https://blog.pgxn.org/tags/client/Client2011-05-02T00:59:37ZThe PGXN MaintainersHugohttps://blog.pgxn.org/post/5118152273New release for the PGXN client2026-10-07T16:13:48Z2011-05-02T00:59:37ZDaniele VarrazzoDuring the last days I’ve done some lightweight hacking on the PGXN client, and I’ve just released the last package on PyPI, with the still very shy version number of 0.1a4.

First change: the package name. The package is now called pgxnclient, without the point. As Marti has commented, the point in the name could create problems to some distributions which may have needed to munge it into a shape fitting their naming constraints. So, in order to install the last release you will need the command:

]]>During the last days I’ve done some lightweight hacking on the PGXN client, and I’ve just released the last package on PyPI, with the still very shy version number of 0.1a4.

First change: the package name. The package is now called pgxnclient, without the point. As Marti has commented, the point in the name could create problems to some distributions which may have needed to munge it into a shape fitting their naming constraints. So, in order to install the last release you will need the command:

$ easy_install pgxnclient

The name of the entry point script is still pgxn and it shouldn’t change.

One of the new features in this release is the addition of commands drop, to remove the the extensions of a distribution from a database (opposite of the load command) and uninstall, to remove installed files from the system (opposite of install).

Another change is the ability to work on a local zip or directory instead of using the API to get metadata and package from PGXN. The main goal of this feature is to help the packagers to test their packages with the client before submission, verifying that the data uploaded can be used in an automatized way.

A third change is in the install command: it previously required to be run as root if, as likely, the PostgreSQL directories are system ones. I was feeling this need slightly scary as download and build phases would have been run as root too, so now sudo is invoked by the script only when installing, with command line options allowing its customization.

What I feel mostly missing now is documentation: I know that adding it will force a big review of the code, adding missing comments, add tests to enforce what documented… so it’s something I will start tomorrow. Once documentation and code have converged there will also be a more sound basis to discuss about the client features. And dare version 0.2, maybe :)

Thanks everybody for the feedback. If you want to have a chat about the client or PGXN in general, the best place is the PGXN group. See you there!

]]>https://blog.pgxn.org/post/4970682941PGXN API Docs Published2026-10-07T16:13:48Z2011-04-27T00:27:55ZDavid E. WheelerThe PGXN API Documentation is up! I’ve just finished writing the docs for the lightweight REST API provided by all PGXN mirrors. It also documents how the same APIs differ when provided by the API server. Their are four more documents to write still, APIs provided by the API server but not the mirrors (including full-text search); I should be able to get those done tomorrow.

So if you’re interested in use the API for various things, please have a look! I’d appreciate any feedback or corrections.

]]>The PGXN API Documentation is up! I’ve just finished writing the docs for the lightweight REST API provided by all PGXN mirrors. It also documents how the same APIs differ when provided by the API server. Their are four more documents to write still, APIs provided by the API server but not the mirrors (including full-text search); I should be able to get those done tomorrow.

So if you’re interested in use the API for various things, please have a look! I’d appreciate any feedback or corrections.

Speaking of users of the API, Daniele Varrazzo has started writing a PGXN client app in Python. This is so awesome! It makes me happy that people are able to just get going on this. And Daniele did it before I’d written the docs, just from reading the PGXN source code. Nice!

Anyway, getting these docs written was the last barrier I had to releasing various pieces of PGXN on CPAN and generally being able to get on with my life. I wanted to write these docs first so that I would have a little more freedom to change things if something struct me as especially stupid. Fortunately, as I’ve written the main site as a thin client for the API, most of the lameness has already been excised. I think the only change I’d like to make is to change the {char} URI template variable for the userlist API to {letter}, because only lowercased ASCII letters a-z are allowed. It’s more accurate.

Another thing I think I’ll change is the file name suffix used for the distribution download files. Currently it’s .pgz, but after Daniele complained about it, I asked around and the concensus seems to be to change it to .zip. I’ll likely do that tomorrow, too. Fortunately it’s pretty easy: Just edit the configuration file and rename the files on the master mirror. At least it should be that easy!

There was one other thing in the APIs the felt a bit silly, but I don’t remember what it was, so screw it.

Anyway, feedback on the API docs would be greatly appreciated. And – get hacking!.

]]>