How to get PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is 100% open source software and is freely available to use, alter, or redistribute in any way you choose. Its license is an approved open source license, very similar to the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license, although only just different enough that it is now known as The PostgreSQL License (TPL). You can see the license here: https://opensource.org/licenses/PostgreSQL.

How to do it...

PostgreSQL is already being used by many different application packages, so you may find it already installed on your servers. Many Linux distributions include PostgreSQL as part of the basic installation or include it with the installation disk.

One thing to be wary of is that the included version of PostgreSQL may not be the latest release. It will typically be the latest major release that was available when that operating system release was published. There is usually no good reason to stick to that version – there is no increased stability implied there—and later production versions are just as well supported by the various Linux distributions as the earlier versions.

If you don’t have a copy yet or the latest version, you can download the source code or binary packages for a variety of operating systems from http://www.postgresql.org/download/.

Installation details vary significantly from platform to platform, and there aren’t any special tricks or recipes to mention. Just follow the installation guide, and away you go! We’ve consciously avoided describing the installation processes here to make sure we don’t garble or override the information published to assist you.

EDB has provided the main macOS/Windows installer for PostgreSQL for many years, which can be accessed here: https://www.enterprisedb.com/downloads/postgres-postgresql-downloads. This gives you the option of installing both client and server software so that you can try it out on your laptop:

Figure 1.1: The PostgreSQL Setup Wizard

The installer shown in Figure 1.2 also allows you to install just the client software, allowing you to work with remote database servers, such as PostgreSQL in the cloud:

Figure 1.2: Selecting components to install

If you would like to receive email updates of the latest news, you can subscribe to the PostgreSQL announce mailing list, which contains updates from all the vendors that support PostgreSQL. You’ll get a few emails each month about new releases of core PostgreSQL, related software, conferences, and user group information. It’s worth keeping in touch with these developments.

How it works...

Many people ask questions such as, How can this be free? Are you sure I don’t have to pay someone? Who gives this stuff away for nothing?

Open source applications such as PostgreSQL work on a community basis, where many contributors perform tasks that make the whole process work. For many of these people, their involvement is professional, rather than merely a hobby, and they can do this because there is generally great value for both the contributors and their employers alike.

You might not believe it. You don’t have to, because it just works!

There’s more…

Remember that PostgreSQL is more than just the core software. There is a huge range of websites that offer add-ons, extensions, and tools for PostgreSQL. You’ll also find an army of bloggers who provide useful tricks and discoveries that will help you in your work.

Besides these, a range of professional companies can offer you help when you need it.