7.0 key features

The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org> writes:
> We still have to write up a release announcement (can someone summarize
> the key features of v7.0?), so that gives us a little bit of time ...

Man, there's a lot of stuff in the HISTORY file, isn't there?
The list at the top isn't too bad:
  Foreign Keys         Foreign keys are now implemented, with the exception of PARTIAL         MATCH foreign keys. Many
usershave been asking for this         feature, and we are pleased to offer it.           Optimizer Overhaul
Continuingon work started a year ago, the optimizer has been         overhauled, allowing improved query execution and
better        performance with less memory usage.           Updated psql         psql, our interactive terminal
monitor,has been updated with a         variety of new features. See the psql manual page for details.
UpcomingFeatures         In 7.1, we plan to have outer joins, storage for very long         rows, and a write-ahead
loggingsystem.
 

Some other things that might be worth mentioning:
   Date/time datatypes cleaned up  We have brought the date/time datatypes into compliance with  the SQL standard,
replacingthe old partially-implemented SQL  date/time types with full-featured implementations.  The  default display
formatfor date/time data has also changed  to be ISO style.  This may create a few compatibility issues  for old
applications. [Thomas may want to rewrite this item...]
 
   Query length limits removed  There is no longer any fixed limit on the length of a query  string.  (The block-size
limiton the length of a stored row  still exists, but we hope to fix that in 7.1.)
 
   Removal of 8-argument limit on index keys and functions  The maximum number of keys in an index or arguments to a
functionis now configurable, with default limit of 16,  rather than the old hard-coded limit of 8.
 
   Sorts and hashes now work for >2GB of data  Temporary files can now be split in the same way that oversize
relationsare, so that data volume is only limited by  available disk space and not by OS limits on the size of an
individualfile.
 

It wouldn't be hard to make this list a *lot* longer, but...

You should also make a point of the literally hundreds of smaller
features, bug fixes, and performance improvements that are in this
release.
        regards, tom lane