PostgreSQL 9.2, why?

[PostgresPaul]

Hello, I recently joined the cpanel forum in an effort to better understand the policy behind PostgreSQl 9.2. Why does cpanel only support an unsupported version of cpanel? Currently, cpanel would have to support, at the very least, PostgreSQL 9.5 in order to be using a supported version of PostgreSQL?

I recently started using cpanel which entailed having to move a simple database from PostgreSQL 11.7 to PostgreSQL 9.2. Moving the database from PostgreSQL 11.7 to 9.2 was problematic. Out of curiosity, what is the reasoning behind not supporting a supported version of PostgreSQL (version 9.5 or newer)?

Thank you for your time.

Paul

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hello @PostgresPaul

This is a result of the fact that we're only supporting the version of PostgreSQL that is shipped with the OS. Meaning available on CentOS's repository. This is noted in the documentation here: Install or Update PostgreSQL on Your cPanel Server | cPanel & WHM Documentation. Support for Postgres is minimal as well, we support the ability to install it and ensure it's function is as intended but we don't provide support for troubleshooting issues with it beyond that.

That being said, while we don't support it, it is possible to install different versions of PostgreSQL. There are a number of threads on the forums that go over this.

 

[PostgresPaul]

Hello cPanelLauren,

Thank you for your response. I am more familiar with the Debian branch than the Red Hat branch, so am probably missing something. The CentOS Repositories for CentOS 6, 7, and 8, appears to currently have official packages for PostgreSQL versions 9.5, 9.6, 10, 11, and 12. I did not find PostgreSQL 9.2 in the CentOS repositories. Do you have your own CentOS repositories or am I missing something? I would definitely be willing work on getting a modern version of PostgreSQL to work with cpanel, but for obvious reasons my hosting company is less willing to make unsupported modifications to cpanel.

Thank you,

Paul

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hello,


I think you may be looking in a different repository?


When searching just the CentOS base and updates repository for PostgreSQL you get the following results;

[[email protected] yum.repos.d]# yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="updates" --enablerepo="base" list all |grep postgresql
freeradius-postgresql.x86_64               3.0.13-10.el7_6           base
libreoffice-postgresql.x86_64              1:5.3.6.1-21.el7          base
pcp-pmda-postgresql.x86_64                 4.3.2-5.el7_7             updates
postgresql.i686                            9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql.x86_64                          9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-contrib.x86_64                  9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-devel.i686                      9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-devel.x86_64                    9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-docs.x86_64                     9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-jdbc.noarch                     9.2.1002-6.el7_5          base
postgresql-jdbc-javadoc.noarch             9.2.1002-6.el7_5          base
postgresql-libs.i686                       9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-libs.x86_64                     9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-odbc.x86_64                     09.03.0100-2.el7          base
postgresql-plperl.x86_64                   9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-plpython.x86_64                 9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-pltcl.x86_64                    9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-server.x86_64                   9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-static.i686                     9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-static.x86_64                   9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-test.x86_64                     9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
postgresql-upgrade.x86_64                  9.2.24-2.el7_7            updates
qt-postgresql.i686                         1:4.8.7-3.el7_6           base
qt-postgresql.x86_64                       1:4.8.7-3.el7_6           base
qt5-qtbase-postgresql.i686                 5.9.7-2.el7               base
qt5-qtbase-postgresql.x86_64               5.9.7-2.el7               base

The only actual PostgreSQL (not an addon etc) package they list here is postgresql.x86_64

[[email protected] ~]# yum info postgresql.x86_64
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, universal-hooks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * EA4: 208.74.123.61
 * EA4-experimental: 208.74.123.61
 * cpanel-addons-production-feed: 208.74.123.61
 * cpanel-plugins: 208.74.123.61
 * base: www.gtlib.gatech.edu
 * centosplus: mirror.dal10.us.leaseweb.net
 * epel: pubmirror2.math.uh.edu
 * extras: mirror.dal.nexril.net
 * updates: centos-distro.1gservers.com
Installed Packages
Name        : postgresql
Arch        : x86_64
Version     : 9.2.24
Release     : 2.el7_7
Size        : 16 M
Repo        : installed
From repo   : updates
Summary     : PostgreSQL client programs
URL         : http://www.postgresql.org/
License     : PostgreSQL
Description : PostgreSQL is an advanced Object-Relational database management system (DBMS).
            : The base postgresql package contains the client programs that you'll need to
            : access a PostgreSQL DBMS server, as well as HTML documentation for the whole
            : system.  These client programs can be located on the same machine as the
            : PostgreSQL server, or on a remote machine that accesses a PostgreSQL server
            : over a network connection.  The PostgreSQL server can be found in the
            : postgresql-server sub-package.

 

[PostgresPaul]

Thank you, I understand now where the 9.2.24 version of PostgreSQL comes from. I was confusing what was available at centos.pkgs.org with the CentOS base and updates repositories.

Also, thank you for indulging my frustration that the latest cpanel supported version of PostgreSQL (9.2.24) has not been supported in almost 2.5 years (since November 9, 2017, www.postgresql.org/support/versioning/).

Thank you for your time and help.

Paul

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @PostgresPaul

I do get the frustration. I get that the version is EoL and I think the issue truly lies in that we don't actually provide PostgreSQL, nor do I believe we intend to. What can be installed using the script is the CentOS package available in the updates repository. If they updated the packages available there we would support installing that version which is also noted here: Install or Update PostgreSQL® on Your cPanel & WHM Server | cPanel & WHM Documentation

You can read what version is shipped with the OS here: PostgreSQL: Linux downloads (Red Hat family)

Distribution	Version
RHEL/CentOS/OL 8	10 and 9.6 via modules
RHEL/CentOS/SL/OL 7	9.2 (also supplies package rh-postgresql10, rh-postgresql96, rh-postgresql95 and rh-postgresql94 via SCL)

 

[PostgresPaul]

Hello @cPanelLauren,

Are you saying once support for CentOS 8 is added to cpanel, cpanel will support PostgreSQL 10?

 

[cPanelLauren]

As far as I am aware, yes it's always what is shipped with the OS since that's what's shipped with CentOS8 I can confirm that for you though. I'll check back in a bit later with an update.

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hello,

I confirmed this with the team that's working on CentOS 8 related items and they indicated that this was indeed the plan. They noted they'll let me know if any of that changes as well.

 

[PostgresPaul]

That is great news @cPanelLauren!

PostgreSQL 10 is supported until November 10, 2022, which definitely buys some time.

Thank you,

Paul