pspg lands in OpenBSD
pspg is a great pager specifically designed for PostgreSQL, or better, for psql, the default and powerful text client for PostgreSQL databases.
But
pspg is more than simply a pager for PostgreSQL: it is a general purpose pager for tabular data.
It happened that a few weeks ago I was using an OpenBSD system, and since I had to do some work with PostgreSQL, I decided to install
pspg to get some advantages. Unluckily, there was no package for OpenBSD, and most notably, no port in the ports tree.
Therefore, the only chance to install
pspg was to compile it from sources, but I failed. I opened an issue to get some help, and after some assistance, I decided to dig deeper. So I asked for help on the misc OpenBSD mailing list and get much more that I was expecting: not only I solved the problem on how to install pspg, but the application was noticed and a proposed for a new port was issued.
In fact, another italian guy, Omar, did prepared and proposed a
pspg port, and after a few days the port get included into the ports tree!
What does tha mean? That, at least at the moment of writing, that you can get
pspg installed on OpenBSD via the ports:
% cd /usr/ports/databases/pspg
% doas make install
===> pspg-5.4.0 depends on: postgresql-client-* -> postgresql-client-13.4p0
===> pspg-5.4.0 depends on: readline-* -> readline-7.0p0
===> pspg-5.4.0 depends on: metaauto-* -> metaauto-1.0p4
===> pspg-5.4.0 depends on: autoconf-2.69 -> autoconf-2.69p3
===> pspg-5.4.0 depends on: gmake-* -> gmake-4.3
===> Verifying specs: c curses ereadline m panel pq
===> found c.96.1 curses.14.0 ereadline.2.0 m.10.1 panel.6.0 pq.6.12
===> Installing pspg-5.4.0 from /usr/ports/packages/amd64/all/
pspg-5.4.0: ok
It is important to note that the ports tree that include
pspg, at the time of writing, is the -CURRENT (see here), and therefore there is still some time to wait to get pspg as a package and a port in the -RELEASE ports tree.
Great OpenBSD Job!
I must say that I was astonished by the great work done by Omar and the other OpenBSD volunteers to get thepspg within the ports tree.
Conclusions
pspg is a very useful and interesting pager for tabular like data, and of course this includes output from PostgreSQL’s psql command line client.
With a bit of luck, patience, and the effort of the OpenBSD community, this program will be soon available on OpenBSD too as a package!