Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - AWS open source strategy and contributions for PostgreSQL (OPN302)

Summary

Jonathan Katz, a product manager at AWS and active contributor to the PostgreSQL project, discusses AWS's contributions to PostgreSQL.
AWS aims to contribute sustainably to open source projects like PostgreSQL to support their growth and community.
PostgreSQL has a rich history, starting in 1985 at UC Berkeley, and understanding this history is crucial for meaningful contributions.
AWS contributed to 19% of the features in PostgreSQL 16, driven by the importance of PostgreSQL to AWS services like Aurora and RDS, and to Amazon's operations.
Katz emphasizes the importance of working with existing community processes and earning trust to make sustained contributions.
The talk covers how to contribute to PostgreSQL, including the core database engine, extensions, drivers, and governance.
AWS has been actively contributing to PostgreSQL, focusing on performance, operability, and security.
Katz highlights specific contributions to PostgreSQL 16, such as replication from standbys and parallel apply of large transactions.
AWS also contributes to drivers and extensions, such as the JDBC driver and pgVector.
The future of PostgreSQL involves investing in extensions, advocacy, and training new contributors to ensure sustainable open source development.

AWS's significant contributions to PostgreSQL demonstrate a strategic investment in open source, which benefits both AWS customers and the broader PostgreSQL community.
The emphasis on sustainable contributions reflects a long-term commitment to open source projects, ensuring their viability and evolution.
AWS's involvement in PostgreSQL is not just about code contributions but also includes supporting the infrastructure, systems administration, and community governance.
The detailed discussion on logical replication and specific features like replication from standbys and parallel apply of large transactions indicates the importance of PostgreSQL in real-time analytics and distributed systems.
AWS's work on the JDBC driver and pgVector showcases the company's focus on performance optimization and support for emerging technologies like generative AI.
The talk underscores the importance of community ethos in open source projects, highlighting the collaborative nature of PostgreSQL development and the need for respecting established processes and earning trust.
The future focus areas for PostgreSQL, as outlined by Katz, suggest that AWS is looking to drive innovation in the database technology space, particularly in areas that align with its business interests and customer needs.