Versioning Policy

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group releases a new major version containing new features about once a year. Each major version receives bug fixes and, if need be, security fixes that are released at least once every three months in what we call a "minor release." For more information on the minor release schedule, you can view the minor release roadmap.

If the release team determines that a critical bug or security fix is too important to wait until the regularly scheduled minor release, it may make a release available outside of the minor release roadmap.

The PostgreSQL Global Development Group supports a major version for 5 years after its initial release. After this, a final minor version will be released and the software will then be unsupported (end-of-life).

Version Numbering

Starting with PostgreSQL 10, a major version is indicated by increasing the first part of the version, e.g. 10 to 11. Before PostgreSQL 10, a major version was indicated by increasing either the first or second part of the version number, e.g. 9.5 to 9.6.

Minor releases are numbered by increasing the last part of the version number. Beginning with PostgreSQL 10, this is the second part of the version number, e.g. 10.0 to 10.1; for older versions this is the third part of the version number, e.g. 9.5.3 to 9.5.4.

Upgrading

Major versions make complex changes, so the contents of the data directory cannot be maintained in a backward compatible way. A dump/reload of the database or use of the pg_upgrade application is required for major upgrades. We also recommend reading the upgrading section of the major version you are planning to upgrade to. You can upgrade from one major version to another without upgrading to intervening versions, but we recommend reading the release notes of all intervening major versions prior to doing so.

Minor release upgrades do not require a dump and restore; you simply stop the database server, install the updated binaries, and restart the server. Such upgrades might require additional steps so always read the release notes first.

Minor releases only contain fixes for frequently-encountered bugs, low-risk fixes, security issues, and data corruption problems. The community considers performing minor upgrades to be less risky than continuing to run an old minor version.

We recommend that users always run the current minor release associated with their major version.

Releases