pg_upless

Overview

Version

Build

You can build the RPM / DEB packages for pg_upless using pig build:

pig build pkg pg_upless         # build RPM / DEB packages

Install

You can install pg_upless 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_upless;          # Install for current active PG version

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

dnf install -y pg_upless_18       # PG 18
dnf install -y pg_upless_17       # PG 17
dnf install -y pg_upless_16       # PG 16
dnf install -y pg_upless_15       # PG 15
dnf install -y pg_upless_14       # PG 14

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

Create Extension:

CREATE EXTENSION pg_upless CASCADE;  -- requires: plpgsql

Usage

pg_upless: Detect Useless UPDATE

pg_upless detects UPDATE statements that change no actual values (common with ORMs). It works by installing triggers on monitored tables and collecting statistics. It is intended as a diagnostic tool, not for permanent use.

Start Monitoring

-- Monitor a specific table
SELECT pg_upless_start('public', 'boats');

-- Monitor all tables in a schema
SELECT pg_upless_start('public');

Stop Monitoring

-- Stop monitoring a specific table
SELECT pg_upless_stop('public', 'boats');

-- Stop monitoring all tables in a schema
SELECT pg_upless_stop('public');

View Statistics

The extension creates two tables in the pg_upless schema:

• pg_upless_stats – stores counts of total vs useless updates per table
• pg_upless_start_time – records when monitoring started (for rate calculations)