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Appendix F. Additional Supplied Modules

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dblink_connect — opens a persistent connection to a remote database

dblink_connect_u — opens a persistent connection to a remote database, insecurely

dblink_disconnect — closes a persistent connection to a remote database

dblink — executes a query in a remote database

dblink_exec — executes a command in a remote database

dblink_open — opens a cursor in a remote database

dblink_fetch — returns rows from an open cursor in a remote database

dblink_close — closes a cursor in a remote database

dblink_get_connections — returns the names of all open named dblink connections

dblink_error_message — gets last error message on the named connection

dblink_send_query — sends an async query to a remote database

dblink_is_busy — checks if connection is busy with an async query

dblink_get_notify — retrieve async notifications on a connection

dblink_get_result — gets an async query result

dblink_cancel_query — cancels any active query on the named connection

dblink_get_pkey — returns the positions and field names of a relation’s primary key fields

dblink_build_sql_insert — builds an INSERT statement using a local tuple, replacing the primary key field values with alternative supplied values

dblink_build_sql_delete — builds a DELETE statement using supplied values for primary key field values

dblink_build_sql_update — builds an UPDATE statement using a local tuple, replacing the primary key field values with alternative supplied values

This appendix and the next one contain information regarding the modules that can be found in the contrib directory of the PostgreSQL distribution. These include porting tools, analysis utilities, and plug-in features that are not part of the core PostgreSQL system, mainly because they address a limited audience or are too experimental to be part of the main source tree. This does not preclude their usefulness.

This appendix covers extensions and other server plug-in modules found in contrib. Appendix G covers utility programs.

When building from the source distribution, these components are not built automatically, unless you build the "world" target (see Step 2). You can build and install all of them by running:

make
make install

in the contrib directory of a configured source tree; or to build and install just one selected module, do the same in that module’s subdirectory. Many of the modules have regression tests, which can be executed by running:

make check

before installation or

make installcheck

once you have a PostgreSQL server running.

If you are using a pre-packaged version of PostgreSQL, these modules are typically made available as a separate subpackage, such as postgresql-contrib.

Many modules supply new user-defined functions, operators, or types. To make use of one of these modules, after you have installed the code you need to register the new SQL objects in the database system. This is done by executing a CREATE EXTENSION command. In a fresh database, you can simply do

CREATE EXTENSION module_name;

This command registers the new SQL objects in the current database only, so you need to run it in each database that you want the module’s facilities to be available in. Alternatively, run it in database template1 so that the extension will be copied into subsequently-created databases by default.

For all these modules, CREATE EXTENSION must be run by a database superuser, unless the module is considered “[.quote]#trusted”#, in which case it can be run by any user who has CREATE privilege on the current database. Modules that are trusted are identified as such in the sections that follow. Generally, trusted modules are ones that cannot provide access to outside-the-database functionality.

Many modules allow you to install their objects in a schema of your choice. To do that, add +SCHEMA +`+schema_name+ to the `+CREATE EXTENSION+ command. By default, the objects will be placed in your current creation target schema, which in turn defaults to public.

Note, however, that some of these modules are not “[.quote]#extensions”# in this sense, but are loaded into the server in some other way, for instance by way of shared_preload_libraries. See the documentation of each module for details.


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