PostgreSQL: Up and Running

Appendix A. Install, Hosting, and Command-Line Guides

Installation Guides and Distributions

Windows, Mac OS X, Linux Desktops

EnterpriseDB, a company devoted to popularizing PostgreSQL technology, builds installers for Windows, Mac OS X, and desktop versions of Linux. For Windows users, this is the preferred installer to use. Mac OS X and Linux opinions vary depending on what you are doing. For example, the EnterpriseDb PostGIS installers for Mac OS X and Linux aren’t always kept up to date with the latest releases of PostGIS, so PostGIS Mac OS X and Linux users, tend to prefer other distributions. EnterpriseDb also distribute binaries for beta versions of coming PostgreSQL versions. The installers are super easy to use. They come packaged with PgAdmin GUI Administration tool and a stack builder that allows you to install additional add-ons like JDBC, .NET drivers, Ruby, PostGIS, phpPgAdmin, pgAgent, WaveMaker, and others.

EnterpriseDB has two offerings: the official, open source PostgreSQL, which EnterpriseDB calls the Community Edition, and their proprietary edition called Advanced Plus. The proprietary fork offers Oracle compatibility and enhanced management features. Don’t get confused between the two when you download. In this book, we will focus on the official PostgreSQL, not Advanced Plus; however, much of the material apply more or less equally to Advanced Plus.

Note

If you want to try out different versions of PostgreSQL on the same machine or want to run it from a USB device. ...