Verifying glibc collation versions (version and actual_version columns are empty)

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1

Problem to solve

Hello everyone,
I am currently planning to upgrade from v16.11.5-ee to v18.3.1-ee. In this context, I am looking at the topic “Potential PostgreSQL index corruption when upgrading OS - glibc locale data compatibility.” Link

As far as I understand, I shouldn’t have any problems because glibc is already at version 2.35. I then wanted to verify the existing glibc collation versions. To do this, I used the example from Ubuntu 22.04.
However, the columns (version and actual_version) are empty.

image

Unfortunately, I can’t make sense of this. Is this good or bad?
Thank you very much for your help.

Versions

  • Self-managed
  • v16.11.5-ee
  • psql (PostgreSQL) 14.11
  • glibc 2.35
2

On Debian mine looks the same:

root@images:~# gitlab-psql
psql (16.8)
Type "help" for help.

gitlabhq_production=# SELECT collname AS COLLATION_NAME,
gitlabhq_production-#        collversion AS VERSION,
gitlabhq_production-#        pg_collation_actual_version(oid) AS actual_version
gitlabhq_production-# FROM pg_collation
gitlabhq_production-# WHERE collprovider = 'c';
 collation_name | version | actual_version 
----------------+---------+----------------
 C              |         | 
 POSIX          |         | 
 ucs_basic      |         | 
 C.utf8         |         | 
(4 rows)

gitlabhq_production=#

so I wouldn’t worry about it. You aren’t upgrading from an old system with a lower glibc, since you’ve already confirmed that. My Debian installs have been upgraded since Debian 9/10, to the latest Debian 12.

The results of the above command on an RHEL based system though are different, and produce approx 55 results with UTF8 entries for all the en_XX possibly due to the additional locales that exist.

Of course, always ensure you have a backup you can restore from before upgrading.

2 Likes
3

With this you should be fine to upgrade. A few months ago I was in the same situation and concern but I upgraded without any issues. This is what I’m talking about: Upgrading my Ubuntu - Potential PostgreSQL index corruption when upgrading OS

Remember to backup before.