of Open Items for 8.3
• Release notes for 8.3
• Pre-release version of the 8.3 documentation

PostgreSQL traditionally has several rounds of beta releases, followed by a few rounds of release candidates before final release. How quickly these phases progress depends on your help! A rough timeline for the 8.3 release cycle is available in the roadmap.

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Author: http://www.postgresql.org