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Packages

Extension package aliases and category naming conventions

Pigsty uses a package alias mechanism to simplify extension installation and management.

Package Alias Mechanism

Managing extensions involves multiple layers of name mapping:

Layer Example pgvector Example postgis
Extension Name vector postgis, postgis_topology, …
Package Alias pgvector postgis
RPM Package Name pgvector_18 postgis36_18*
DEB Package Name postgresql-18-pgvector postgresql-18-postgis-3*

Pigsty provides a package alias abstraction layer, so users don’t need to worry about specific RPM/DEB package names:

pg_extensions: [ pgvector, postgis, timescaledb ]  # Use package aliases

Pigsty automatically translates to the correct package names based on the operating system and PostgreSQL version.

Note

CREATE EXTENSION uses the extension name (for example, vector), not the package alias (pgvector).

Category Aliases

All extensions are organized into 16 categories, which can be batch installed using category aliases:

# Use generic category aliases (auto-adapt to current PG version)
pg_extensions: [ pgsql-gis, pgsql-rag, pgsql-fts ]

# Or use version-specific category aliases
pg_extensions: [ pg18-gis, pg18-rag, pg18-fts ]

Except for the olap category, all category extensions can be installed simultaneously. Within the olap category, there are conflicts: pg_duckdb and pg_mooncake are mutually exclusive.

Category List

Category Description Typical Extensions
time Time-series timescaledb, pg_cron, periods
gis Geospatial postgis, h3, pgrouting
rag Vector/RAG pgvector, pgml, vchord
fts Full-text Search pg_trgm, zhparser, pgroonga
olap Analytics citus, pg_duckdb, pg_mooncake
feat Feature age, pg_graphql, rum
lang Language plpython3u, pljava, plv8
type Data Type hstore, ltree, citext
util Utility http, pg_net, pgjwt
func Function pgcrypto, uuid-ossp, pg_uuidv7
admin Admin pg_repack, pgagent, pg_squeeze
stat Statistics pg_stat_statements, pg_qualstats, auto_explain
sec Security pgaudit, pgcrypto, pgsodium
fdw Foreign Data Wrapper postgres_fdw, mysql_fdw, oracle_fdw
sim Compatibility orafce, babelfishpg_tds
etl Data/ETL pglogical, wal2json, decoderbufs

Browse Extension Catalog

You can browse detailed information about all available extensions on the Pigsty Extension Catalog website, including:

  • Extension name, description, version
  • Supported PostgreSQL versions
  • Supported OS distributions
  • Installation methods, preloading requirements
  • License, source repository