# PostgreSQL {#module-postgresql} *Source:* {file}`modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix` *Upstream documentation:* PostgreSQL is an advanced, free relational database. ## Configuring {#module-services-postgres-configuring} To enable PostgreSQL, add the following to your {file}`configuration.nix`: ``` services.postgresql.enable = true; services.postgresql.package = pkgs.postgresql_15; ``` Note that you are required to specify the desired version of PostgreSQL (e.g. `pkgs.postgresql_15`). Since upgrading your PostgreSQL version requires a database dump and reload (see below), NixOS cannot provide a default value for [](#opt-services.postgresql.package) such as the most recent release of PostgreSQL. By default, PostgreSQL stores its databases in {file}`/var/lib/postgresql/$psqlSchema`. You can override this using [](#opt-services.postgresql.dataDir), e.g. ``` services.postgresql.dataDir = "/data/postgresql"; ``` ## Initializing {#module-services-postgres-initializing} As of NixOS 23.11, `services.postgresql.ensureUsers.*.ensurePermissions` has been deprecated, after a change to default permissions in PostgreSQL 15 invalidated most of its previous use cases: - In psql < 15, `ALL PRIVILEGES` used to include `CREATE TABLE`, where in psql >= 15 that would be a separate permission - psql >= 15 instead gives only the database owner create permissions - Even on psql < 15 (or databases migrated to >= 15), it is recommended to manually assign permissions along these lines - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/release/15.0/ - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/15/ddl-schemas.html#DDL-SCHEMAS-PRIV ### Assigning ownership {#module-services-postgres-initializing-ownership} Usually, the database owner should be a database user of the same name. This can be done with `services.postgresql.ensureUsers.*.ensureDBOwnership = true;`. If the database user name equals the connecting system user name, postgres by default will accept a passwordless connection via unix domain socket. This makes it possible to run many postgres-backed services without creating any database secrets at all ### Assigning extra permissions {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions} For many cases, it will be enough to have the database user be the owner. Until `services.postgresql.ensureUsers.*.ensurePermissions` has been re-thought, if more users need access to the database, please use one of the following approaches: **WARNING:** `services.postgresql.initialScript` is not recommended for `ensurePermissions` replacement, as that is *only run on first start of PostgreSQL*. **NOTE:** all of these methods may be obsoleted, when `ensure*` is reworked, but it is expected that they will stay viable for running database migrations. **NOTE:** please make sure that any added migrations are idempotent (re-runnable). #### as superuser {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-superuser} **Advantage:** compatible with postgres < 15, because it's run as the database superuser `postgres`. ##### in database `postStart` {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-superuser-post-start} **Disadvantage:** need to take care of ordering yourself. In this example, `mkAfter` ensures that permissions are assigned after any databases from `ensureDatabases` and `extraUser1` from `ensureUsers` are already created. ```nix systemd.services.postgresql.postStart = lib.mkAfter '' $PSQL service1 -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' $PSQL service1 -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' # .... ''; ``` ##### in intermediate oneshot service {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-superuser-oneshot} ```nix systemd.services."migrate-service1-db1" = { serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot"; requiredBy = "service1.service"; before = "service1.service"; after = "postgresql.service"; serviceConfig.User = "postgres"; environment.PSQL = "psql --port=${toString services.postgresql.port}"; path = [ postgresql ]; script = '' $PSQL service1 -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' $PSQL service1 -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' # .... ''; }; ``` #### as service user {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-service-user} **Advantage:** re-uses systemd's dependency ordering; **Disadvantage:** relies on service user having grant permission. To be combined with `ensureDBOwnership`. ##### in service `preStart` {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-service-user-pre-start} ```nix environment.PSQL = "psql --port=${toString services.postgresql.port}"; path = [ postgresql ]; systemd.services."service1".preStart = '' $PSQL -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' $PSQL -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' # .... ''; ``` ##### in intermediate oneshot service {#module-services-postgres-initializing-extra-permissions-service-user-oneshot} ```nix systemd.services."migrate-service1-db1" = { serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot"; requiredBy = "service1.service"; before = "service1.service"; after = "postgresql.service"; serviceConfig.User = "service1"; environment.PSQL = "psql --port=${toString services.postgresql.port}"; path = [ postgresql ]; script = '' $PSQL -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' $PSQL -c 'GRANT SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO "extraUser1"' # .... ''; }; ``` ## Upgrading {#module-services-postgres-upgrading} ::: {.note} The steps below demonstrate how to upgrade from an older version to `pkgs.postgresql_13`. These instructions are also applicable to other versions. ::: Major PostgreSQL upgrades require a downtime and a few imperative steps to be called. This is the case because each major version has some internal changes in the databases' state during major releases. Because of that, NixOS places the state into {file}`/var/lib/postgresql/<version>` where each `version` can be obtained like this: ``` $ nix-instantiate --eval -A postgresql_13.psqlSchema "13" ``` For an upgrade, a script like this can be used to simplify the process: ``` { config, pkgs, ... }: { environment.systemPackages = [ (let # XXX specify the postgresql package you'd like to upgrade to. # Do not forget to list the extensions you need. newPostgres = pkgs.postgresql_13.withPackages (pp: [ # pp.plv8 ]); in pkgs.writeScriptBin "upgrade-pg-cluster" '' set -eux # XXX it's perhaps advisable to stop all services that depend on postgresql systemctl stop postgresql export NEWDATA="/var/lib/postgresql/${newPostgres.psqlSchema}" export NEWBIN="${newPostgres}/bin" export OLDDATA="${config.services.postgresql.dataDir}" export OLDBIN="${config.services.postgresql.package}/bin" install -d -m 0700 -o postgres -g postgres "$NEWDATA" cd "$NEWDATA" sudo -u postgres $NEWBIN/initdb -D "$NEWDATA" sudo -u postgres $NEWBIN/pg_upgrade \ --old-datadir "$OLDDATA" --new-datadir "$NEWDATA" \ --old-bindir $OLDBIN --new-bindir $NEWBIN \ "$@" '') ]; } ``` The upgrade process is: 1. Rebuild nixos configuration with the configuration above added to your {file}`configuration.nix`. Alternatively, add that into separate file and reference it in `imports` list. 2. Login as root (`sudo su -`) 3. Run `upgrade-pg-cluster`. It will stop old postgresql, initialize a new one and migrate the old one to the new one. You may supply arguments like `--jobs 4` and `--link` to speedup migration process. See for details. 4. Change postgresql package in NixOS configuration to the one you were upgrading to via [](#opt-services.postgresql.package). Rebuild NixOS. This should start new postgres using upgraded data directory and all services you stopped during the upgrade. 5. After the upgrade it's advisable to analyze the new cluster. - For PostgreSQL ≥ 14, use the `vacuumdb` command printed by the upgrades script. - For PostgreSQL < 14, run (as `su -l postgres` in the [](#opt-services.postgresql.dataDir), in this example {file}`/var/lib/postgresql/13`): ``` $ ./analyze_new_cluster.sh ``` ::: {.warning} The next step removes the old state-directory! ::: ``` $ ./delete_old_cluster.sh ``` ## Options {#module-services-postgres-options} A complete list of options for the PostgreSQL module may be found [here](#opt-services.postgresql.enable). ## Plugins {#module-services-postgres-plugins} Plugins collection for each PostgreSQL version can be accessed with `.pkgs`. For example, for `pkgs.postgresql_15` package, its plugin collection is accessed by `pkgs.postgresql_15.pkgs`: ```ShellSession $ nix repl '' Loading ''... Added 10574 variables. nix-repl> postgresql_15.pkgs. postgresql_15.pkgs.cstore_fdw postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_repack postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_auto_failover postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_safeupdate postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_bigm postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_similarity postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_cron postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_topn postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_hll postgresql_15.pkgs.pgjwt postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_partman postgresql_15.pkgs.pgroonga ... ``` To add plugins via NixOS configuration, set `services.postgresql.extraPlugins`: ``` services.postgresql.package = pkgs.postgresql_12; services.postgresql.extraPlugins = ps: with ps; [ pg_repack postgis ]; ``` You can build custom PostgreSQL-with-plugins (to be used outside of NixOS) using function `.withPackages`. For example, creating a custom PostgreSQL package in an overlay can look like: ``` self: super: { postgresql_custom = self.postgresql_12.withPackages (ps: [ ps.pg_repack ps.postgis ]); } ``` Here's a recipe on how to override a particular plugin through an overlay: ``` self: super: { postgresql_15 = super.postgresql_15.override { this = self.postgresql_15; } // { pkgs = super.postgresql_15.pkgs // { pg_repack = super.postgresql_15.pkgs.pg_repack.overrideAttrs (_: { name = "pg_repack-v20181024"; src = self.fetchzip { url = "https://github.com/reorg/pg_repack/archive/923fa2f3c709a506e111cc963034bf2fd127aa00.tar.gz"; sha256 = "17k6hq9xaax87yz79j773qyigm4fwk8z4zh5cyp6z0sxnwfqxxw5"; }; }); }; }; } ``` ## JIT (Just-In-Time compilation) {#module-services-postgres-jit} [JIT](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/jit-reason.html)-support in the PostgreSQL package is disabled by default because of the ~300MiB closure-size increase from the LLVM dependency. It can be optionally enabled in PostgreSQL with the following config option: ```nix { services.postgresql.enableJIT = true; } ``` This makes sure that the [`jit`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-query.html#GUC-JIT)-setting is set to `on` and a PostgreSQL package with JIT enabled is used. Further tweaking of the JIT compiler, e.g. setting a different query cost threshold via [`jit_above_cost`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-query.html#GUC-JIT-ABOVE-COST) can be done manually via [`services.postgresql.settings`](#opt-services.postgresql.settings). The attribute-names of JIT-enabled PostgreSQL packages are suffixed with `_jit`, i.e. for each `pkgs.postgresql` (and `pkgs.postgresql_`) in `nixpkgs` there's also a `pkgs.postgresql_jit` (and `pkgs.postgresql__jit`). Alternatively, a JIT-enabled variant can be derived from a given `postgresql` package via `postgresql.withJIT`. This is also useful if it's not clear which attribute from `nixpkgs` was originally used (e.g. when working with [`config.services.postgresql.package`](#opt-services.postgresql.package) or if the package was modified via an overlay) since all modifications are propagated to `withJIT`. I.e. ```nix with import { overlays = [ (self: super: { postgresql = super.postgresql.overrideAttrs (_: { pname = "foobar"; }); }) ]; }; postgresql.withJIT.pname ``` evaluates to `"foobar"`.