pg_dbms_errlog

Overview

Requires pg_statement_rollback and shared_preload_libraries=pg_dbms_errlog; restart required.

Version

Build

You can build the DEB packages for pg_dbms_errlog using pig build:

pig build pkg pg_dbms_errlog         # build DEB packages

Install

You can install pg_dbms_errlog directly. First, make sure the PGDG and PIGSTY repositories are added and enabled:

pig repo add pgsql -u          # Add repo and update cache

Install the extension using pig or apt/yum/dnf:

• Install
• pig
• dnf
• apt

pig install pg_dbms_errlog;          # Install for current active PG version

pig ext install -y pg_dbms_errlog -v 18  # PG 18
pig ext install -y pg_dbms_errlog -v 17  # PG 17
pig ext install -y pg_dbms_errlog -v 16  # PG 16
pig ext install -y pg_dbms_errlog -v 15  # PG 15
pig ext install -y pg_dbms_errlog -v 14  # PG 14

dnf install -y pg_dbms_errlog_18       # PG 18
dnf install -y pg_dbms_errlog_17       # PG 17
dnf install -y pg_dbms_errlog_16       # PG 16
dnf install -y pg_dbms_errlog_15       # PG 15
dnf install -y pg_dbms_errlog_14       # PG 14

apt install -y postgresql-18-pg-dbms-errlog   # PG 18
apt install -y postgresql-17-pg-dbms-errlog   # PG 17
apt install -y postgresql-16-pg-dbms-errlog   # PG 16
apt install -y postgresql-15-pg-dbms-errlog   # PG 15
apt install -y postgresql-14-pg-dbms-errlog   # PG 14

Preload:

shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_statement_rollback, pg_dbms_errlog';

Create Extension:

CREATE EXTENSION pg_dbms_errlog CASCADE;  -- requires: pg_statement_rollback

Usage

Sources:

• Official v2.4 README
• v2.4 release changelog
• v2.4 control file
• v2.4 extension SQL

pg_dbms_errlog provides Oracle-style DML error logging for PostgreSQL. It queues an error from a failed INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE, writes it to a registered ERR$_... table through background workers, and lets the surrounding script continue after rolling back to a savepoint. It requires either pg_statement_rollback or explicit savepoint management by the caller.

Enable the Extension

Add the library to shared_preload_libraries, ensure max_worker_processes can accommodate pg_dbms_errlog.max_workers plus the fixed worker, and restart PostgreSQL:

shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_dbms_errlog'

CREATE EXTENSION pg_dbms_errlog;

Create and register an error table for each DML target:

CREATE TABLE raises (
    employee_id integer,
    salary integer CHECK (salary > 8000)
);

CALL dbms_errlog.create_error_log('raises');
-- Creates and registers public."ERR$_raises" by default.

Log and Continue after an Error

LOAD 'pg_statement_rollback';

SET pg_statement_rollback.enabled = on;
SET pg_dbms_errlog.enabled = on;
SET pg_dbms_errlog.query_tag = 'daily_load';
SET pg_dbms_errlog.reject_limit = 10;

BEGIN;
INSERT INTO raises VALUES (145, 15400);
INSERT INTO raises VALUES (161, 7700);  -- logged failure
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT "PgSLRAutoSvpt";
INSERT INTO raises VALUES (175, 9680);
COMMIT;

SELECT * FROM "ERR$_raises";

The error table contains pg_err_number$, pg_err_mesg$, pg_err_optyp$, pg_err_tag$, pg_err_query$, and pg_err_detail$.

API and Configuration Index

• dbms_errlog.create_error_log(dml_table_name, err_log_table_name, err_log_table_owner, err_log_table_space): creates and registers an error table.
• dbms_errlog.publish_queue(wait_for_completion): asks workers to process queued errors; execution is not granted to PUBLIC by default.
• dbms_errlog.queue_size(): reports queued errors.
• pg_dbms_errlog.synchronous: transaction by default, query, or off. Transaction mode guarantees that only errors from committed transactions are logged.
• pg_dbms_errlog.reject_limit: transaction-wide error limit; -1 is unlimited and 0 logs nothing and rolls back.
• pg_dbms_errlog.no_client_error: suppresses client error messages while retaining server logging; enabled by default.
• pg_dbms_errlog.frequency and pg_dbms_errlog.max_workers: asynchronous worker timing and concurrency.

Caveats

• A caller needs DML privileges on the target and error tables; creating an error table also requires execution and registration-table privileges described upstream.
• INSERT INTO ... SELECT ... is one PostgreSQL statement and cannot preserve only successful rows in the Oracle manner.
• Syntax and other parse-time errors are not logged. Stored query text must remain below PostgreSQL’s 1 GB value limit.
• Version 2.4 changes no SQL API; it fixes worker shutdown loops and a dynamic-background-worker crash.