Sorting Out glibc Collation Challenges: Joe Conway - PGCon 2023

Postgres database administrators must navigate glibc collation challenges to avoid compatibility issues. Learn how to lock down a specific minor version, create a customized glibc, and rebuild Postgres to ensure query performance and data integrity.

Key takeaways

Sorting out glibc collation challenges is a must for Postgres database administrators.
Lock down to a specific minor version of GLibC to avoid compatibility issues.
The recommended version for Postgres is glibc 2.17, but if you’re going from an older version (glibc < 2.28) to a newer version (glibc ≥ 2.28), you may experience collation issues.
Changes in glibc can cause problems with collation order, which can affect query performance and data integrity.
The problem is not limited to Postgres, but it can impact other distributed systems.
If you’re going from an older version of glibc to a newer version, you’ll need to rebuild Postgres with the new glibc version.
Rebuilding Postgres can be complex and time-consuming, especially if you’re dealing with a large database.
The solution is to create a customized glibc version that includes the necessary locale data and symbols.
Using a preload library can help alleviate the problem, but it may not resolve all issues.
The solution is not part of the standard build process and requires manual modifications to the build files and sources.
The impact of this problem can be severe, causing data corruption and performance issues.
The recommended approach is to create a custom glibc version that is compatible with the target system.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and the approach will depend on the specific system and database configuration.
It’s essential to understand the underlying issues and the impact of changes to the glibc version.
The problem can be complex and requires expert knowledge of glibc and Postgres.

Sorting Out glibc Collation Challenges: Joe Conway - PGCon 2023

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