Apt.Postgresql.Org with Support for Arm64 and Ubuntu Focal

The apt.postgresql.org repository originally started with the two architectures amd64 and i386 (64- and 32-bit x64). In September 2016, ppc64el (POWER) was added. Over time, there have been repeated requests as to whether we might also support “arm”, which usually meant Raspberry Pi. However, these are mostly only 32-bit, and the widespread “armhf” Raspbian port is unfortunately only ARM6, an older hardware version.

Through HUAWEI Cloud Services, an “arm64” build machine has now been made available to the PostgreSQL^® community, which is a modern processor architecture that is also suitable for PostgreSQL^® servers. We then set up the machine and expanded the apt.postgresql.org repository to include this architecture. For the supported distributions, we chose Debian buster (stable), bullseye (testing) and sid (unstable) as well as Ubuntu bionic (18.04) and focal (20.04).

The build machine is very powerful. We built all the packages for the new architecture in just a few days. Very few special arm-specific problems occurred, which speaks for the stability of the Linux port on this architecture.

There is nothing standing in the way of using PostgreSQL^® on arm64, on Debian or Ubuntu.

In parallel, we have expanded the repository to include support for the new Ubuntu LTS version: focal (20.04).
This distribution can now be used with support for five years until April 2025.

The credativ PostgreSQL^® Competence Center is of course always happy to answer questions about the use of PostgreSQL^® on arm and other architectures on Debian, Ubuntu and other operating systems. Please contact us!

This article was originally written by Christoph Berg.