Thread: How to get involved in the development of postgreSQL

On 06/22/2014 09:49 AM, Vito wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm interested in the development of postgreSQL. But I think reading the
> whole document will take a long time.
> Do I have other means to learn about it faster and quickly begin to get
> involved in the development?

I am not a developer, but have dug into enough corners and hung around
enough discussions to give you some pointers on how and where to start.

1) Postgres is a big project, you will need to start by narrowing your
focus to some portion of it that you find interesting. Preferably the
narrower the better, at least at the beginning.

2) Here is a good visual representation, with links,  to the general
flow in Postgres:

http://www.postgresql.org/developer/backend/

3) You will need to review at least the 'Development Process' section of
this page:

http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Development_information

If you do not already have an idea of what you want to do, then pay
particular attention to the Todo List at the above page, for what the
community wants.

4)  If have not already, subscribe to the hackers list:

http://www.postgresql.org/list/pgsql-hackers/

Hanging out here for awhile will help you understand how the development
process works.

5) Take a look at the CommitFest process:

https://commitfest.postgresql.org/

>
> Best
> Vito
>
>
>


--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

On 06/22/2014 07:16 PM, Vito wrote:
> Thanks for your detailed information! Do you think the official document
> is the best way to get to know about PostgreSQL?
>

AFAIK it is the only way, especially if you include the source code as
official documentation.  This is a process, so expect it to take some
time. I would suggest getting involved with reviewing patches in  the
CommitFest once that gets cranked up for the next release. It is a good
way to start delving into the code a bit at a time.


--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 9:49 AM, Vito <testforvln@163.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm interested in the development of postgreSQL. But I think reading the
> whole document will take a long time.

Are you referring to the user documentation, or the developer documentation?

The user documentation is pretty good, and you should probably read at
least a big chunk of it.  By that I don't mean a big chunk of the
pages, but rather a big chunk of the sections.  Most of the pages are
concentrated in a few sections like appendices and references and old
release notes which I wouldn't just sit down in read straight through,
but only refer to them as needed.

The developer documentation (README files scattered throughout the
source code, etc.) is spottier, and probably doesn't make much sense
to read in total.  Once you have an area you want to work on, you
should certainly read the files for that topic, though.  (And one way
to contribute would be to write missing ones or improve existing ones)

> Do I have other means to learn about it faster and quickly begin to get
> involved in the development?

If you don't know what the database does, or how to administer the
database, then you will have a hard time knowing what to develop, or
adequately testing those developments.

If you are not already an experienced DBA, perhaps the best way to
start contributing would be to set up a few database servers based
what you read in the user documentation, including some advanced
features like hot standby, and put it through the paces.  Practice
backing up, and recovering.  Then based on what you got correct the
first time and what you didn't, see if you can suggest improvements to
the user documentation to make it easier for other new people in the
future. This is a contribution in itself, and will provide you with a
good knowledge background to build on with more code-orientation
contributions.

Cheers,

Jeff