Version Overview

[Release Date: Nov 25, 2025]

IvorySQL 5.0 is built on PostgreSQL 18.0 and introduces major upgrades in Oracle compatibility, ecosystem component integration, and cloud-native capabilities. It also significantly enhances usability by providing mainstream full-platform installation packages and a smooth, seamless online experience. For a comprehensive list of updates, please visit our documentation site.

Enhancements

• PostgreSQL 18.0

1. An asynchronous I/O (AIO) subsystem that can improve performance of sequential scans, bitmap heap scans, vacuums, and other operations.
2. pg_upgrade now retains optimizer statistics.
3. Support for "skip scan" lookups that allow using multicolumn B-tree indexes in more cases.
4. uuidv7() function for generating timestamp-ordered UUIDs.
5. Virtual generated columns that compute their values during read operations. This is now the default for generated columns.
6. OAuth authentication support.
7. OLD and NEW support for RETURNING clauses in INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and MERGE commands.
8. Temporal constraints, or constraints over ranges, for PRIMARY KEY, UNIQUE, and FOREIGN KEY constraints. For further details, visit PostgreSQL’s release notes.

New Features

21 New Oracle Compatibility Features

• Oracle-compatible ROWID support: Feature #126 Ensures IvorySQL row identifiers align with Oracle semantics for seamless cross-database tooling.

• PL/iSQL CALL invocation syntax: Feature #764 Adds the Oracle-style CALL entry point so stored procedures can be invoked consistently.

• PL/iSQL %ROWTYPE support: Feature #765 Allows variables to mirror entire table or cursor rows for concise PL/iSQL coding.

• PL/iSQL %TYPE support: Feature #766 Enables variables to adopt the data type of existing columns or variables to reduce drift.

• Case-sensitive compatibility switch: Feature #767 Preserves identifier case to match Oracle behavior when required.

• NLS parameter compatibility: Feature #768 Honors Oracle-style NLS settings such as NLS_DATE_FORMAT and NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT.

• Empty string to NULL translation: Feature #769 Converts zero-length strings to NULL to match Oracle compatibility rules.

• Parser switching capability: Feature #770 Adds toggles between Oracle and PostgreSQL parsers for per-session flexibility.

• GB18030 database encoding: Feature #771 Provides GB18030 initialization and create-database options for full Chinese market coverage.

• Oracle-compatible SYS_GUID: Feature #773 Implements the Oracle SYS_GUID function to generate RAW-based GUIDs.

• Oracle-compatible SYS_CONTEXT: Feature #774 Delivers the Oracle SYS_CONTEXT API for querying session and environment metadata.

• Oracle-compatible USERENV: Feature #775 Adds the USERENV function so sessions can inspect Oracle-style contextual details.

• Oracle-compatible function syntax: Feature #776 Supports Oracle constructs such as EDITIONABLE/NONEDITIONABLE, RETURN, IS, and OUT ... NOCOPY options.

• Oracle-compatible procedure syntax: Feature #777 Enables procedure DDL with Oracle options, EXEC invocation, and ALTER PROCEDURE support.

• libpq OUT parameter plumbing: Feature #778 Extends client protocol handling so OUT parameters can be consumed like OCI.

• Procedure OUT parameter support: Feature #779 Allows stored procedures to declare IN, OUT, and IN OUT modes per Oracle conventions.

• Function OUT parameter support: Feature #780 Permits Oracle-style OUT parameters within functions, including IN OUT combinations.

Online Trial and Multi-Platform Distribution Packages

• Online Experience: IvorySQL 5.0: Feature #887 An interactive, browser-based environment will be launched to allow users to explore and evaluate IvorySQL 5.0 in real time — no installation required.

• Packaging for All Platforms: Feature #949 Provides multi-platform media packages for X86, ARM, MIPS, LoongArch architecture.

Cloud-Native & Containerized

• Containerized Deployment Support (Docker Compose & podman & Docker Swarm): Supports deployment of standalone IvorySQL databases and high-availability clusters in Docker Compose , podman and Docker Swarm environments.

• Containerized Deployment Support (Kubernetes): Supports deployment of standalone IvorySQL databases and high-availability clusters on Kubernetes (K8s) using Helm.

• IvorySQL Operator 5 released (Kubernetes): The IvorySQL Operator 5.0 has been adapted to support IvorySQL 5.0, with upgrades to system component versions and database extension versions.

• IvorySQL Cloud 5.0 released (Visual Database Lifecycle Management Platform): Offers a fully managed, graphical control plane that handles IvorySQL 5.0 database subscriptions, orchestrates end-to-end lifecycle operations, and integrates surrounding ecosystem services.

Support for 10 Additional PostgreSQL Extensions

• pg_cron: Feature #882 Scheduled job execution within the database layer will be available through pg_cron integration.

• pgAudit: Feature #929 Provides detailed session and/or object audit logging via the standard PostgreSQL logging facility.

• PostGIS: Feature #880 Spatial data processing and geospatial analytics will be enabled through PostGIS compatibility.

• pgRouting: Feature #881 Network and routing analysis features will be introduced with pgRouting support.

• PGroonga: Feature #879 Full-text search capabilities will be enhanced via planned PGroonga support.

• ddlx: Feature #877 Support for ddlx to enable advanced schema introspection and automated DDL generation.

• pgsql-http: Feature #883 Allow the database to initiate HTTP/HTTPS requests internally, enabling seamless communication between the database and external web services.

• system_stats: Feature #946 System level statistics will be provided by system_stats support.

• plpgsql_check: Feature #915 Static code analysis on PL/pgSQL functions to identify errors, warnings, and potential issues before runtime execution.

• pgvector: Feature #878 Integration with pgvector to empower AI/ML workloads through native vector similarity search.

Fixed Issues

• Repaired unused_oids and duplicate_oids catalog tooling so header scans correctly detect conflicts without false positives: Issue #841
• Added .gitignore coverage for libpq/ivytest artifacts to prevent generated binaries and logs from polluting developer trees: Issue #843
• Extended GitHub workflow regression runs to cover builds configured with --with-libnuma, preventing future breakages on NUMA-enabled hosts: Issue #869
• Eliminated the MainLoop dangling-pointer scenario that triggered intermittent segmentation faults under concurrency stress: Issue #898
• Re-enabled oracle_test/modules/*/sql cases by fixing harness assumptions so Oracle-compatibility suites execute end-to-end again: Issue #897
• Updated README.md and README_CN.md to reflect IvorySQL 5.0 feature set, packaging, and onboarding instructions: Issue #896
• Corrected globally unique index enforcement so related regression tests now pass reliably across supported platforms: Issue #894

Source Code

IvorySQL's development is maintained across four main repositories:

• IvorySQL database source code: https://github.com/IvorySQL/IvorySQL
• IvorySQL official website: https://github.com/IvorySQL/Ivory-www
• IvorySQL documentation: https://github.com/IvorySQL/IvorySQL_docs
• IvorySQL Docker: https://github.com/IvorySQL/docker_library

Contributors

The following individuals (in alphabetical order) have contributed to this release as patch authors, committers, reviewers, testers, or reporters of issues.

• Carlos Chong
• ccwxl
• Cédric Villemain
• Fu Bei
• Fawei Zhao
• Ge Sui
• Grant Zhou
• Imran Zaheer
• jerome-peng
• Jiaoshun Tian
• luss
• Martin Gerhardy
• Mingran Feng
• omstack
• otegami
• Ruike Sun
• rophy
• Shaolin Chu
• Shawn Yan
• Shihua Yang
• shlei6067
• Shuisen Tong
• Shuntian Jiao
• Steven Niu
• sjw1933
• Xiangyu Liang
• Xiaohui Liu
• Xinjie Lv
• xuexiaoganghs
• Xueyu Gao
• yangchunwanwusheng
• Yanliang Lei
• Yasir Hussain Shah
• Yuan Li
• Zhe Zhang
• Zheng Tao
• Zhenhao Pan
• Zhuoyan Shi

Complete Changelog