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Appendix F. Additional Supplied Modules and Extensions

Table of Contents

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 on the optional components 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. They are separate 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 module libraries found in contrib. Appendix G covers utility programs.

When building from the source distribution, these optional 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 components are typically made available as a separate subpackage, such as postgresql-contrib.

Many components supply new user-defined functions, operators, or types, packaged as extensions. To make use of one of these extensions, 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 extension_name;

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

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

The following extensions are trusted in a default installation:

btree_gin

fuzzystrmatch

ltree

tcn

btree_gist

hstore

pgcrypto

tsm_system_rows

citext

intarray

pg_trgm

tsm_system_time

cube

isn

seg

unaccent

dict_int

lo

tablefunc

uuid-ossp

Many extensions 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 components 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 component for details.


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