Gabriele Bartolini

A step-by-step guide to migrating a PostgreSQL 17 cluster managed by Crunchy PGO v6 to PostgreSQL 18 under CloudNativePG. Two paths are covered: a fully declarative offline migration using CloudNativePG’s built-in pg_dump import, and an online migration using native PostgreSQL logical replication for a near-zero-downtime cutover.

Yesterday, David Steele announced the end of life of pgBackRest — a PostgreSQL backup tool he maintained for thirteen years. The reasons are structural, not personal, and they are a reminder of a pattern we see too often in open-source infrastructure. This article reflects on what that means, on the architectural rivalry between pgBackRest and Barman, and on why CloudNativePG users can take confidence from both the project’s CNCF governance and the virtuous cycle of commercial support that sustains it.

This article examines how managed database services deliberately suppress access to the physical replication stream, turning operational convenience into permanent lock-in. It makes the case for a cloud-neutral stack — PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, and CloudNativePG — as the only architecture that returns full operational sovereignty to the organisation that owns the data.

In this article I walk you through the journey of adding the pg_crash extension to the new CloudNativePG extensions project. It explores the transition from legacy standalone repositories to a unified, Dagger-powered build system designed for PostgreSQL 18 and beyond. By focusing on the Image Volume feature and minimal operand images, the post provides a step-by-step guide for community members to contribute and maintain their own extensions within the CloudNativePG ecosystem.

2025 marked a historic turning point for CloudNativePG, headlined by its acceptance into the CNCF sandbox and a subsequent application for incubation. Throughout the year, the project transitioned from a high-performance operator to a strategic architectural partner within the cloud-native ecosystem, collaborating with projects like Cilium and Keycloak. Key milestones included the co-development of the extension_control_path feature for PostgreSQL 18, revolutionising extension management via OCI images, and the General Availability of the Barman Cloud Plugin. With nearly 880 commits (marking five consecutive years of high-velocity development) and over 132 million downloads, CloudNativePG has solidified its position as the standard for declarative, resilient, and sovereign PostgreSQL on Kubernetes.