server_version
Fact — official short description: “Shows the server version.”
Identity
Lifecycle
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| First observed | PG9.0 (research boundary) |
| Present in | PG9.0–19 Beta 3 |
| Removed in | No |
| Introduction commit | Not asserted: predates the PG9.0 research boundary |
| Commit date | — |
| Discussion | — |
Default history
| Versions | Raw boot_val |
Unit | Human value |
|---|---|---|---|
| PG9.0 | 9.0.23 |
— | 9.0.23 |
| PG9.1 | 9.1.24 |
— | 9.1.24 |
| PG9.2 | 9.2.23 |
— | 9.2.23 |
| PG9.3 | 9.3.25 |
— | 9.3.25 |
| PG9.4 | 9.4.26 |
— | 9.4.26 |
| PG9.5 | 9.5.25 |
— | 9.5.25 |
| PG9.6 | 9.6.24 |
— | 9.6.24 |
| PG10 | 10.23 (Debian 10.23-1.pgdg110+1) |
— | 10.23 (Debian 10.23-1.pgdg110+1) |
| PG11 | 11.22 (Debian 11.22-1.pgdg120+1) |
— | 11.22 (Debian 11.22-1.pgdg120+1) |
| PG12 | 12.22 (Debian 12.22-1.pgdg120+1) |
— | 12.22 (Debian 12.22-1.pgdg120+1) |
| PG13 | 13.23 (Debian 13.23-1.pgdg13+1) |
— | 13.23 (Debian 13.23-1.pgdg13+1) |
| PG14 | 14.24 (Debian 14.24-1.pgdg13+2) |
— | 14.24 (Debian 14.24-1.pgdg13+2) |
| PG15 | 15.19 (Debian 15.19-1.pgdg13+2) |
— | 15.19 (Debian 15.19-1.pgdg13+2) |
| PG16 | 16.15 (Debian 16.15-1.pgdg13+2) |
— | 16.15 (Debian 16.15-1.pgdg13+2) |
| PG17 | 17.11 (Debian 17.11-1.pgdg13+2) |
— | 17.11 (Debian 17.11-1.pgdg13+2) |
| PG18 | 18.6 (Debian 18.6-1.pgdg13+2) |
— | 18.6 (Debian 18.6-1.pgdg13+2) |
| PG19 Beta 3 | 19beta3 (Debian 19~beta3-1.pgdg13+1) |
— | 19beta3 (Debian 19~beta3-1.pgdg13+1) |
How it works
Shows the server version. It is read-only and cannot be changed with SET or configuration-file edits.
It is the human-readable server build/version string and may include vendor packaging text; it is not safe for numeric ordering.
Interpret it with server_version_num, server_encoding, ssl_library. Applications and operations tooling may read server_version for capability or environment detection, but cannot SET it; cross-cluster comparisons must account for build, initdb, and current-database differences.
Tuning advice
Advice. These are workload-specific starting points and must be validated with measurements.
| Workload | Guidance |
|---|---|
| OLTP | Not tunable. Record server_version as a deployment/capability fact; if it is unexpected, fix the binary, initdb, or database-creation process rather than trying SET. |
| OLAP | Not tunable. Use server_version to verify format, build, or resource assumptions on analytical nodes and keep every read/write candidate compatible. |
| Small nodes | Not tunable. Preserve it in inventory and incident reports; do not custom-build or rebuild merely to change it without a demonstrated compatibility need. |
Pigsty
Values use the fixed 8-vCPU, 32-GiB, 100-GiB SSD fixture and render the current Pigsty templates for PG19 Beta 3; this does not assert current Pigsty support for that historical or beta release.
| Template | Effective value | Versus upstream boot | Source expression |
|---|---|---|---|
| OLTP | Unmodified | — | — |
| OLAP | Unmodified | — | — |
| CRIT | Unmodified | — | — |
| TINY | Unmodified | — | — |
Advice — pending human review. Fact from the current Pigsty template projection: OLTP: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified; OLAP: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified; CRIT: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified; TINY: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified. No Pigsty-specific rationale is inferred from an absent override.
Common pitfalls
- Trying to change read-only server_version with SET or a configuration file.
- Assuming every cluster, database, or vendor build reports the same value.
- Ignoring the value in file-format or feature-compatibility checks.
- Treating reported metadata as a performance target instead of an environment fact.
Related parameters
server_version_num · server_encoding · ssl_library · integer_datetimes · debug_assertions · block_size