PG_BUILDEXT(1)

📦

version 293ubuntu1 · 8 versions

293ubuntu1 · ubuntu stonking (latest)
282ubuntu1 · ubuntu questing
238 · ubuntu jammy
257build1.1 · ubuntu noble
257build1 · ubuntu noble
248 · debian bookworm
290ubuntu1 · ubuntu resolute
278 · debian trixie

, in ubuntu stonking

💖 PG_BUILDEXT(1) — Debian PostgreSQL infrastructure 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about pg_buildext 💅

✨ NAME ✨

pg_buildext — build and install a PostgreSQL extension, but make it serve

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

pg_buildext [options] action [src-dir] [arguments]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so pg_buildext is a script that builds a PostgreSQL extension in a VPATH way, for potentially several PostgreSQL server versions in parallel. multi-tasking queen behavior, honestly. 👑

It builds for the intersection of versions known in:

debian/pgversions (the versions your package supports)
/usr/share/postgresql-common/supported-versions (the versions supported in this release)

Lots of PostgreSQL extension packages need zero special handling at build time, and can just use dh $@ --with pgxs or dh $@ --with pgxs_loop to automatically run through all the steps we're about to describe. effortless. iconic. 🎀

🌈 USAGE 🌈

Packages using pg_buildext should be prepared to build binaries for PostgreSQL versions that aren't present in Debian unstable — like, for older releases when you're building backports for Debian (old)stable (which might include backports of newer PostgreSQL releases too), or for all PostgreSQL releases when the package is built for apt.postgresql.org. the range, bestie. the versatility. ✨

Because the set of binary packages depends on the target PostgreSQL versions, debian/control is generated from a template in debian/control.in when you run pg_buildext updatecontrol. Here's the tea on how that works:

Package sections that contain PGVERSION in the package name get replaced by a list of sections, with the supported PostgreSQL versions filled in.
Package sections that contain PGVERSION outside the package name have the newest supported PostgreSQL version filled in. super useful for meta packages 💖
Words containing PGVERSIONS get replaced by a list of words with the supported versions filled in — most useful in Build-Depends.

Include /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgxs_debian_control.mk in debian/rules to run a check at build time for whether updating debian/control is needed. 👀

Since pg_buildext invokes make for the build, install, and clean actions, invocations from debian/rules (which is a makefile) should be prefixed with + so the sub-makes can talk with the make jobserver. and you can pass extra makefile variables to make via the -m option. 🫶

Many extensions support make installcheck testing using pg_regress. But the way that it needs the package to be installed means it can't run at build time. nope. instead, run the tests using autopkgtest from debian/tests/*. 💅

If debian/tests/control.in exists, occurrences of package names containing PGVERSION get replaced by lists of package names with the target PostgreSQL versions filled in. (And if no replacing is needed in debian/tests/control, it's totally fine to provide the tests control file directly. no drama.)

💅 OPTIONS 💅

-cio arg, -s — passed to pg_virtualenv when running installcheck.

These arguments can also be set via the PG_VIRTUALENV_ARGS environment variable. 🧚

-m arg — passed to make.

👑 ACTIONS 👑

Most actions expect a directory name where to build the sources. It'll get created for you if it doesn't exist. 💖 And if the build-dir contains a %v sign, it gets replaced by the specific version of PostgreSQL being built against. (Usually this parameter is build-%v.)

supported-versions — print the effective list of supported versions, i.e. the intersection of the sets of versions supported by the system (from /usr/share/postgresql-common/supported-versions) and the package (from debian/pgversions).

Use this when building packages.

installed-versions — in the list of installed packages, look for packages matching the PGVERSION package name templates from debian/control.in, and print the PostgreSQL major version number part.

Use this when testing packages.

checkcontrol — check if debian/control needs updating from debian/control.in. This is invoked from /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgxs_debian_control.mk. When building for a backports or pgdg suite as determined by debian/changelog, this action also updates the control file. Otherwise, updatecontrol needs to be run manually. no autopilot, sorry bestie.
updatecontrol — update debian/control from debian/control.in, and debian/tests/control from debian/tests/control.in if the latter exists.
configure [src-dir] build-dir [extra-configure-options] — for every supported version, call ../configure from the build-dir directory. (Most PostgreSQL extensions do not have a configure script, so don't stress if this isn't you 🦋)
build [src-dir] build-dir [extra-cflags] — build the extension in the build-dir directory.
install [src-dir] build-dir package-pattern — invoke make install from the build-dir directory. The third parameter specifies the package name to use — most packages use postgresql-%v-pkgname. Make will be called with DESTDIR="$(CURDIR)/debian/package".

The dpkg substitution variable postgresql:Depends is set to depend on the required PostgreSQL server package. For compatibility with previous packaging standards, the dependency is also added to misc:Depends if postgresql:Depends is not used. legacy support, we love to see it 💜

clean [src-dir] [build-dir] [package-pattern] — clean the build directories. scrub scrub scrub 🧼
loop [src-dir] package-pattern — as a variant to calling build and install separately for VPATH builds, loop over the supported PostgreSQL versions in the top source directory. This should be used if the package does not support VPATH builds. As it also invokes make install, it should be placed where installation happens in debian/rules, rather than where build would normally be called. 👀
installcheck [src-dir] [build-dir] [package-pattern] — use pg_virtualenv make installcheck to run the extension regression tests. This is meant to be run from debian/tests/control using autopkgtest. If build-dir is omitted, the top source directory is used.

If package-pattern is given, options are passed to pg_virtualenv to set up the temporary PostgreSQL instance to find extension files in debian/package-directory/.

Other than the other actions which run on the "supported" versions, if debian/control.in exists, this one runs on the "installed" versions as reported by installed-versions (unless package-pattern is provided, which means we are called during a build).

psql [src-dir] [build-dir] [package-pattern], virtualenv [src-dir] [build-dir] [package-pattern] — like installcheck, but invokes psql, or a shell, both wrapped in pg_virtualenv. Input is read from stdin.
run [src-dir] command, run_installed [src-dir] command — runs command, with the %v placeholder replaced on all supported versions, or all installed versions, respectively.

Sometimes it's desirable to run extra code per version before invoking the action — in that case the loop over supported versions needs to be in the calling script. To facilitate this mode, actions can also be called as action-version. See the installcheck example below. 💅

⭐ SUPPORTED VERSIONS ⭐

pg_buildext reads debian/pgversions to decide which PostgreSQL to build modules/extensions for. This file contains one PostgreSQL version number per line, in the following formats:

all — support all versions. This is recommended unless there are known incompatibilities. ✨
NN — support this version.
NN+ — support this and all greater versions.
#... — comment. (side-eye, but valid 💀)

For a version to be used, it must also be listed in the output of /usr/share/postgresql-common/supported-versions. See this file for how to configure the list of supported versions on your system.

🌸 EXAMPLE 🌸

debian/control.in:

Source: postgresql-foobar
Rules-Requires-Root: no
Build-Depends:
 architecture-is-64-bit <!pkg.postgresql.32-bit>,
 debhelper-compat (= 13),
 postgresql-all <!nocheck>,
 postgresql-server-dev-all (>= 217~),

Package: postgresql-PGVERSION-foobar
Architecture: any
Depends:
 ${misc:Depends},
 ${postgresql:Depends},
 ${shlibs:Depends},

debian/pgversions:

all

# alternatives:
#9.6
#11+

debian/rules using dh $@ --with pgxs:

#!/usr/bin/make -f

override_dh_installdocs:
        dh_installdocs --all README.*

%:
        dh $@ --with pgxs

If the package does not support building from subdirectories, use dh $@ --with pgxs_loop:

#!/usr/bin/make -f

%:
        dh $@ --with pgxs_loop

If the package does not use PGXS's make installcheck for testing:

override_dh_pgxs_test:

debian/rules using pg_buildext directly:

#!/usr/bin/make -f

include /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgxs_debian_control.mk

# omit this if the package does not use autoconf
override_dh_auto_configure:
        +pg_buildext configure build-%v "--libdir=/usr/lib/postgresql/%v/lib --datadir=/usr/share/postgresql-%v-foobar"

override_dh_auto_build:
        +pg_buildext build build-%v

override_dh_auto_test:
        # nothing to do here, see debian/tests/* instead

override_dh_auto_install:
        +pg_buildext install build-%v postgresql-%v-foobar

override_dh_installdocs:
        dh_installdocs --all README.*

override_dh_pgxs_test:
        +pg_buildext installcheck . build-%v postgresql-%v-foobar

override_dh_auto_clean:
        +pg_buildext clean build-%v

%:
        dh $@

debian/tests/control:

Depends: @, postgresql-common-dev
Tests: installcheck
Restrictions: allow-stderr

debian/tests/control.in: (optional)

Depends: @, postgresql-common-dev, postgresql-PGVERSION-bar
Tests: installcheck
Restrictions: allow-stderr

debian/tests/installcheck:

#!/bin/sh
pg_buildext installcheck
# alternatively: pg_buildext installcheck build-%v

# Running extra code before invoking the actual action:
set -e
for v in $(pg_buildext installed-versions); do
        test -L build-$v/sql || ln -s ../sql build-$v/
        test -L build-$v/expected || ln -s ../expected build-$v/
        pg_buildext installcheck-$v build-$v
done

🎀 SOURCE DIRECTORY 🎀

If the package source code is not in the top level directory (i.e. the directory which has debian/ as a subdirectory), use the src-dir argument — and heads up, src-dir must be an absolute path. 💅 Example:

override_dh_auto_build:
        +pg_buildext build $(CURDIR)/postgresql-module build-%v

✨ COMPATIBILITY ✨

okay bestie, this is the ✨when did this even show up✨ section, and it's genuinely useful if you're trying to figure out why your build works on your machine but absolutely crashes and burns on an older one 💀

The pg_buildext loop was introduced in postgresql-server-dev-all (>= 141~).
Using "all" or "NN+" in debian/pgversions was introduced in postgresql-server-dev-all (>= 148~).
pg_buildext installcheck was introduced in postgresql-server-dev-all (>= 153~).
PG_VIRTUALENV_UNSHARE=-n was introduced in postgresql-common (>= 170~).
Handling of debian/tests/control.in with PGVERSION replacement was introduced in postgresql-common (>= 171~).
The action installed-versions was introduced in postgresql-common (>= 208~). Slay. And installcheck was switched over to use it in that very same version, so they shipped together 🫶
dh $@ --with pgxs and pgxs_loop, the corresponding --buildsystem, and the psql and virtualenv actions were introduced in postgresql-server-dev-all (>= 217~).
The replacement of PGVERSIONS (plural — yes with the S, don't get it twisted 😌) in debian/control.in, plus pg_buildext run and run_installed, were introduced in postgresql-common (>= 256~).
Setting pg_virtualenv arguments from PG_VIRTUALENV_ARGS was introduced in postgresql-common (>= 259~).

fr fr, if you're supporting old distros, this list is your bestie. pin your build-deps accordingly or prepare for the sadness 💀

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

go read these next, they're part of the same little family 🦋

/usr/share/postgresql-common/supported-versions
autopkgtest(1)
pg_virtualenv(1)

👑 AUTHORS 👑

this section is literally the main characters of this whole page ✨

Dimitri Fontaine <dim@tapoueh.org> — original author, iconic 🎀
with extensions by Christoph Berg <myon@debian.org> — the extra ✨sparkle✨ that made it what it is today 💅

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially a pg_buildext girlie now 💖 go build all the versions, you absolute legend 👑

this icon was brought to you by the good people of Debian, dated 2026-07-28, and it lives in section PG_BUILDEXT(1) of your friendly neighborhood manual 🫶 see you in the group chat 🌈

📦 where this page comes from

ubuntu stonking: postgresql-common 293ubuntu1 · GPL-2.0-or-later
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-11-03: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms