From 137b03b862c21b90a86732120d0c98480daf22de Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Tom Lane Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2019 15:44:00 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Doc: restructure documentation of the configure script's options. The list of configure options has grown long, and there was next to no organization to it, never mind any indication of which options were interesting to most people. Break it into several sub-sections to provide a bit of structure, and add some introductory text where it seems helpful to point people to particular options. I failed to resist the temptation to do a small amount of word-smithing on some of the option descriptions, too. But mostly this is reorganization and addition of intro text. Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/6384.1559917369@sss.pgh.pa.us --- doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml | 2529 +++++++++++++++++--------------- 1 file changed, 1349 insertions(+), 1180 deletions(-) diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml index 31ed516ac28..1f2f7d9957d 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/installation.sgml @@ -327,12 +327,12 @@ su - postgres Also check that you have sufficient disk space. You will need about - 100 MB for the source tree during compilation and about 20 MB for + 350 MB for the source tree during compilation and about 60 MB for the installation directory. An empty database cluster takes about - 35 MB; databases take about five times the amount of space that a + 40 MB; databases take about five times the amount of space that a flat text file with the same data would take. If you are going to run the regression tests you will temporarily need up to an extra - 150 MB. Use the df command to check free disk + 300 MB. Use the df command to check free disk space. @@ -351,8 +351,11 @@ su - postgres gunzip postgresql-&version;.tar.gz tar xf postgresql-&version;.tar - (Use bunzip2 instead of gunzip if you - have the .bz2 file.) + (Use bunzip2 instead of gunzip if + you have the .bz2 file. Also, note that most + modern versions of tar can unpack compressed archives + directly, so you don't really need the + separate gunzip or bunzip2 step.) This will create a directory postgresql-&version; under the current directory with the PostgreSQL sources. @@ -389,10 +392,14 @@ su - postgres This script will run a number of tests to determine values for various system dependent variables and detect any quirks of your operating system, and finally will create several files in the - build tree to record what it found. You can also run - configure in a directory outside the source - tree, if you want to keep the build directory separate. This - procedure is also called a + build tree to record what it found. + + + + You can also run configure in a directory outside + the source tree, and then build there, if you want to keep the build + directory separate from the original source files. This procedure is + called a VPATHVPATH build. Here's how: @@ -412,1176 +419,19 @@ su - postgres You can customize the build and installation process by supplying one - or more of the following command line options to - configure: - - - - - - - Install all files under the directory PREFIX - instead of /usr/local/pgsql. The actual - files will be installed into various subdirectories; no files - will ever be installed directly into the - PREFIX directory. - - - - If you have special needs, you can also customize the - individual subdirectories with the following options. However, - if you leave these with their defaults, the installation will be - relocatable, meaning you can move the directory after - installation. (The man and doc - locations are not affected by this.) - - - - For relocatable installs, you might want to use - configure's --disable-rpath - option. Also, you will need to tell the operating system how - to find the shared libraries. - - - - - - - - - You can install architecture-dependent files under a - different prefix, EXEC-PREFIX, than what - PREFIX was set to. This can be useful to - share architecture-independent files between hosts. If you - omit this, then EXEC-PREFIX is set equal to - PREFIX and both architecture-dependent and - independent files will be installed under the same tree, - which is probably what you want. - - - - - - - - - Specifies the directory for executable programs. The default - is EXEC-PREFIX/bin, which - normally means /usr/local/pgsql/bin. - - - - - - - - - Sets the directory for various configuration files, - PREFIX/etc by default. - - - - - - - - - Sets the location to install libraries and dynamically loadable - modules. The default is - EXEC-PREFIX/lib. - - - - - - - - - Sets the directory for installing C and C++ header files. The - default is PREFIX/include. - - - - - - - - - Sets the root directory for various types of read-only data - files. This only sets the default for some of the following - options. The default is - PREFIX/share. - - - - - - - - - Sets the directory for read-only data files used by the - installed programs. The default is - DATAROOTDIR. Note that this has - nothing to do with where your database files will be placed. - - - - - - - - - Sets the directory for installing locale data, in particular - message translation catalog files. The default is - DATAROOTDIR/locale. - - - - - - - - - The man pages that come with PostgreSQL will be installed under - this directory, in their respective - manx subdirectories. - The default is DATAROOTDIR/man. - - - - - - - - - Sets the root directory for installing documentation files, - except man pages. This only sets the default for - the following options. The default value for this option is - DATAROOTDIR/doc/postgresql. - - - - - - - - - The HTML-formatted documentation for - PostgreSQL will be installed under - this directory. The default is - DATAROOTDIR. - - - - - - - - Care has been taken to make it possible to install - PostgreSQL into shared installation locations - (such as /usr/local/include) without - interfering with the namespace of the rest of the system. First, - the string /postgresql is - automatically appended to datadir, - sysconfdir, and docdir, - unless the fully expanded directory name already contains the - string postgres or - pgsql. For example, if you choose - /usr/local as prefix, the documentation will - be installed in /usr/local/doc/postgresql, - but if the prefix is /opt/postgres, then it - will be in /opt/postgres/doc. The public C - header files of the client interfaces are installed into - includedir and are namespace-clean. The - internal header files and the server header files are installed - into private directories under includedir. See - the documentation of each interface for information about how to - access its header files. Finally, a private subdirectory will - also be created, if appropriate, under libdir - for dynamically loadable modules. - - - - - - - - - - - Append STRING to the PostgreSQL version number. You - can use this, for example, to mark binaries built from unreleased Git - snapshots or containing custom patches with an extra version string - such as a git describe identifier or a - distribution package release number. - - - - - - - - - DIRECTORIES is a colon-separated list of - directories that will be added to the list the compiler - searches for header files. If you have optional packages - (such as GNU Readline) installed in a non-standard - location, - you have to use this option and probably also the corresponding - option. - - - Example: --with-includes=/opt/gnu/include:/usr/sup/include. - - - - - - - - - DIRECTORIES is a colon-separated list of - directories to search for libraries. You will probably have - to use this option (and the corresponding - option) if you have packages - installed in non-standard locations. - - - Example: --with-libraries=/opt/gnu/lib:/usr/sup/lib. - - - - - - - - - Enables Native Language Support (NLS), - that is, the ability to display a program's messages in a - language other than English. - LANGUAGES is an optional space-separated - list of codes of the languages that you want supported, for - example --enable-nls='de fr'. (The intersection - between your list and the set of actually provided - translations will be computed automatically.) If you do not - specify a list, then all available translations are - installed. - - - - To use this option, you will need an implementation of the - Gettext API; see above. - - - - - - - - - Set NUMBER as the default port number for - server and clients. The default is 5432. The port can always - be changed later on, but if you specify it here then both - server and clients will have the same default compiled in, - which can be very convenient. Usually the only good reason - to select a non-default value is if you intend to run multiple - PostgreSQL servers on the same machine. - - - - - - - - - Build the PL/Perl server-side language. - - - - - - - - - Build the PL/Python server-side language. - - - - - - - - - Build the PL/Tcl server-side language. - - - - - - - - - Tcl installs the file tclConfig.sh, which - contains configuration information needed to build modules - interfacing to Tcl. This file is normally found automatically - at a well-known location, but if you want to use a different - version of Tcl you can specify the directory in which to look - for it. - - - - - - - - - Build with support for GSSAPI authentication. On many - systems, the GSSAPI (usually a part of the Kerberos installation) - system is not installed in a location - that is searched by default (e.g., /usr/include, - /usr/lib), so you must use the options - and in - addition to this option. configure will check - for the required header files and libraries to make sure that - your GSSAPI installation is sufficient before proceeding. - - - - - - - - - The default name of the Kerberos service principal used - by GSSAPI. - postgres is the default. There's usually no - reason to change this unless you have a Windows environment, - in which case it must be set to upper case - POSTGRES. - - - - - - - - - Build with support for LLVM based - JIT compilation (see ). This - requires the LLVM library to be installed. - The minimum required version of LLVM is - currently 3.9. - - - llvm-configllvm-config - will be used to find the required compilation options. - llvm-config, and then - llvm-config-$major-$minor for all supported - versions, will be searched on PATH. If that would not - yield the correct binary, use LLVM_CONFIG to specify a - path to the correct llvm-config. For example - -./configure ... --with-llvm LLVM_CONFIG='/path/to/llvm/bin/llvm-config' - - - - - LLVM support requires a compatible - clang compiler (specified, if necessary, using the - CLANG environment variable), and a working C++ - compiler (specified, if necessary, using the CXX - environment variable). - - - - - - - - - Build with support for - the ICUICU - library. This requires the ICU4C package - to be installed. The minimum required version - of ICU4C is currently 4.2. - - - - By default, - pkg-configpkg-config - will be used to find the required compilation options. This is - supported for ICU4C version 4.6 and later. - For older versions, or if pkg-config is - not available, the variables ICU_CFLAGS - and ICU_LIBS can be specified - to configure, like in this example: - -./configure ... --with-icu ICU_CFLAGS='-I/some/where/include' ICU_LIBS='-L/some/where/lib -licui18n -licuuc -licudata' - - (If ICU4C is in the default search path - for the compiler, then you still need to specify a nonempty string in - order to avoid use of pkg-config, for - example, ICU_CFLAGS=' '.) - - - - - - - - OpenSSL - SSL - - - - - Build with support for SSL (encrypted) - connections. This requires the OpenSSL - package to be installed. configure will check - for the required header files and libraries to make sure that - your OpenSSL installation is sufficient - before proceeding. - - - - - - - - - Build with PAMPAM - (Pluggable Authentication Modules) support. - - - - - - - - - Build with BSD Authentication support. - (The BSD Authentication framework is - currently only available on OpenBSD.) - - - - - - - - - Build with LDAPLDAP - support for authentication and connection parameter lookup (see - and - for more information). On Unix, - this requires the OpenLDAP package to be - installed. On Windows, the default WinLDAP - library is used. configure will check for the required - header files and libraries to make sure that your - OpenLDAP installation is sufficient before - proceeding. - - - - - - - - - Build with support - for systemdsystemd - service notifications. This improves integration if the server binary - is started under systemd but has no impact - otherwise; see for more - information. libsystemd and the - associated header files need to be installed to be able to use this - option. - - - - - - - - - Prevents use of the Readline library - (and libedit as well). This option disables - command-line editing and history in - psql, so it is not recommended. - - - - - - - - - Favors the use of the BSD-licensed libedit library - rather than GPL-licensed Readline. This option - is significant only if you have both libraries installed; the - default in that case is to use Readline. - - - - - - - - - Build with Bonjour support. This requires Bonjour support - in your operating system. Recommended on macOS. - - - - - - - - - Build the module - (which provides functions to generate UUIDs), using the specified - UUID library.UUID - LIBRARY must be one of: - - - - - to use the UUID functions found in FreeBSD, NetBSD, - and some other BSD-derived systems - - - - - to use the UUID library created by - the e2fsprogs project; this library is present in most - Linux systems and in macOS, and can be obtained for other - platforms as well - - - - - to use the OSSP UUID library - - - - - - - - - - - Obsolete equivalent of --with-uuid=ossp. - - - - - - - - - Build with libxml (enables SQL/XML support). Libxml version 2.6.23 or - later is required for this feature. - - - - Libxml installs a program xml2-config that - can be used to detect the required compiler and linker - options. PostgreSQL will use it automatically if found. To - specify a libxml installation at an unusual location, you can - either set the environment variable - XML2_CONFIG to point to the - xml2-config program belonging to the - installation, or use the options - and - . - - - - - - - - - Use libxslt when building the - - module. xml2 relies on this library - to perform XSL transformations of XML. - - - - - - - - - Disable passing float4 values by value, causing them - to be passed by reference instead. This option costs - performance, but may be needed for compatibility with old - user-defined functions that are written in C and use the - version 0 calling convention. A better long-term - solution is to update any such functions to use the - version 1 calling convention. - - - - - - - - - Disable passing float8 values by value, causing them - to be passed by reference instead. This option costs - performance, but may be needed for compatibility with old - user-defined functions that are written in C and use the - version 0 calling convention. A better long-term - solution is to update any such functions to use the - version 1 calling convention. - Note that this option affects not only float8, but also int8 and some - related types such as timestamp. - On 32-bit platforms, is the default - and it is not allowed to select . - - - - - - - - - Set the segment size, in gigabytes. Large tables are - divided into multiple operating-system files, each of size equal - to the segment size. This avoids problems with file size limits - that exist on many platforms. The default segment size, 1 gigabyte, - is safe on all supported platforms. If your operating system has - largefile support (which most do, nowadays), you can use - a larger segment size. This can be helpful to reduce the number of - file descriptors consumed when working with very large tables. - But be careful not to select a value larger than is supported - by your platform and the file systems you intend to use. Other - tools you might wish to use, such as tar, could - also set limits on the usable file size. - It is recommended, though not absolutely required, that this value - be a power of 2. - Note that changing this value requires an initdb. - - - - - - - - - Set the block size, in kilobytes. This is the unit - of storage and I/O within tables. The default, 8 kilobytes, - is suitable for most situations; but other values may be useful - in special cases. - The value must be a power of 2 between 1 and 32 (kilobytes). - Note that changing this value requires an initdb. - - - - - - - - - Set the WAL block size, in kilobytes. This is the unit - of storage and I/O within the WAL log. The default, 8 kilobytes, - is suitable for most situations; but other values may be useful - in special cases. - The value must be a power of 2 between 1 and 64 (kilobytes). - Note that changing this value requires an initdb. - - - - - - - - - Allow the build to succeed even if PostgreSQL - has no CPU spinlock support for the platform. The lack of - spinlock support will result in poor performance; therefore, - this option should only be used if the build aborts and - informs you that the platform lacks spinlock support. If this - option is required to build PostgreSQL on - your platform, please report the problem to the - PostgreSQL developers. - - - - - - - - - Disable the thread-safety of client libraries. This prevents - concurrent threads in libpq and - ECPG programs from safely controlling - their private connection handles. - - - - - - - - time zone data - - - - - PostgreSQL includes its own time zone database, - which it requires for date and time operations. This time zone - database is in fact compatible with the IANA time zone - database provided by many operating systems such as FreeBSD, - Linux, and Solaris, so it would be redundant to install it again. - When this option is used, the system-supplied time zone database - in DIRECTORY is used instead of the one - included in the PostgreSQL source distribution. - DIRECTORY must be specified as an - absolute path. /usr/share/zoneinfo is a - likely directory on some operating systems. Note that the - installation routine will not detect mismatching or erroneous time - zone data. If you use this option, you are advised to run the - regression tests to verify that the time zone data you have - pointed to works correctly with PostgreSQL. - - - cross compilation - - - This option is mainly aimed at binary package distributors - who know their target operating system well. The main - advantage of using this option is that the PostgreSQL package - won't need to be upgraded whenever any of the many local - daylight-saving time rules change. Another advantage is that - PostgreSQL can be cross-compiled more straightforwardly if the - time zone database files do not need to be built during the - installation. - - - - - - - - - - zlib - - Prevents use of the Zlib library. This disables - support for compressed archives in pg_dump - and pg_restore. - This option is only intended for those rare systems where this - library is not available. - - - - - - - - - Compiles all programs and libraries with debugging symbols. - This means that you can run the programs in a debugger - to analyze problems. This enlarges the size of the installed - executables considerably, and on non-GCC compilers it usually - also disables compiler optimization, causing slowdowns. However, - having the symbols available is extremely helpful for dealing - with any problems that might arise. Currently, this option is - recommended for production installations only if you use GCC. - But you should always have it on if you are doing development work - or running a beta version. - - - - - - - - - If using GCC, all programs and libraries are compiled with - code coverage testing instrumentation. When run, they - generate files in the build directory with code coverage - metrics. - See - for more information. This option is for use only with GCC - and when doing development work. - - - - - - - - - If using GCC, all programs and libraries are compiled so they - can be profiled. On backend exit, a subdirectory will be created - that contains the gmon.out file for use in profiling. - This option is for use only with GCC and when doing development work. - - - - - - - - - Enables assertion checks in the server, which test for - many cannot happen conditions. This is invaluable for - code development purposes, but the tests can slow down the - server significantly. - Also, having the tests turned on won't necessarily enhance the - stability of your server! The assertion checks are not categorized - for severity, and so what might be a relatively harmless bug will - still lead to server restarts if it triggers an assertion - failure. This option is not recommended for production use, but - you should have it on for development work or when running a beta - version. - - - - - - - - - Enables automatic dependency tracking. With this option, the - makefiles are set up so that all affected object files will - be rebuilt when any header file is changed. This is useful - if you are doing development work, but is just wasted overhead - if you intend only to compile once and install. At present, - this option only works with GCC. - - - - - - - - - - DTrace - - Compiles PostgreSQL with support for the - dynamic tracing tool DTrace. - See - for more information. - - - - To point to the dtrace program, the - environment variable DTRACE can be set. This - will often be necessary because dtrace is - typically installed under /usr/sbin, - which might not be in the path. - - - - Extra command-line options for the dtrace program - can be specified in the environment variable - DTRACEFLAGS. On Solaris, - to include DTrace support in a 64-bit binary, you must specify - DTRACEFLAGS="-64" to configure. For example, - using the GCC compiler: - -./configure CC='gcc -m64' --enable-dtrace DTRACEFLAGS='-64' ... - - Using Sun's compiler: - -./configure CC='/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc -xtarget=native64' --enable-dtrace DTRACEFLAGS='-64' ... - - - - - - - - - - Enable tests using the Perl TAP tools. This requires a Perl - installation and the Perl module IPC::Run. - See for more information. - - - - - - - - If you prefer a C compiler different from the one - configure picks, you can set the - environment variable CC to the program of your choice. - By default, configure will pick - gcc if available, else the platform's - default (usually cc). Similarly, you can override the - default compiler flags if needed with the CFLAGS variable. - - - - You can specify environment variables on the - configure command line, for example: - -./configure CC=/opt/bin/gcc CFLAGS='-O2 -pipe' - - - - - Here is a list of the significant variables that can be set in - this manner: - - - - BISON - - - Bison program - - - - - - CC - - - C compiler - - - - - - CFLAGS - - - options to pass to the C compiler - - - - - - CLANG - - - path to clang program used to process source code - for inlining when compiling with --with-llvm - - - - - - CPP - - - C preprocessor - - - - - - CPPFLAGS - - - options to pass to the C preprocessor - - - - - - CXX - - - C++ compiler - - - - - - CXXFLAGS - - - options to pass to the C++ compiler - - - - - - DTRACE - - - location of the dtrace program - - - - - - DTRACEFLAGS - - - options to pass to the dtrace program - - - - - - FLEX - - - Flex program - - - - - - LDFLAGS - - - options to use when linking either executables or shared libraries - - - - - - LDFLAGS_EX - - - additional options for linking executables only - - - - - - LDFLAGS_SL - - - additional options for linking shared libraries only - - - - - - LLVM_CONFIG - - - llvm-config program used to locate the - LLVM installation. - - - - - - MSGFMT - - - msgfmt program for native language support - - - - - - PERL - - - Perl interpreter program. This will be used to determine the - dependencies for building PL/Perl. The default is - perl. - - - - - - PYTHON - - - Python interpreter program. This will be used to - determine the dependencies for building PL/Python. Also, - whether Python 2 or 3 is specified here (or otherwise - implicitly chosen) determines which variant of the PL/Python - language becomes available. See - - for more information. If this is not set, the following are probed - in this order: python python3 python2. - - - - - - TCLSH - - - Tcl interpreter program. This will be used to - determine the dependencies for building PL/Tcl, and it will - be substituted into Tcl scripts. - - - - - - XML2_CONFIG - - - xml2-config program used to locate the - libxml installation. - - - - - - - - Sometimes it is useful to add compiler flags after-the-fact to the set - that were chosen by configure. An important example is - that gcc's option cannot be included - in the CFLAGS passed to configure, because - it will break many of configure's built-in tests. To add - such flags, include them in the COPT environment variable - while running make. The contents of COPT - are added to both the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS - options set up by configure. For example, you could do - -make COPT='-Werror' - - or - -export COPT='-Werror' -make - - - - - - When developing code inside the server, it is recommended to - use the configure options (which - turns on many run-time error checks) and - (which improves the usefulness of debugging tools). - - - - If using GCC, it is best to build with an optimization level of - at least , because using no optimization - () disables some important compiler warnings (such - as the use of uninitialized variables). However, non-zero - optimization levels can complicate debugging because stepping - through compiled code will usually not match up one-to-one with - source code lines. If you get confused while trying to debug - optimized code, recompile the specific files of interest with - . An easy way to do this is by passing an option - to make: make PROFILE=-O0 file.o. - - - - The COPT and PROFILE environment variables are - actually handled identically by the PostgreSQL - makefiles. Which to use is a matter of preference, but a common habit - among developers is to use PROFILE for one-time flag - adjustments, while COPT might be kept set all the time. - - - + or more command line options to configure. + Typically you would customize the install location, or the set of + optional features that are built. configure + has a large number of options, which are described in + . + + + + Also, configure responds to certain environment + variables, as described in . + These provide additional ways to customize the configuration. + + Build @@ -1762,12 +612,1331 @@ build-postgresql: rebuilding. Without this, your changes in configuration choices might not propagate everywhere they need to. + + + <filename>configure</filename> Options + + + configure options + + + + configure's command line options are explained below. + This list is not exhaustive (use ./configure --help + to get one that is). The options not covered here are meant for + advanced use-cases such as cross-compilation, and are documented in + the standard Autoconf documentation. + + + + Installation Locations + + + These options control where make install will put + the files. The option is sufficient for + most cases. If you have special needs, you can customize the + installation subdirectories with the other options described in this + section. Beware however that changing the relative locations of the + different subdirectories may render the installation non-relocatable, + meaning you won't be able to move it after installation. + (The man and doc locations are + not affected by this restriction.) For relocatable installs, you + might want to use the --disable-rpath option + described later. + + + + + + + + Install all files under the directory PREFIX + instead of /usr/local/pgsql. The actual + files will be installed into various subdirectories; no files + will ever be installed directly into the + PREFIX directory. + + + + + + + + + You can install architecture-dependent files under a + different prefix, EXEC-PREFIX, than what + PREFIX was set to. This can be useful to + share architecture-independent files between hosts. If you + omit this, then EXEC-PREFIX is set equal to + PREFIX and both architecture-dependent and + independent files will be installed under the same tree, + which is probably what you want. + + + + + + + + + Specifies the directory for executable programs. The default + is EXEC-PREFIX/bin, which + normally means /usr/local/pgsql/bin. + + + + + + + + + Sets the directory for various configuration files, + PREFIX/etc by default. + + + + + + + + + Sets the location to install libraries and dynamically loadable + modules. The default is + EXEC-PREFIX/lib. + + + + + + + + + Sets the directory for installing C and C++ header files. The + default is PREFIX/include. + + + + + + + + + Sets the root directory for various types of read-only data + files. This only sets the default for some of the following + options. The default is + PREFIX/share. + + + + + + + + + Sets the directory for read-only data files used by the + installed programs. The default is + DATAROOTDIR. Note that this has + nothing to do with where your database files will be placed. + + + + + + + + + Sets the directory for installing locale data, in particular + message translation catalog files. The default is + DATAROOTDIR/locale. + + + + + + + + + The man pages that come with PostgreSQL will be installed under + this directory, in their respective + manx subdirectories. + The default is DATAROOTDIR/man. + + + + + + + + + Sets the root directory for installing documentation files, + except man pages. This only sets the default for + the following options. The default value for this option is + DATAROOTDIR/doc/postgresql. + + + + + + + + + The HTML-formatted documentation for + PostgreSQL will be installed under + this directory. The default is + DATAROOTDIR. + + + + + + + + Care has been taken to make it possible to install + PostgreSQL into shared installation locations + (such as /usr/local/include) without + interfering with the namespace of the rest of the system. First, + the string /postgresql is + automatically appended to datadir, + sysconfdir, and docdir, + unless the fully expanded directory name already contains the + string postgres or + pgsql. For example, if you choose + /usr/local as prefix, the documentation will + be installed in /usr/local/doc/postgresql, + but if the prefix is /opt/postgres, then it + will be in /opt/postgres/doc. The public C + header files of the client interfaces are installed into + includedir and are namespace-clean. The + internal header files and the server header files are installed + into private directories under includedir. See + the documentation of each interface for information about how to + access its header files. Finally, a private subdirectory will + also be created, if appropriate, under libdir + for dynamically loadable modules. + + + + + + + <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> Features + + + The options described in this section enable building of + various PostgreSQL features that are not + built by default. Most of these are non-default only because they + require additional software, as described in + . + + + + + + + + + Enables Native Language Support (NLS), + that is, the ability to display a program's messages in a + language other than English. + LANGUAGES is an optional space-separated + list of codes of the languages that you want supported, for + example --enable-nls='de fr'. (The intersection + between your list and the set of actually provided + translations will be computed automatically.) If you do not + specify a list, then all available translations are + installed. + + + + To use this option, you will need an implementation of the + Gettext API. + + + + + + + + + Build the PL/Perl server-side language. + + + + + + + + + Build the PL/Python server-side language. + + + + + + + + + Build the PL/Tcl server-side language. + + + + + + + + + Tcl installs the file tclConfig.sh, which + contains configuration information needed to build modules + interfacing to Tcl. This file is normally found automatically + at a well-known location, but if you want to use a different + version of Tcl you can specify the directory in which to look + for tclConfig.sh. + + + + + + + + + Build with support for + the ICUICU + library, enabling use of ICU collation + features (see + ). + This requires the ICU4C package + to be installed. The minimum required version + of ICU4C is currently 4.2. + + + + By default, + pkg-configpkg-config + will be used to find the required compilation options. This is + supported for ICU4C version 4.6 and later. + For older versions, or if pkg-config is + not available, the variables ICU_CFLAGS + and ICU_LIBS can be specified + to configure, like in this example: + +./configure ... --with-icu ICU_CFLAGS='-I/some/where/include' ICU_LIBS='-L/some/where/lib -licui18n -licuuc -licudata' + + (If ICU4C is in the default search path + for the compiler, then you still need to specify nonempty strings in + order to avoid use of pkg-config, for + example, ICU_CFLAGS=' '.) + + + + + + + + + Build with support for LLVM based + JIT compilation (see ). This + requires the LLVM library to be installed. + The minimum required version of LLVM is + currently 3.9. + + + llvm-configllvm-config + will be used to find the required compilation options. + llvm-config, and then + llvm-config-$major-$minor for all supported + versions, will be searched for in your PATH. If + that would not yield the desired program, + use LLVM_CONFIG to specify a path to the + correct llvm-config. For example + +./configure ... --with-llvm LLVM_CONFIG='/path/to/llvm/bin/llvm-config' + + + + + LLVM support requires a compatible + clang compiler (specified, if necessary, using the + CLANG environment variable), and a working C++ + compiler (specified, if necessary, using the CXX + environment variable). + + + + + + + + OpenSSL + SSL + + + + + Build with support for SSL (encrypted) + connections. This requires the OpenSSL + package to be installed. configure will check + for the required header files and libraries to make sure that + your OpenSSL installation is sufficient + before proceeding. + + + + + + + + + Build with support for GSSAPI authentication. On many systems, the + GSSAPI system (usually a part of the Kerberos installation) is not + installed in a location + that is searched by default (e.g., /usr/include, + /usr/lib), so you must use the options + and in + addition to this option. configure will check + for the required header files and libraries to make sure that + your GSSAPI installation is sufficient before proceeding. + + + + + + + + + Build with LDAPLDAP + support for authentication and connection parameter lookup (see + and + for more information). On Unix, + this requires the OpenLDAP package to be + installed. On Windows, the default WinLDAP + library is used. configure will check for the required + header files and libraries to make sure that your + OpenLDAP installation is sufficient before + proceeding. + + + + + + + + + Build with PAMPAM + (Pluggable Authentication Modules) support. + + + + + + + + + Build with BSD Authentication support. + (The BSD Authentication framework is + currently only available on OpenBSD.) + + + + + + + + + Build with support + for systemdsystemd + service notifications. This improves integration if the server + is started under systemd but has no impact + otherwise; see for more + information. libsystemd and the + associated header files need to be installed to use this option. + + + + + + + + + Build with support for Bonjour automatic service discovery. + This requires Bonjour support in your operating system. + Recommended on macOS. + + + + + + + + + Build the module + (which provides functions to generate UUIDs), using the specified + UUID library.UUID + LIBRARY must be one of: + + + + + to use the UUID functions found in FreeBSD, NetBSD, + and some other BSD-derived systems + + + + + to use the UUID library created by + the e2fsprogs project; this library is present in most + Linux systems and in macOS, and can be obtained for other + platforms as well + + + + + to use the OSSP UUID library + + + + + + + + + + + Obsolete equivalent of --with-uuid=ossp. + + + + + + + + + Build with libxml, enabling SQL/XML support. Libxml version 2.6.23 or + later is required for this feature. + + + + Libxml installs a program xml2-config that + can be used to detect the required compiler and linker + options. PostgreSQL will use it automatically if found. To + specify a libxml installation at an unusual location, you can + either set the environment variable + XML2_CONFIG to point to the + xml2-config program belonging to the + installation, or use the options + and + . + + + + + + + + + Build with libxslt, enabling the + + module to perform XSL transformations of XML. + must be specified as well. + + + + + + + + + + Anti-Features + + + The options described in this section allow disabling + certain PostgreSQL features that are built + by default, but which might need to be turned off if the required + software or system features are not available. Using these options is + not recommended unless really necessary. + + + + + + + + + Prevents use of the Readline library + (and libedit as well). This option disables + command-line editing and history in + psql. + + + + + + + + + Favors the use of the BSD-licensed libedit library + rather than GPL-licensed Readline. This option + is significant only if you have both libraries installed; the + default in that case is to use Readline. + + + + + + + + + + zlib + + Prevents use of the Zlib library. + This disables + support for compressed archives in pg_dump + and pg_restore. + + + + + + + + + Disable passing float4 values by value, causing them + to be passed by reference instead. This option costs + performance, but may be needed for compatibility with very old + user-defined functions written in C. + + + + + + + + + Disable passing float8 values by value, causing them + to be passed by reference instead. This option costs + performance, but may be needed for compatibility with very old + user-defined functions written in C. + Note that this option affects not only float8, but also int8 and some + related types such as timestamp. + On 32-bit platforms, is the default + and it is not allowed to select . + + + + + + + + + Allow the build to succeed even if PostgreSQL + has no CPU spinlock support for the platform. The lack of + spinlock support will result in very poor performance; therefore, + this option should only be used if the build aborts and + informs you that the platform lacks spinlock support. If this + option is required to build PostgreSQL on + your platform, please report the problem to the + PostgreSQL developers. + + + + + + + + + Disable use of CPU atomic operations. This option does nothing on + platforms that lack such operations. On platforms that do have + them, this will result in poor performance. This option is only + useful for debugging or making performance comparisons. + + + + + + + + + Disable the thread-safety of client libraries. This prevents + concurrent threads in libpq and + ECPG programs from safely controlling + their private connection handles. Use this only on platforms + with deficient threading support. + + + + + + + + + + Build Process Details + + + + + + + + DIRECTORIES is a colon-separated list of + directories that will be added to the list the compiler + searches for header files. If you have optional packages + (such as GNU Readline) installed in a non-standard + location, + you have to use this option and probably also the corresponding + option. + + + Example: --with-includes=/opt/gnu/include:/usr/sup/include. + + + + + + + + + DIRECTORIES is a colon-separated list of + directories to search for libraries. You will probably have + to use this option (and the corresponding + option) if you have packages + installed in non-standard locations. + + + Example: --with-libraries=/opt/gnu/lib:/usr/sup/lib. + + + + + + + + time zone data + + + + + PostgreSQL includes its own time zone database, + which it requires for date and time operations. This time zone + database is in fact compatible with the IANA time zone + database provided by many operating systems such as FreeBSD, + Linux, and Solaris, so it would be redundant to install it again. + When this option is used, the system-supplied time zone database + in DIRECTORY is used instead of the one + included in the PostgreSQL source distribution. + DIRECTORY must be specified as an + absolute path. /usr/share/zoneinfo is a + likely directory on some operating systems. Note that the + installation routine will not detect mismatching or erroneous time + zone data. If you use this option, you are advised to run the + regression tests to verify that the time zone data you have + pointed to works correctly with PostgreSQL. + + + cross compilation + + + This option is mainly aimed at binary package distributors + who know their target operating system well. The main + advantage of using this option is that the PostgreSQL package + won't need to be upgraded whenever any of the many local + daylight-saving time rules change. Another advantage is that + PostgreSQL can be cross-compiled more straightforwardly if the + time zone database files do not need to be built during the + installation. + + + + + + + + + Append STRING to the PostgreSQL version number. You + can use this, for example, to mark binaries built from unreleased Git + snapshots or containing custom patches with an extra version string, + such as a git describe identifier or a + distribution package release number. + + + + + + + + + Do not mark PostgreSQL's executables + to indicate that they should search for shared libraries in the + installation's library directory (see ). + On most platforms, this marking uses an absolute path to the + library directory, so that it will be unhelpful if you relocate + the installation later. However, you will then need to provide + some other way for the executables to find the shared libraries. + Typically this requires configuring the operating system's + dynamic linker to search the library directory; see + for more detail. + + + + + + + + + + Miscellaneous + + + It's fairly common, particularly for test builds, to adjust the + default port number with . + The other options in this section are recommended only for advanced + users. + + + + + + + + + Set NUMBER as the default port number for + server and clients. The default is 5432. The port can always + be changed later on, but if you specify it here then both + server and clients will have the same default compiled in, + which can be very convenient. Usually the only good reason + to select a non-default value is if you intend to run multiple + PostgreSQL servers on the same machine. + + + + + + + + + The default name of the Kerberos service principal used + by GSSAPI. + postgres is the default. There's usually no + reason to change this unless you are building for a Windows + environment, in which case it must be set to upper case + POSTGRES. + + + + + + + + + Set the segment size, in gigabytes. Large tables are + divided into multiple operating-system files, each of size equal + to the segment size. This avoids problems with file size limits + that exist on many platforms. The default segment size, 1 gigabyte, + is safe on all supported platforms. If your operating system has + largefile support (which most do, nowadays), you can use + a larger segment size. This can be helpful to reduce the number of + file descriptors consumed when working with very large tables. + But be careful not to select a value larger than is supported + by your platform and the file systems you intend to use. Other + tools you might wish to use, such as tar, could + also set limits on the usable file size. + It is recommended, though not absolutely required, that this value + be a power of 2. + Note that changing this value breaks on-disk database compatibility, + meaning you cannot use pg_upgrade to upgrade to + a build with a different segment size. + + + + + + + + + Set the block size, in kilobytes. This is the unit + of storage and I/O within tables. The default, 8 kilobytes, + is suitable for most situations; but other values may be useful + in special cases. + The value must be a power of 2 between 1 and 32 (kilobytes). + Note that changing this value breaks on-disk database compatibility, + meaning you cannot use pg_upgrade to upgrade to + a build with a different block size. + + + + + + + + + Set the WAL block size, in kilobytes. This is the unit + of storage and I/O within the WAL log. The default, 8 kilobytes, + is suitable for most situations; but other values may be useful + in special cases. + The value must be a power of 2 between 1 and 64 (kilobytes). + Note that changing this value breaks on-disk database compatibility, + meaning you cannot use pg_upgrade to upgrade to + a build with a different WAL block size. + + + + + + + + + + Developer Options + + + Most of the options in this section are only of interest for + developing or debugging PostgreSQL. + They are not recommended for production builds, except + for , which can be useful to enable + detailed bug reports in the unlucky event that you encounter a bug. + On platforms supporting DTrace, + may also be reasonable to use in production. + + + + When building an installation that will be used to develop code inside + the server, it is recommended to use at least the + options + and . + + + + + + + + + Compiles all programs and libraries with debugging symbols. + This means that you can run the programs in a debugger + to analyze problems. This enlarges the size of the installed + executables considerably, and on non-GCC compilers it usually + also disables compiler optimization, causing slowdowns. However, + having the symbols available is extremely helpful for dealing + with any problems that might arise. Currently, this option is + recommended for production installations only if you use GCC. + But you should always have it on if you are doing development work + or running a beta version. + + + + + + + + + Enables assertion checks in the server, which test for + many cannot happen conditions. This is invaluable for + code development purposes, but the tests can slow down the + server significantly. + Also, having the tests turned on won't necessarily enhance the + stability of your server! The assertion checks are not categorized + for severity, and so what might be a relatively harmless bug will + still lead to server restarts if it triggers an assertion + failure. This option is not recommended for production use, but + you should have it on for development work or when running a beta + version. + + + + + + + + + Enable tests using the Perl TAP tools. This requires a Perl + installation and the Perl module IPC::Run. + See for more information. + + + + + + + + + Enables automatic dependency tracking. With this option, the + makefiles are set up so that all affected object files will + be rebuilt when any header file is changed. This is useful + if you are doing development work, but is just wasted overhead + if you intend only to compile once and install. At present, + this option only works with GCC. + + + + + + + + + If using GCC, all programs and libraries are compiled with + code coverage testing instrumentation. When run, they + generate files in the build directory with code coverage + metrics. + See + for more information. This option is for use only with GCC + and when doing development work. + + + + + + + + + If using GCC, all programs and libraries are compiled so they + can be profiled. On backend exit, a subdirectory will be created + that contains the gmon.out file containing + profile data. + This option is for use only with GCC and when doing development work. + + + + + + + + + + DTrace + + Compiles PostgreSQL with support for the + dynamic tracing tool DTrace. + See + for more information. + + + + To point to the dtrace program, the + environment variable DTRACE can be set. This + will often be necessary because dtrace is + typically installed under /usr/sbin, + which might not be in your PATH. + + + + Extra command-line options for the dtrace program + can be specified in the environment variable + DTRACEFLAGS. On Solaris, + to include DTrace support in a 64-bit binary, you must specify + DTRACEFLAGS="-64". For example, + using the GCC compiler: + +./configure CC='gcc -m64' --enable-dtrace DTRACEFLAGS='-64' ... + + Using Sun's compiler: + +./configure CC='/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc -xtarget=native64' --enable-dtrace DTRACEFLAGS='-64' ... + + + + + + + + + + + + <filename>configure</filename> Environment Variables + + + configure environment variables + + + + In addition to the ordinary command-line options described above, + configure responds to a number of environment + variables. + You can specify environment variables on the + configure command line, for example: + +./configure CC=/opt/bin/gcc CFLAGS='-O2 -pipe' + + In this usage an environment variable is little different from a + command-line option. + You can also set such variables beforehand: + +export CC=/opt/bin/gcc +export CFLAGS='-O2 -pipe' +./configure + + This usage can be convenient because many programs' configuration + scripts respond to these variables in similar ways. + + + + The most commonly used of these environment variables are + CC and CFLAGS. + If you prefer a C compiler different from the one + configure picks, you can set the + variable CC to the program of your choice. + By default, configure will pick + gcc if available, else the platform's + default (usually cc). Similarly, you can override the + default compiler flags if needed with the CFLAGS variable. + + + + Here is a list of the significant variables that can be set in + this manner: + + + + BISON + + + Bison program + + + + + + CC + + + C compiler + + + + + + CFLAGS + + + options to pass to the C compiler + + + + + + CLANG + + + path to clang program used to process source code + for inlining when compiling with --with-llvm + + + + + + CPP + + + C preprocessor + + + + + + CPPFLAGS + + + options to pass to the C preprocessor + + + + + + CXX + + + C++ compiler + + + + + + CXXFLAGS + + + options to pass to the C++ compiler + + + + + + DTRACE + + + location of the dtrace program + + + + + + DTRACEFLAGS + + + options to pass to the dtrace program + + + + + + FLEX + + + Flex program + + + + + + LDFLAGS + + + options to use when linking either executables or shared libraries + + + + + + LDFLAGS_EX + + + additional options for linking executables only + + + + + + LDFLAGS_SL + + + additional options for linking shared libraries only + + + + + + LLVM_CONFIG + + + llvm-config program used to locate the + LLVM installation + + + + + + MSGFMT + + + msgfmt program for native language support + + + + + + PERL + + + Perl interpreter program. This will be used to determine the + dependencies for building PL/Perl. The default is + perl. + + + + + + PYTHON + + + Python interpreter program. This will be used to + determine the dependencies for building PL/Python. Also, + whether Python 2 or 3 is specified here (or otherwise + implicitly chosen) determines which variant of the PL/Python + language becomes available. See + + for more information. If this is not set, the following are probed + in this order: python python3 python2. + + + + + + TCLSH + + + Tcl interpreter program. This will be used to + determine the dependencies for building PL/Tcl. + If this is not set, the following are probed in this + order: tclsh tcl tclsh8.6 tclsh86 tclsh8.5 tclsh85 + tclsh8.4 tclsh84. + + + + + + XML2_CONFIG + + + xml2-config program used to locate the + libxml installation + + + + + + + + Sometimes it is useful to add compiler flags after-the-fact to the set + that were chosen by configure. An important example is + that gcc's option cannot be included + in the CFLAGS passed to configure, because + it will break many of configure's built-in tests. To add + such flags, include them in the COPT environment variable + while running make. The contents of COPT + are added to both the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS + options set up by configure. For example, you could do + +make COPT='-Werror' + + or + +export COPT='-Werror' +make + + + + + + If using GCC, it is best to build with an optimization level of + at least , because using no optimization + () disables some important compiler warnings (such + as the use of uninitialized variables). However, non-zero + optimization levels can complicate debugging because stepping + through compiled code will usually not match up one-to-one with + source code lines. If you get confused while trying to debug + optimized code, recompile the specific files of interest with + . An easy way to do this is by passing an option + to make: make PROFILE=-O0 file.o. + + + + The COPT and PROFILE environment variables are + actually handled identically by the PostgreSQL + makefiles. Which to use is a matter of preference, but a common habit + among developers is to use PROFILE for one-time flag + adjustments, while COPT might be kept set all the time. + + + Post-Installation Setup - + Shared Libraries