Install

pgRDF is a PostgreSQL 18 extension: one shared library (pgrdf.so) plus its SQL and control files. Installing it means:

1. putting those files where PostgreSQL can find them;
2. adding pgrdf to shared_preload_libraries;
3. restarting the server;
4. running CREATE EXTENSION pgrdf.

Requirements

PostgreSQL 18 on Linux (x86-64 or arm64) with glibc 2.39 or newer: the official postgres:18 Docker image, Debian 13, or Ubuntu 24.04 and later. musl-based systems such as Alpine are not supported.

Route	Best for
Docker in two minutes	Trying it out
Your own Docker image	Repeatable local and CI setups
An existing server	VMs and bare metal
A directory of its own	Kubernetes volumes, read-only images
The signed OCI bundle	Supply-chain-verified deployments
From source	Development, other platforms

Try it in two minutes

No image build: copy the files into a stock postgres:18 container before its first start.

VER=0.6.34
ARCH=$(uname -m | sed -e 's/x86_64/amd64/' -e 's/aarch64/arm64/')
curl -fsSL https://github.com/styk-tv/pgRDF/releases/download/v$VER/pgrdf-$VER-pg18-glibc-$ARCH.tar.gz | tar -xz

docker create --name pgrdf -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=pgrdf -p 5432:5432 \
  postgres:18 -c shared_preload_libraries=pgrdf
docker cp pgrdf-$VER-pg18-glibc-$ARCH/lib/pgrdf.so       pgrdf:/usr/lib/postgresql/18/lib/
docker cp pgrdf-$VER-pg18-glibc-$ARCH/share/extension/.  pgrdf:/usr/share/postgresql/18/extension/
docker start pgrdf

until docker exec pgrdf pg_isready -h localhost -U postgres -q; do sleep 1; done
docker exec -it pgrdf psql -U postgres -c 'CREATE EXTENSION pgrdf' -c 'SELECT pgrdf.version()'

docker exec -it pgrdf psql -U postgres opens a shell. Next, take the ten-minute tour. If port 5432 is taken, change -p 5432:5432 to, say, -p 5433:5432. docker rm -f pgrdf removes everything.

Release files

Each release has one archive per CPU architecture, plus checksums:

pgrdf-0.6.34-pg18-glibc-amd64.tar.gz
pgrdf-0.6.34-pg18-glibc-arm64.tar.gz
SHA256SUMS

pgrdf-0.6.34-pg18-glibc-amd64/
├── lib/pgrdf.so
└── share/extension/
    ├── pgrdf.control
    ├── pgrdf--0.6.34.sql
    └── pgrdf--<old>--<new>.sql     (upgrade scripts)

The current version is always listed in LATEST.md.

Your own Docker image

FROM postgres:18
ARG PGRDF_VERSION=0.6.34
ARG TARGETARCH
ADD https://github.com/styk-tv/pgRDF/releases/download/v${PGRDF_VERSION}/pgrdf-${PGRDF_VERSION}-pg18-glibc-${TARGETARCH}.tar.gz /tmp/pgrdf.tar.gz
RUN tar -xzf /tmp/pgrdf.tar.gz -C /tmp \
 && cp /tmp/pgrdf-*/lib/pgrdf.so /usr/lib/postgresql/18/lib/ \
 && cp /tmp/pgrdf-*/share/extension/pgrdf* /usr/share/postgresql/18/extension/ \
 && rm -rf /tmp/pgrdf*
CMD ["postgres", "-c", "shared_preload_libraries=pgrdf"]

docker build -t my-postgres-pgrdf .
docker run -d --name pgrdf -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=pgrdf -p 5432:5432 my-postgres-pgrdf

Docker fills in TARGETARCH, so the same file builds on x86-64 and arm64. To create the extension on first start, add a script to /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/ that runs CREATE EXTENSION pgrdf;.

An existing PostgreSQL server

VER=0.6.34
ARCH=amd64                       # or arm64
curl -fLO https://github.com/styk-tv/pgRDF/releases/download/v$VER/pgrdf-$VER-pg18-glibc-$ARCH.tar.gz
curl -fLO https://github.com/styk-tv/pgRDF/releases/download/v$VER/SHA256SUMS
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

tar -xzf pgrdf-$VER-pg18-glibc-$ARCH.tar.gz
cd pgrdf-$VER-pg18-glibc-$ARCH
sudo cp lib/pgrdf.so              "$(pg_config --pkglibdir)/"
sudo cp share/extension/pgrdf*    "$(pg_config --sharedir)/extension/"

Use the pg_config of your PostgreSQL 18 installation. On Debian and Ubuntu the paths are /usr/lib/postgresql/18/lib and /usr/share/postgresql/18/extension.

Add pgRDF to postgresql.conf, keeping any libraries already listed, and restart the server (a reload is not enough):

shared_preload_libraries = 'pgrdf'

CREATE EXTENSION pgrdf;

Keep pgRDF in its own directory

PostgreSQL 18 can load extensions from extra directories, so the files don't need to go into the system paths. Unpack the archive anywhere, for example /opt/pgrdf, a mounted volume, or an init-container emptyDir in Kubernetes, and point PostgreSQL at it:

postgres -c shared_preload_libraries=pgrdf \
         -c 'extension_control_path=/opt/pgrdf/share:$system' \
         -c 'dynamic_library_path=/opt/pgrdf/lib:$libdir'

/opt/pgrdf is the unpacked archive directory, containing lib/ and share/extension/. The same settings work in postgresql.conf. In Kubernetes, an init container can download and unpack the release into a shared emptyDir, and the stock postgres:18 container starts with these three settings. No custom image is needed.

The signed OCI bundle

Every release is also published to GitHub Container Registry as an OCI artifact, holding the same files, with a verifiable SLSA build-provenance attestation:

# check where it came from (GitHub CLI)
gh attestation verify oci://ghcr.io/styk-tv/pgrdf-bundle:0.6.34 --repo styk-tv/pgRDF

# fetch the files for your architecture (oras CLI) — no login needed
oras pull ghcr.io/styk-tv/pgrdf-bundle:0.6.34-pg18-amd64      # or -arm64

A successful verification means:

• the artifact was built by the pgRDF release workflow from the tagged commit;
• the build was recorded in the Sigstore transparency log;
• the digest matches what you pulled.

Tags are immutable. For reproducible deployments, pin the digest listed in LATEST.md.

From source

Building needs Rust (1.96+) and cargo-pgrx 0.19.2. See INSTALL.md in the repository, and Development for the Docker-based build.

Check the installation

SELECT pgrdf.version(), pgrdf.build_id(),
       (SELECT extversion FROM pg_extension WHERE extname = 'pgrdf');
--  version | build_id | extversion
-- ---------+----------+------------
--  0.6.34  | v0.6.34  | 0.6.34

SELECT pgrdf.stats() -> 'shmem_ready';   -- true when shared_preload_libraries is set

Using pgRDF from an application role

CREATE EXTENSION needs a superuser; your application doesn't have to be one. pgRDF keeps its data in tables in the pgrdf schema, and its functions run with the caller's privileges:

GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA pgrdf TO app;
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA pgrdf TO app;
GRANT USAGE, SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA pgrdf TO app;

• Creating a graph (add_graph) also creates a table partition. Do that as the extension owner, or additionally grant CREATE on schema pgrdf.
• For a read-only role, grant only USAGE and SELECT.
• The file loaders (load_turtle and variants) read files from the database server's filesystem. Give write access only to roles you trust with that.

Upgrading

1. Install the new release's files (any route above).
2. Restart PostgreSQL.
3. In every database that uses pgRDF: ALTER EXTENSION pgrdf UPDATE;
4. Check that version(), build_id() and extversion agree.

Upgrade scripts cover 0.6.22 and later, and your graphs stay in place.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause and fix
stats() -> 'shmem_ready' is false	pgrdf is missing from shared_preload_libraries, or the server wasn't restarted. Most functions still work, but the shared caches and the parallel staged loader don't.
Server won't start: could not access file "pgrdf"	The library isn't where PostgreSQL looks. Check the copy step, or dynamic_library_path.
could not load library … GLIBC_2.39 not found	The system's glibc is too old. Use Debian 13, Ubuntu 24.04+, or the postgres:18 image.
CREATE EXTENSION can't find pgrdf.control	The share/extension files are missing, or went into a different PostgreSQL installation.
version() and extversion differ	New files installed but the database not updated. Run ALTER EXTENSION pgrdf UPDATE.
Alpine-based image	Not supported (musl). Use postgres:18.