Postgres hacking

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Required dependencies

For Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt-get install build-essential libreadline-dev zlib1g-dev flex bison \
  libxml2-dev libxslt-dev libssl-dev libxml2-utils xsltproc ccache docbook \
  docbook-dsssl docbook-xsl docbook-xml docbook-defguide openjade \
  libxml2-utils sgml-data

For macOS:

Follow the official platform-specific notes:

macOS installation notes
Install Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install
Consider using Homebrew for dependencies

Configuration

Always use these ./configure flags:

./configure \
  --enable-depend \
  --enable-cassert \
  --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql \
  --with-openssl

Building

Make with parallel jobs:

make -j8

Full build sequence:

./configure --enable-depend --enable-cassert --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql
make -j8
make install

Running psql

Always use the --no-psqlrc flag:

psql --no-psqlrc -d postgres

This prevents loading of the user's .psqlrc file, ensuring consistent behavior across different environments.

Git workflow

Professional commit messages:

Short descriptive message (50 chars max)


Detailed description of the change if needed.
Optional list of changes:
- First change
- Second change
- Third change

What NOT to add to git:

❌ Test files and logs
❌ Temporary binaries
❌ Core dumps
❌ Build artifacts
❌ Personal configuration files

File placement:

Place temporary files in /tmp instead of the repo directory
Don't add temp directory names to .gitignore
Keep temporary files outside the main directory structure

Development best practices

Testing:

Run regression tests: make check
Run specific tests: make check TESTS="test_name"
Clean build: make clean && make -j8

Debugging:

Build with debug symbols: ./configure --enable-debug
Use gdb for debugging: gdb --args postgres -D /path/to/data
Check logs in pg_log/ directory

Code style:

Follow the existing PostgreSQL coding conventions
Use pgindent for consistent formatting
Keep line length under 80 characters where possible