Hubert (depesz) Lubaczewski • 4/15/2026

Waiting for PostgreSQL 19 – Online enabling and disabling of data checksums

This article details a new PostgreSQL 19 feature that allows data checksums to be enabled or disabled on a running cluster without restricting access. Previously, this required initdb or offline processing via pg_checksums. The feature uses a background worker to mark buffers dirty for checksum calculation, ensuring consistency through procsignalbarriers. A new test module, test_checksums, is included with extensive tests. The patch was authored by Daniel Gustafsson and Magnus Hagander, with contributions from Tomas Vondra and others.

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#postgresql #Background Worker #Database Administration