The Internals of PostgreSQL
- ID
- 42876
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 04 Nov 2026, 5:51 AM
- Fetched
- 04 Nov 2026, 7:26 PM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://www.interdb.jp/pg/index.html
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 7.5
- Created
- 04 Nov 2026, 7:26 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersdatabase_learnersvibe_coderssaas_founders
What happened
The Internals of PostgreSQL, a free online book by Hironobu Suzuki that explains how PostgreSQL works under the hood, marked its 11th anniversary on 26 Sep 2026 (it launched 26 Sep 2015). The changelog shows active maintenance: Chapter 12 on Logical Replication (beta) went up 1 May 2026, Section 8.5 on Asynchronous I/O on 28 Jun 2026, Section 1.3.2 on TOAST on 11 May 2026, and a May 2026 refactor cut 4,890 words (5.6%) while the site grew to 85,577 words with 49 figures added. The page also carries the author's personal note that he is open to new international PostgreSQL roles, including remote work, after a temporary stay in Japan.
Why it matters
If you run Postgres and tune it by folklore, this is a free, chapter-level reference to the actual mechanisms: read Section 6.6 on reclaiming bloated space before you touch autovacuum settings, Section 1.3.2 on TOAST before you store large JSON blobs in a column, and the beta Chapter 12 on logical replication before you deploy it. It costs nothing but reading time, and it is updated against current behaviour rather than blog posts from 2019.
Discussion angle
Ask everyone who ships Postgres which internals chapter would actually change a decision they are making right now — TOAST vs. large-column storage, bloat and vacuum behaviour, or logical replication caveats — and whether the beta status of Chapter 12 makes them comfortable relying on it before production.