PostgreSQL 13 Beta 1 Released!

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group announces that the first beta
release of PostgreSQL 13 is now available for download. This release
contains previews of all features that will be available in the final
release of PostgreSQL 13, though some details of the release could
change before then. You can download PostgreSQL 13 Beta 1 here:

  https://www.postgresql.org/download/

You can find information about all of the features and changes found in
PostgreSQL 13 in the release notes:

  https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html

In the spirit of the open source PostgreSQL community, we strongly
encourage you to test the new features of PostgreSQL 13 in your systems
to help us eliminate any bugs or other issues that may exist. While we
do not advise you to run PostgreSQL 13 Beta 1 in your production
environments, we encourage you to find ways to run your typical
application workloads against this beta release.

Your testing and feedback will help the community ensure that the
PostgreSQL 13 release upholds our standards of providing a stable,
reliable release of the world's most advanced open source relational
database. You can read more about our beta testing process and how
you can contribute here:

  https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/

PostgreSQL 13 Feature Highlights
--------------------------------

### Functionality

There are many new features in PostgreSQL 13 that help improve the
overall performance of PostgreSQL while making it even easier to develop
applications.

B-tree indexes, the standard index of PostgreSQL, received improvements
for how they handle duplicate data. These enhancements help to shrink
index size and improve lookup speed, particularly for indexes that
contain repeated values.

PostgreSQL 13 adds incremental sorting, which accelerates sorting data
when data that is sorted from earlier parts of a query are already
sorted. Additionally, queries with OR clauses or IN/ANY constant lists
can use extended statistics (created via `CREATE STATISTICS`), which can
lead to better planning and performance gains. PostgreSQL 13 can now use
disk storage for hash aggregation (used as part of aggregate queries)
with large aggregation sets.

There are more improvements added to PostgreSQL's partitioning
functionality in this release, including an increased number of cases
where a join directly between partitioned tables can occur, which can
improve overall query execution time. Partitioned tables now support
`BEFORE` row-level triggers, and a partitioned table can now be fully
replicated via logical replication without having to publish individual
partitions.

PostgreSQL 13 brings more convenience to writing queries with features
like `FETCH FIRST WITH TIES`, which returns any additional rows that
match the last row. There is also the addition of the `.datetime()`
function for jsonpath queries, which will automatically convert a
date-like or time-like string to the appropriate PostgreSQL date/time
datatype. It is also even easier now to generate random UUIDs, as the
`gen_random_uuid()` function can be used without having to enable any
extensions.

### Administration

One of the most anticipated features of PostgreSQL 13 is the ability for
the `VACUUM` command to process indexes in parallel. This functionality
can be accessed using the new `PARALLEL` option on the `VACUUM` command
(or `--parallel` on `vacuumdb`), which allows you to specify the number
of parallel workers to use for vacuuming indexes. Note that this does
not work with the `FULL` option.

The `reindexdb` command has also added parallelism with the new `--jobs`
flag, which lets you specify the number of concurrent sessions to use
when reindexing a database.

PostgreSQL 13 introduces the concept of a "trusted extension", which
allows for a superuser to specify extensions that a user can install in
their database so long as they have a `CREATE` privilege.

This release includes more ways to monitor activity within a PostgreSQL
database: PostgreSQL 13 can now track WAL usage statistics and the
progress of streaming base backups, and the progress of an `ANALYZE`
command. `pg_basebackup` can also generate a manifest that can be used
to verify the integrity of a backup using a new tool called
`pg_verifybackup`. It is also now possible to limit the amount of WAL
space reserved by replication slots.

A new flag for `pg_dump`, `--include-foreign-data`, includes data from
servers referenced by foreign data wrappers in the dump output.

The `pg_rewind` command also has improvements in PostgreSQL 13. In
addition to `pg_rewind` automatically performing crash recovery, you can
now use it to configure standby PostgreSQL instances using the
`--write-recovery-conf` flag. `pg_rewind` can also use the
`restore_command` of the target instance to fetch needed write-ahead logs.

### Security

PostgreSQL continues to improve on its security capabilities in this
latest release, introducing several features to help further deploy
PostgreSQL safely.

`libpq`, the connection library that powers `psql` and many PostgreSQL
connection drivers, includes several new parameters to help secure
connections. PostgreSQL 13 introduces the `channel_binding` connection
parameters, which lets a client specify that they want to require the
channel binding functionality as part of SCRAM. Additionally, a client
that is using a password protected TLS certificate can now specify its
password using the `sslpassword` parameter. PostgreSQL 13 also adds
support for DER encoded certificates.

The PostgreSQL foreign data wrapper (`postgres_fdw`) also received
several enhancements to how it can secure connections, including the
ability to use certificate-based authentication to connect to other
PostgreSQL clusters. Additionally, unprivileged accounts can now connect
to another PostgreSQL database via the `postgres_fdw` without using a
password.

### Other Highlights

PostgreSQL 13 continues to improve operability on Windows, as now users
who run PostgreSQL on Windows now have the option to connect over UNIX
domain sockets.

The PostgreSQL 13 documentation adds a glossary of terms to help people
familiarize themselves with both PostgreSQL and general database
concepts. This coincides with a significant rework in the display of
functions and operators in tables, which helps to improve readability
both on the web and in the PDF documentation. You can view the glossary
here:

  https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/glossary.html

The `pgbench` utility, used for performance testing, now supports the
ability to partition its "accounts" table, making it easier to benchmark
workloads that contain partitions.

`psql` now includes the `\warn` command that is similar to the `\echo`
command in terms of outputting data, except `\warn` sends it to stderr.
And in case you need additional guidance on any of the PostgreSQL
commands, the `--help` flag now includes a link to
https://www.postgresql.org.

Additional Features
-------------------

Many other new features and improvements have been added to PostgreSQL
13, some of which may be as or more important to your use case than what
is mentioned above. Please see the release notes for a complete list of
new and changed features:

  https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html

Testing for Bugs & Compatibility
--------------------------------

The stability of each PostgreSQL release greatly depends on you, the
community, to test the upcoming version with your workloads and testing
tools in order to find bugs and regressions before the general
availability of PostgreSQL 13. As this is a Beta, minor changes to
database behaviors, feature details, and APIs are still possible. Your
feedback and testing will help determine the final tweaks on the new
features, so please test in the near future. The quality of user testing
helps determine when we can make a final release.

A list of open issues is publicly available in the PostgreSQL wiki.  You
can report bugs using this form on the PostgreSQL website:

  https://www.postgresql.org/account/submitbug/

Beta Schedule
-------------

This is the first beta release of version 13. The PostgreSQL Project
will release additional betas as required for testing, followed by one
or more release candidates, until the final release in late 2020. For
further information please see the Beta Testing page:

  https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/

Links
-----

* Download: https://www.postgresql.org/download/
* Beta Testing Information: https://www.postgresql.org/developer/beta/
* PostgreSQL 13 Beta Release Notes:
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/release-13.html
* PostgreSQL 13 Open Issues:
https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/PostgreSQL_13_Open_Items
* Submit a Bug: https://www.postgresql.org/account/submitbug/