Behind Postgres 18: The People, the Code, & the Invisible Work
summary
Analysis uses Echoda plus commit logs, mailing lists, conference schedules and packaging metadata over a 15-month window to count contributions: ~3,043 commits, 279 code/doc authors, 85 first-time authors and ~35,000 PGSQL-hackers emails. Build farm runs exceed 120,000 with 229 million build-seconds. The community produces release coins and translated press releases and error messages, maintains packaging and servers, runs mentoring cohorts and conference CFP panels — concrete artifacts, retention rates, and reviewer-to-author ratios drive the conclusions.
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chapters (34)
- 0:00Introduction and background
- 3:36Postgres 18 contribution analysis
- 7:52Types of Postgres contributions
- 9:36Governance and core team
- 11:42Postgres committers overview
- 13:27Nonprofit and committee roles
- 15:53Contributors committee and coins
- 19:49Code and documentation authors
- 23:00First-time code contributors
- 24:44Commit reviews and quality
- 26:08Cycle time and commit process
- 27:11Commits on behalf of others
- 27:33Build farm and infrastructure
- 28:15Message translations
- 29:39Press release translations
- 30:20Packaging and CIS admin work
- 31:48Release notes and mailing lists
- 32:54Mailing list trends
- 33:39Planet Postgres and blogs
- 34:41Podcasts and community media
- 35:42Conferences and speakers
- 37:47Prolific conference speakers
- 38:29New Postgres books
- 38:50Postgres Weekly newsletter
- 39:30Postgres person of the week
- 40:12Conference organizers
- 40:54Talk selection teams
- 41:15User groups and meetups
- 42:19Developer meetings
- 43:01PGConf.dev and unconference
- 44:47Mentoring program
- 46:10Google Summer of Code
- 46:31Financial contributors
- 47:55Recognition and future
related talks
32mFibonacci Spirals and Ways to Contribute to Postgres—Beyond Code
43mHow to Contribute to an Open Source Project like Postgres?
50mHacking on Postgres: An Overview
07mKeynote: Contributing to Critical Open Source Projects: Lessons from PostgreSQL
12mContribution Over Control Open Source Responsibility in PostgreSQL
42mThe PostgreSQL License Fee
32mThe Democratization of Databases
34mCommunity Data: What to Measure and Why?