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Long-form articles about the problems PIG is built to solve: making PostgreSQL extensions discoverable, packaging them as native RPM/DEB artifacts, publishing trustworthy repositories, and exposing the resulting capabilities through a practical CLI.
Versions, counts, and examples in these articles reflect their publication dates. For current usage, see the PIG documentation, extension catalog, and release notes.
Suggested reading paths:
- PIG and the pig family: Meet PIG, instant PostgreSQL cloning, and SOW’s repository state model.
- Extension delivery: the original repository rationale, PG Extension Cloud, the extension encyclopedia, and Extensions for Everyone.
- Packaging and trust: why Linux packaging is scarce, the PGDG mirror incident, Pigsty’s response, and what a Valkey packaging bug teaches us.
- The distribution layer: forging a global PostgreSQL distribution and what a PostgreSQL distribution actually is.
SOW: Postpartum Care for 100,000 Packages
How SOW manages more than 100,000 repository artifacts with shared package storage, snapshots, and incremental publication.
How a Packaging Patch Broke Valkey’s Memory Accounting
A packaging patch uses the wrong deallocator in Valkey. It can crash the server or trigger persistent out-of-memory errors.
Instantly Clone PostgreSQL Databases—No Black Magic Required
pig v1.5 adds pig pg clone and pig pg fork, bringing PostgreSQL 18 database cloning and instance forks to the command line.
What Is a PostgreSQL Distribution?
How PostgreSQL distributions combine the database kernel, extension packages, and operational tools.
Extensions for Everyone
A report on 1,617 PostgreSQL extension projects, 511 extensions available as packages, and the work needed to deliver them.
504 Extensions: Expand the PostgreSQL Landscape
How an RDKit packaging request led to 32 new extensions and a 504-entry catalog.
The PostgreSQL Extension Encyclopedia: Bilingual and Ready to Use
I brought metadata, package availability, install commands, and usage documentation for 464 PostgreSQL extensions into one bilingual encyclopedia.
464 Extensions, Ready Out of the Box: The New PostgreSQL Extension Catalog
The fifth extension catalog combines package metadata and usage documentation for 464 extensions.
Forging a China-Rooted, Global PostgreSQL Distro
A talk at the eighth China PostgreSQL Ecosystem Conference: how to build a PostgreSQL distribution in China for users worldwide.
On Trusting Open-Source Supply Chains
In serious production you can’t rely on an upstream that explicitly says “no guarantees.” When someone says “don’t count on me,” the right answer is “then I’ll run it myself.”
PG Extension Cloud: Unlocking PostgreSQL’s Entire Ecosystem
A catalog of 431 PostgreSQL extensions, native RPM/DEB repositories, and the PIG command-line tool for finding and installing packages.
Build and Packaging: An Overlooked but Scarce Skill
On the rare craft of production-grade Linux packaging in the PostgreSQL ecosystem.
The PostgreSQL 'Supply Cut' and Trust Issues in Software Supply Chain
Why Pigsty built its own PGDG mirror after public mirrors stopped receiving updates.
PGDG Cuts Off Mirror Sync Channel
An investigation into stale PostgreSQL mirrors after the FTP and rsync synchronization service closed.
Postgres Extensions Day — See You There!
The program for Postgres Extensions Day in Montreal on May 12, 2025.
Pig, The Postgres Extension Wizard
Why would we need yet another package manager for PostgreSQL & extensions?
The Ideal Way to Deliver PostgreSQL Extensions
Why installing PostgreSQL extensions is difficult, and how a native RPM/DEB repository delivers 340 of them.
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SOW: Postpartum Care for 100,000 Packages
Today, let’s talk about Postpartum Care for Sows—a Chinese meme for the sort of absurdly specialized practical topic nobody expects to discuss. This time, the sow in question is my new open-source project, SOW. When you maintain a PostgreSQL …
Today, let’s talk about Postpartum Care for Sows—a Chinese meme for the sort of absurdly specialized practical topic nobody expects to discuss. This time, the sow in question is my new open-source project, SOW. When you maintain a PostgreSQL …
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How a Packaging Patch Broke Valkey’s Memory Accounting
I was updating the Redis module in Pigsty recently, adding Valkey as an alternative engine, and found a bug in an inherited packaging patch. In affected Valkey DEB packages, failed synchronous saves can corrupt used_memory until it reports a value …
I was updating the Redis module in Pigsty recently, adding Valkey as an alternative engine, and found a bug in an inherited packaging patch. In affected Valkey DEB packages, failed synchronous saves can corrupt used_memory until it reports a value …
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Instantly Clone PostgreSQL Databases—No Black Magic Required
Six months ago, on January 8, 2026, I wrote Git for Data: Instant PostgreSQL Database and Instance Cloning, introducing a new feature in PostgreSQL 18 and Pigsty v4.0: instant database cloning. With filesystem copy-on-write (CoW) and PostgreSQL 18’s …
Six months ago, on January 8, 2026, I wrote Git for Data: Instant PostgreSQL Database and Instance Cloning, introducing a new feature in PostgreSQL 18 and Pigsty v4.0: instant database cloning. With filesystem copy-on-write (CoW) and PostgreSQL 18’s …
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What Is a PostgreSQL Distribution?
People often ask me: what exactly is Pigsty? My usual answer is: a PostgreSQL distribution. The next question is usually: what, then, is a “PostgreSQL distribution”? That is a good question. And the best place to begin is not databases, but operating …
People often ask me: what exactly is Pigsty? My usual answer is: a PostgreSQL distribution. The next question is usually: what, then, is a “PostgreSQL distribution”? That is a good question. And the best place to begin is not databases, but operating …
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Extensions for Everyone
Slide deck: Extensions for Everyone Part I. Introduction 0. Extensions for Everyone 00. Extensions for Everyone Hi everyone. This talk is called Extensions for Everyone. It is about delivering PostgreSQL extensions, and about how a shared delivery …
Slide deck: Extensions for Everyone Part I. Introduction 0. Extensions for Everyone 00. Extensions for Everyone Hi everyone. This talk is called Extensions for Everyone. It is about delivering PostgreSQL extensions, and about how a shared delivery …
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504 Extensions: Expand the PostgreSQL Landscape
A GitHub issue turned into an extension sprint. 32 new additions say a lot about where PostgreSQL is headed. It Started with a Chemistry Extension Two days ago, a user opened a GitHub issue: he was using RDKit, the de facto standard library in …
A GitHub issue turned into an extension sprint. 32 new additions say a lot about where PostgreSQL is headed. It Started with a Chemistry Extension Two days ago, a user opened a GitHub issue: he was using RDKit, the de facto standard library in …
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The PostgreSQL Extension Encyclopedia: Bilingual and Ready to Use
Directory: Chinese · English Extensions are the soul of PostgreSQL. Without them, PostgreSQL is just a very good relational database. With them, it becomes a platform that can swallow entire categories of database workloads. The problem is that the …
Directory: Chinese · English Extensions are the soul of PostgreSQL. Without them, PostgreSQL is just a very good relational database. With them, it becomes a platform that can swallow entire categories of database workloads. The problem is that the …
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464 Extensions, Ready Out of the Box: The New PostgreSQL Extension Catalog
Today I put Claude Code to work on another genuinely useful project: a completely new PostgreSQL extension catalog. You can find it at pigsty.io/ext. This is already the catalog’s fifth incarnation. After a long detour, it has returned to the Hugo + …
Today I put Claude Code to work on another genuinely useful project: a completely new PostgreSQL extension catalog. You can find it at pigsty.io/ext. This is already the catalog’s fifth incarnation. After a long detour, it has returned to the Hugo + …
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Forging a China-Rooted, Global PostgreSQL Distro
Hi, I’m Feng Ruohang, author of Pigsty and an independent open-source contributor. Let’s talk about how to build a PostgreSQL distribution that is rooted in China and useful to the whole world. The question isn’t whether PG will win—it already has. …
Hi, I’m Feng Ruohang, author of Pigsty and an independent open-source contributor. Let’s talk about how to build a PostgreSQL distribution that is rooted in China and useful to the whole world. The question isn’t whether PG will win—it already has. …
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On Trusting Open-Source Supply Chains
My earlier post “PG ‘Export Controls’ and Supply-Chain Trust” drew a comment from an administrator at Tsinghua University’s TUNA mirror: “As a university mirror admin, calling us ‘lying flat’ or ‘irresponsible’ is unfair and demoralizing.” I replied: …
My earlier post “PG ‘Export Controls’ and Supply-Chain Trust” drew a comment from an administrator at Tsinghua University’s TUNA mirror: “As a university mirror admin, calling us ‘lying flat’ or ‘irresponsible’ is unfair and demoralizing.” I replied: …
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PG Extension Cloud: Unlocking PostgreSQL’s Entire Ecosystem
WeChat link PostgreSQL’s killer feature is extensibility. PostGIS, pgvector, pg_duckdb, pg_search—extensions turn PG into GIS engine, vector DB, analytics warehouse, search cluster. But compiling and shipping them reliably across distros is a …
WeChat link PostgreSQL’s killer feature is extensibility. PostGIS, pgvector, pg_duckdb, pg_search—extensions turn PG into GIS engine, vector DB, analytics warehouse, search cluster. But compiling and shipping them reliably across distros is a …
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Build and Packaging: An Overlooked but Scarce Skill
I was recently chatting with my friend Yurii, the founder of Omnigres. He wants to hire a PostgreSQL packaging expert and has even coined a title for the role: EEE, or Extension Ecosystem Engineer. It is an interesting idea. The job description is …
I was recently chatting with my friend Yurii, the founder of Omnigres. He wants to hire a PostgreSQL packaging expert and has even coined a title for the role: EEE, or Extension Ecosystem Engineer. It is an interesting idea. The job description is …
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The PostgreSQL 'Supply Cut' and Trust Issues in Software Supply Chain
This month, KubeSphere removed its container images, prompting a debate about open-source supply chains. A quieter disruption had already affected PostgreSQL: PGDG had closed its mirror synchronization channels. For me, that disruption tested how …
This month, KubeSphere removed its container images, prompting a debate about open-source supply chains. A quieter disruption had already affected PostgreSQL: PGDG had closed its mirror synchronization channels. For me, that disruption tested how …
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PGDG Cuts Off Mirror Sync Channel
Recently, while building Pigsty offline packages, I discovered that the PostgreSQL version installed during local testing wasn’t quite right - 17.4 was behind the latest 17.5 by one minor version. Also, when testing on EL10, I found several …
Recently, while building Pigsty offline packages, I discovered that the PostgreSQL version installed during local testing wasn’t quite right - 17.4 was behind the latest 17.5 by one minor version. Also, when testing on EL10, I found several …
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Postgres Extensions Day — See You There!
The annual PostgreSQL developer conference, PGConf.dev, will be held in Montreal in May. Postgres Extensions Day takes place the day before it, with a focus on extension development, packaging, and release. The agenda has just been released, with 14 …
The annual PostgreSQL developer conference, PGConf.dev, will be held in Montreal in May. Postgres Extensions Day takes place the day before it, with a focus on extension development, packaging, and release. The agenda has just been released, with 14 …
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Pig, The Postgres Extension Wizard
PIG is a Go command-line tool for installing PostgreSQL and extensions through the system package manager. It selects packages for the operating system, CPU architecture, and PostgreSQL version, then uses APT, YUM, or DNF to install them. The …
PIG is a Go command-line tool for installing PostgreSQL and extensions through the system package manager. It selects packages for the operating system, CPU architecture, and PostgreSQL version, then uses APT, YUM, or DNF to install them. The …
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The Ideal Way to Deliver PostgreSQL Extensions
PostgreSQL Is Eating the Database World through the power of extensibility. When this post was first published, the repository packaged 340 PostgreSQL extensions as RPM / DEB packages for mainstream Linux distributions. The live Pigsty Extension …
PostgreSQL Is Eating the Database World through the power of extensibility. When this post was first published, the repository packaged 340 PostgreSQL extensions as RPM / DEB packages for mainstream Linux distributions. The live Pigsty Extension …