PostgreSQL can run on several Unix and Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux, as well as on Microsoft Windows. So far, the most supported platform remains Linux because most PostgreSQL developers work on this platform, and so it is the one with the most tested use cases. However, deploying on other platforms should not present any problems and, most importantly, is not going to put your data at any risk.
This section will focus on installing PostgreSQL 12, since it is the latest stable version available worldwide. You will learn, however, how to build your own version of PostgreSQL, and this may also be the way to install PostgreSQL 13 on your system.
Before installing PostgreSQL 12, you need to choose, or at least evaluate, how to install it. There are two main ways to get PostgreSQL 12 up and running, as follows:
- Compiling from sources
- Using a binary package
Binary packages are provided by the PostgreSQL community or the operating system, and...