Samay Sharma: PGXN creator David Wheeler joins Tembo to strengthen PostgreSQL extension ecosystem
We’re excited to welcome David Wheeler, a long-time PostgreSQL contributor, to Tembo. David has made significant contributions to Postgres, including CITEXT2, the case-insensitive data type; pgTAP, a database test framework; and Sqitch, a database change management system. While an Associate at PostgreSQL Experts in 2011, he created PGXN, the original extension distribution system. His most recent stint was designing and building a searchable, encrypted data store on PostgreSQL for The New York Times. David will be focusing on evaluating the challenges of Postgres extension discovery and distribution and work towards a community solution to address them. Challenges of the Postgres Extension Ecosystem Extensions are arguably the most powerful capability of Postgres. They allow you to add to and replace critical components of the database without changing a single line in core. In terms of functionality, they range from simple data types and functions to distributed databases and MLOps platforms. But why don’t more developers use extensions? Among many reasons, a noteworthy few stand out: Extensions are hard to find and discover: There isn’t a single easily searchable and navigable place for developers to easily find all extensions. Extension maturity is difficult to judge: Developers have to rely on heuristics such as GitHub stars, name recognition, binary packaging distribution, and so on. There is no centralized binary package repository for all platforms: Some extensions have no binary packaging while others are available via yum or apt. Managed services allow easy installation but most only support a limited number of extensions. There is insufficient documentation and metadata on how to get an extension working successfully. Some require updates to shared_preload_libraries, some depend on other extensions or binary libraries, while others require specific configurations to be usable. Trunk: Binary packaging and metadata capture for extensions To solv[...]
PostgreSQL contributor David Wheeler joins Tembo to improve Postgres extension ecosystem. Challenges of extension discovery and distribution will be addressed through a community solution. Trunk, a registry of 190+ extensions, and pgt.dev website are created for easy exploration and discovery. Goal is to create user-friendly extension management with comprehensive documentation and automatic binary packaging. Collaboration with other registries is also pursued.
