Re: PostgreSQL 19 GA press release draft

[Jonathan S. Katz]

On 11/7/26 3:36 PM, Lukas Fittl wrote:

Hi Jonathan,

Mission-critical usage of PostgreSQL continues to rapidly rise, and
PostgreSQL 19 responds to this by simplifying both administration and
development for these workloads at scale. This release introduces the
[`REPACK (CONCURRENTLY)`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-repack.html)
command so users can optimize tables for their current workload without
disruption to ongoing operations. PostgreSQL 19 also lets users provide their
own guidance to the query planner using the new 
[`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html)
extension. Developers will find many delightful features in this release,
from support for "read-your-writes" consistency on standbys to "get or create"
behavior that saves a network round trip.

I feel like "lets users provide their own guidance to the query
planner" is not the right high level pitch for pg_plan_advice - it was
created with the motivation/perspective of plan stability (i.e. give
me the same plan again that you gave me previously), and intentionally
tried to steer away from the "give Postgres a hint" perspective.

That said, we're a bit character constrained in the intro. The
simplest edit I can think of is to just drop the "their own" wording
in that sentence, so its less about what the user thinks is right.

CCing Robert in case he hadn't seen this yet and has thoughts.

Here's another take, which I think aligns with your suggestions:

==

PostgreSQL 19 gives users better control over plan stability and query performance with the new [`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html) extension.

==

The PostgreSQL query planner usually picks an efficient plan for each query, but
the plan can change as your data changes, and sometimes the new plan is slower.
PostgreSQL 19 adds the 
[`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html)
extension, which provides a "plan advice" language to describe, reproduce, and
adjust the decisions the planner makes. The companion
[`pg_stash_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgstashadvice.html)
extension stores advice and automatically applies it to queries based on their
query identifier, so you can fix a slow plan without changing your application.

What if we reword this so it reads "PostgreSQL 19 adds the
pg_plan_advice extension, which allows stabilization of plan choices,
as well as experimenting with different plans using the "plan advice"
mini-language."?

Sure - I'm good with that (or something similar). Here was my attempt:

==

PostgreSQL 19 adds the [`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html)

extension, which allows stabilization of plan choices and the ability to
experiment with different plans using the "plan advice" mini-language.
==

PostgreSQL 19 also reports the amount
of WAL written for full-page images in 
[`pg_stat_wal`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/monitoring-stats.html#PG-STAT-WAL-VIEW),
`EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, WAL)`, and vacuum and analyze logs.

Maybe "and in vacuum and analyze log events."? (since we don't have
dedicated vacuum/analyze log files)

Changed.

Otherwise looks good - thanks for putting this together as always!

Thanks for the review!

Jonathan

November 19, 2026 - The [PostgreSQL Global Development Group](https://www.postgresql.org)
today announced the release of [PostgreSQL 19](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/release-19.html),
the latest version of the world's most advanced open source database.

Mission-critical usage of PostgreSQL continues to rapidly rise, and
PostgreSQL 19 responds to this by simplifying both administration and
development for these workloads at scale. This release introduces the
[`REPACK (CONCURRENTLY)`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-repack.html)
command so users can optimize tables for their current workload without
disruption to ongoing operations. PostgreSQL 19 gives users better control over
plan stability and query performance with the new [`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html)
extension. Developers will find many delightful features in this release, from
support for "read-your-writes" consistency on standbys to "get or create"
behavior that saves a network round trip.

<!--TODO: HOLDING FOR QUOTE -->

PostgreSQL, an innovative data management system known for its reliability,
robustness, and extensibility, benefits from 30 years of open source
development from a global developer community and has become the preferred open
source relational database for organizations of all sizes.

### Simplifying workload management

Tables that receive many updates and deletes can build up unused space, known as
"bloat," which can also significantly impact query performance. The
`VACUUM FULL` and `CLUSTER` commands were previously used to handle this, but
had tradeoffs, including preventing access to the table until the cleanup
finished. PostgreSQL 19 introduces the [`REPACK`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-repack.html)
command, which reclaims this space and can reorder a table's data to match an
index, and with `REPACK (CONCURRENTLY)`, can do so without blocking reads or
writes. `REPACK` replaces the `VACUUM FULL` and `CLUSTER` commands, both of
which remain available for compatibility.

The PostgreSQL query planner usually picks an efficient plan for each query, but
the plan can change as your data changes, and sometimes the new plan is slower.
PostgreSQL 19 adds the [`pg_plan_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgplanadvice.html)
extension, which allows stabilization of plan choices and the ability to
experiment with different plans using the "plan advice" mini-language. The companion
[`pg_stash_advice`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/pgstashadvice.html)
extension stores advice and automatically applies it to queries based on their
query identifier, so you can fix a slow plan without changing your application.

PostgreSQL 19 also helps [autovacuum](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/routine-vacuuming.html#AUTOVACUUM)
keep up on busy systems. Autovacuum can now vacuum indexes using parallel
workers, controlled by the new
[`autovacuum_max_parallel_workers`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-vacuum.html#GUC-AUTOVACUUM-MAX-PARALLEL-WORKERS)
setting, and uses a new [scoring system](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/routine-vacuuming.html#AUTOVACUUM-PRIORITY)
to decide which tables to process first. Queries that read a table can now
automatically mark pages as all-visible in the [visibility map](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/routine-vacuuming.html#VACUUM-FOR-VISIBILITY-MAP) during execution,
reducing the work that future vacuums need to do. Additionally,
[`vacuumdb --analyze-only`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/app-vacuumdb.html)
now analyzes partitioned tables when no tables are specified.

This release adds new views for monitoring workloads, including
[`pg_stat_lock`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/monitoring-stats.html#PG-STAT-LOCK-VIEW)
for per-lock-type statistics, [`pg_stat_recovery`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/monitoring-stats.html#PG-STAT-RECOVERY-VIEW)
for recovery status, and [`pg_stat_autovacuum_scores`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/monitoring-stats.html#PG-STAT-AUTOVACUUM-SCORES-VIEW)
to show how autovacuum prioritizes tables. The new `IO` option for
[`EXPLAIN ANALYZE`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-explain.html) and the
matching [`auto_explain`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/auto-explain.html#AUTO-EXPLAIN-CONFIGURATION-PARAMETERS-LOG-IO)
setting report asynchronous I/O activity. PostgreSQL 19 also reports the amount
of WAL written for full-page images in [`pg_stat_wal`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/monitoring-stats.html#PG-STAT-WAL-VIEW),
`EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, WAL)`, and in vacuum and analyze log events.

### Distributed data improvements

Previously, PostgreSQL often required users to restart their server to enable
[logical replication](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/logical-replication.html),
which could be disruptive in production workloads. PostgreSQL 19 simplifies
logical replication initialization by automatically raising the effective WAL
level to `logical` when you create the first logical replication slot. You can
see the WAL level in use with the new [`effective_wal_level`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-preset.html#GUC-EFFECTIVE-WAL-LEVEL) setting.

PostgreSQL 19 also adds logical replication of
[sequence values](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/logical-replication-sequences.html),
which you can publish using `FOR ALL SEQUENCES` with
[`CREATE PUBLICATION`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-createpublication.html).
`CREATE PUBLICATION` also adds an `EXCEPT` clause to exclude tables when
publishing `FOR ALL TABLES`, and [`CREATE SUBSCRIPTION`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-createsubscription.html)
can now get its connection settings from a foreign server, such as one defined
with [`postgres_fdw`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/postgres-fdw.html),
using the `SERVER` clause. Additionally, the new
[`retain_dead_tuples`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-createsubscription.html#SQL-CREATESUBSCRIPTION-PARAMS-WITH-RETAIN-DEAD-TUPLES)
subscription option lets PostgreSQL detect updates that conflict with a
concurrent delete, and these conflicts are counted in
[`pg_stat_subscription_stats`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/monitoring-stats.html#MONITORING-PG-STAT-SUBSCRIPTION-STATS).

For applications that send reads to standbys, PostgreSQL 19 adds
"read-your-writes" consistency with the new
[`WAIT FOR LSN`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-wait.html) command. A
session on a standby can use `WAIT FOR LSN` to wait until the standby has
replayed the write-ahead log (WAL) up to a specific
[log sequence number (LSN)](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/wal-internals.html)
before running a query, so the application can read data it just wrote on the
primary.

PostgreSQL 19 also improves queries on foreign tables. With the new
[`import_stats`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/postgres-fdw.html#POSTGRES-FDW-OPTIONS-COST-ESTIMATION) option,
[`postgres_fdw`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/postgres-fdw.html) can
import table statistics from the remote server when you run `ANALYZE`, instead
of sampling rows from the remote table, which helps the query planner choose
better plans.

### Developer experience and performance enhancements

PostgreSQL 19 adds [`INSERT ... ON CONFLICT DO SELECT`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-insert.html#SQL-ON-CONFLICT),
which lets the `RETURNING` clause return existing rows that conflict with an
insert, simplifying the common "get or create" pattern.
[`COPY`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-copy.html) can now output data
as JSON, including as a single JSON array, and the
[SQL/JSON path language](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/functions-json.html#FUNCTIONS-SQLJSON-PATH-OPERATORS)
adds string methods such as `lower()`, `upper()`, `replace()`, `split_part()`,
and `btrim()`. Additionally, the `lead()`, `lag()`, `first_value()`,
`last_value()`, and `nth_value()` [window functions](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/functions-window.html)
can now skip `NULL` values using `IGNORE NULLS`. The [`random()`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/functions-datetime.html#FUNCTIONS-DATETIME-TABLE) function can now also generate random dates
and timestamps within a range.

This release also makes many workloads faster without changes to your
application. PostgreSQL 19 improves the performance of foreign key checks, which
in testing made bulk inserts nearly 2x faster, and adds more query planner
optimizations, such as converting `NOT IN` clauses to more efficient anti-joins
when `NULL` values are not present, and performing
[eager aggregation](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-query.html#GUC-ENABLE-EAGER-AGGREGATE)
before joins to reduce the number of rows to process. PostgreSQL 19 also builds
on the [asynchronous I/O](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-IO-METHOD)
subsystem added in PostgreSQL 18. When `io_method` is set to `worker` (the
default), PostgreSQL now automatically adjusts the number of I/O workers between
the new [`io_min_workers`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-IO-MIN-WORKERS)
and [`io_max_workers`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-IO-MAX-WORKERS)
settings, which replace the `io_workers` setting. There are also scalability
improvements when using [`LISTEN`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-listen.html)
and [`NOTIFY`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-notify.html) to
exchange notifications in multi-channel workloads.

Finally, the new [`password_expiration_warning_threshold`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-PASSWORD-EXPIRATION-WARNING-THRESHOLD)
setting warns users when their password is about to expire.

### Other notable changes

PostgreSQL 19 adds server-side support for
[Server Name Indication (SNI)](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/ssl-tcp.html#SSL-SNI),
letting a single PostgreSQL server present a different TLS certificate based on
the hostname a client connects to. You can map hostnames to their certificates
and keys in the new [`pg_hosts.conf`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-file-locations.html#GUC-HOSTS-FILE)
file. PostgreSQL 19 also now issues a warning after a successful `md5` password
authentication, which you can turn off with the
[`md5_password_warnings`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-MD5-PASSWORD-WARNINGS)
setting. `md5` password authentication was deprecated in PostgreSQL 18 and will
be removed in a future release. If you require password-based authentication,
use [SCRAM authentication](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/auth-password.html).
This release also removes support for RADIUS authentication.

[Just-in-time compilation (JIT)](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/jit.html) is
now disabled by default, as the cost estimates PostgreSQL used to decide when to
use it proved unreliable. If you run many large analytical queries, you may want
to enable JIT. When PostgreSQL is built with LZ4 support, the default
[TOAST](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/storage-toast.html) compression
method is now `lz4`.

### Additional Features

Many other new features and improvements have been added to PostgreSQL 19 that
may also be helpful for your use cases. Please see the
[release notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/release-19.html) for a
complete list of new and changed features.

### About PostgreSQL

[PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org) is the world's most advanced open
source database, with a global community of thousands of users, contributors,
companies and organizations. Since its beginnings at the University of
California, Berkeley over 40 years ago, PostgreSQL has continued with an
unmatched pace of development. PostgreSQL's mature feature set not only matches
top proprietary database systems, but exceeds them in advanced database
features, extensibility, security, and stability.

### Links

* [Download](https://www.postgresql.org/download/)
* [Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/release-19.html)
* [Press Kit](https://www.postgresql.org/about/press/)
* [Security Page](https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/)
* [Versioning Policy](https://www.postgresql.org/support/versioning/)
* [Contact](https://www.postgresql.org/about/contact/)
* [Donate](https://www.postgresql.org/about/donate/)

## More About the Features

For explanations of the above features and others, please see the following
resources:

* [Release Notes](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/release-19.html)
* [Feature Matrix](https://www.postgresql.org/about/featurematrix/)

## Where to Download

There are several ways you can download PostgreSQL 19, including:

* The [Official Downloads](https://www.postgresql.org/download/) page, which contains installers and tools for [Windows](https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/), [Linux](https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/), [macOS](https://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/), and more.
* [Source Code](https://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v19.0)

Other tools and extensions are available on the
[PostgreSQL Extension Network](http://pgxn.org/).

## Documentation

PostgreSQL 19 comes with HTML documentation as well as man pages, and you can also browse the documentation online in both [HTML](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/) and [PDF](https://www.postgresql.org/files/documentation/pdf/19/postgresql-19-US.pdf) formats.

## Licence

PostgreSQL uses the [PostgreSQL License](https://www.postgresql.org/about/licence/),
a BSD-like "permissive" license. This
[OSI-certified license](http://www.opensource.org/licenses/postgresql/) is
widely appreciated as flexible and business-friendly, since it does not restrict
the use of PostgreSQL with commercial and proprietary applications. Together
with multi-company support and public ownership of the code, our license makes
PostgreSQL very popular with vendors wanting to embed a database in their own
products without fear of fees, vendor lock-in, or changes in licensing terms.

## Contacts

Website

* [https://www.postgresql.org/](https://www.postgresql.org/)

Email

* [pr...@postgresql.org](mailto:pr...@postgresql.org)

## Images and Logos

Postgres, PostgreSQL, and the Elephant Logo (Slonik) are all registered
trademarks of the [PostgreSQL Community Association](https://www.postgres.ca).
If you wish to use these marks, you must comply with the [trademark policy](https://www.postgresql.org/about/policies/trademarks/).

## Corporate Support and Donations

PostgreSQL enjoys the support of numerous companies, who sponsor developers,
provide hosting resources, and give us financial support. See our
[sponsors](https://www.postgresql.org/about/sponsors/) page for some of these
project supporters.

There is also a large community of
[companies offering PostgreSQL Support](https://www.postgresql.org/support/professional_support/),
from individual consultants to multinational companies.

If you wish to make a financial contribution to the PostgreSQL Global
Development Group or one of the recognized community non-profit organizations,
please visit our [donations](https://www.postgresql.org/about/donate/) page.

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