by Dickson S. Guedes

Do you ever have problems with copy and paste? I often did, and that is why I create custom templates for often used files that match certain patterns.

With files from the structure of PostgreSQL’s extensions was the same thing.

I was tired of creating the files and edit the META, controlfile, READMEs, etc. every time I start a new extension and felt that I need something that made me more productive, so I decided to create an automatic generator and share it with the world.

I called it pgxn-utils, and you should give it a try: it is easy to install, easy to use and will help you to start hacking quickly!

How?

1. First install it:

   gem install pgxn_utils
   

2. Then start a new extension:

   pgxn_utils skeleton my_cool_extension
   

Thats all! It will create the initial skeleton for you and you can start coding! But, if you don’t want to install it, see it in action

Good hack!

I updated the howto yesterday. This document explains how to create a PGXN distribution. If you’re interested in releasing PostgreSQL extensions on PGXN, this document is worth a read.

In essence, it’s really simple: Just create a META.json and upload. But to get the full benefit, there are quite a few other recommendations. Already familiar with it? Here’s the checklist:

• Create a META.json
• Create a control file
• Create a Makefile
• Implement the code in the sql and src directories
• Write tests in the test directory
• Write a Text::Markup-recognizable README
• Write Text::Markup-recognizable documentation in the doc directory
• Consider including other files: Changes, LICENSE, INSTALL, COPYING, AUTHORS
• Release it!

Be sure to read the howto for details. Got feedback or suggestions? Leave a comment!

Oh, and check out pgxn-utils and simplify your extension-development life.