Please tell us about yourself, and where you are from.

My name is Rushabh Lathia, I am recognized as a PostgreSQL Contributor. Originally, I hail from the vibrant state of Gujarat, India, known for its rich culture, delectable cuisine, and warm hospitality. However, for the past few years, I have been residing in the beautiful city of Pune, Maharashtra. While I cherish my roots in Gujarat, Pune has become my second home, a place where I’ve found my stride, forged lasting connections, and embarked on new adventures.

I have over 20 years of experience working with databases. My journey with PostgreSQL began at EnterpriseDB in 2007. Before joining EDB, I worked at Vaman Technology, a startup where I was introduced to database development and contributed to building a database from scratch. Additionally, I spent several years working at Oracle before joining EnterpriseDB.

How do you spend your free time? What are your hobbies?

I cherish spending time with my family and friends. I live with my parents, wife, and two wonderful children. I enjoy watching conversational videos, interviews, autobiographies, and stories about building something significant. Usually choice of topics are very random but it keeps me motivated and helps me get new knowledge/understanding about the different fields. As a sports enthusiast, I spend a considerable amount of time watching and playing various sports, including cricket, tennis, badminton, ping-pong, and kabaddi. Additionally, I dedicate time to maintaining my fitness and staying active.

Any exercises you do regularly?

I enjoy going to the gym for exercise and aim to go at least four times a week. Recently, I have been playing tennis and badminton regularly.

Any Social Media channels of yours we should be aware of?

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Last book you read? Or a book you want to recommend to readers?

The last few books I read:

1. Open: An Autobiography Andre Agassi.
2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story
3. Atmasiddhi Shastra: Six Spiritual Truths of the Soul
4. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Each of these books comes from a unique genre, yet they collectively impart crucial life lessons such as overcoming adversity, the pursuit of excellence, spiritual growth, self-realization, the biology of leadership, and the attainment of inner peace.

Favorite movie, or show?

I used to enjoy watching movies but nowadays I am not a big movie buff. I still like movies based on real events or documentaries.

Best music, best song?

I love music, even while working you will find headphones on. It is one of the sources that allows me to disconnect from the outside and focus on work. I enjoy Hindi Songs (old/new depending on mood). I also enjoy the spiritual songs (bhajans).

What does your ideal weekend look like?

Relax, spend time with family and friends, go out at river/beach sites, and do some sports activities.

What is the best advice you ever got?

I have received valuable advice from many people and have been fortunate to have various mentors at different stages of my life. Their knowledge and experience have greatly contributed to my growth. Control The Controllables - is something nowadays I am keeping in mind.

When did you start using PostgreSQL, and why?

I was introduced to PostgreSQL in 2007 when I joined EnterpriseDB.

Do you remember which version of PostgreSQL you started with?

It was 8.3 or 8.4.

Have you studied at a university? If yes, was it related to computers? Did your study help you with your current job?

I studied BCA (Bachelor In Computer Application) at Virani Science College, Rajkot Gujarat. Later I also completed my Msc IT from Sikkim Manipal University. In addition, I did a few courses/certifications under Prof Rajesh Patkar, laying the foundation for my software engineering journey.

What other databases are you using? Which one is your favorite?

I am currently only using PostgreSQL.

On which PostgreSQL-related projects are you currently working?

Mainly I am working on EDB-specific PostgreSQL projects. The last major contribution to PostgreSQL was the Gather Merge executor node. After that I contributed to the bug discovery, bug-fixing, and code review process.

Any contributions to PostgreSQL which do not involve writing code?

Many, I contribute by sharing opinions, reviewing other code patches, doing testing, talking about PostgreSQL and our experience at conferences, etc. (I presented the talk on this in PGConf India, here is the link).

What is your favorite PostgreSQL extension?

There is a long list. The fact that PostgreSQL allows this pluggability through extensions makes it more powerful and popular. Personally, my favorite is all the FDWs which allow you to connect to different data sources, pg_catcheck (wrote a blog posting about it), etc.

What is the most annoying PostgreSQL thing you can think of? And any chance to fix it?

Bloat is a somewhat annoying issue in terms of features and database management, but our understanding of the problem and knowledge of the problem has been improving with each release.

The configuration parameters are not well documented and there is a lack of proper guidance for setting the appropriate values of GUCs.´

Contributing to PostgreSQL can sometimes feel challenging, requiring significant time, discussions, and debates to accomplish tasks. Databases are complex, and the rigorous processes upheld by PostgreSQL hackers ensure that PostgreSQL remains a very stable database.

What is the feature you like most in the latest PostgreSQL version?

Support for incremental backup (v17), Bidirectional Replication, and improvements around the partitioning. I also like the performance optimizations implemented for the SLRU.

Adding to that, what feature/mechanism would you like to see in PostgreSQL? And why?

Some features that can auto-configure the GUCs as well as the system and the database size and usage.

Should PostgreSQL have a built-in connection pooler?

Yes, why not? Popular connection poolers like pgPool and PGBouncer are great, but having something built-in would be cool.

Could you describe your PostgreSQL development toolbox?

I work on CentOS and use vi, gvim, gdb, git. I do use Kdbg for debugging (in that regard I’m an old school developer).

Which skills are a must-have for a PostgreSQL developer/user?

C programming, very good debugging skills and understanding of database internals.

Which PostgreSQL conferences do you visit? Do you submit talks?

I do visit PostgreSQL conferences like PGCon Ottawa, pgconf.in.

Do you think PostgreSQL has a high entry barrier?

No, I don’t think so. Adopting PostgreSQL is easy and there is a lot of help available through documents, blogs, videos, conferences, etc.

What is your advice for people who want to start PostgreSQL developing - as in, contributing to the project. Where and how should they start?

I think the very first step is to subscribe to the PostgreSQL mail list pgsql-hackers, observe the mailing threads and discussions. Understand the PostgreSQL Commitfests process. There are many talks available on YouTube that can guide you on how to start contributing to the PostgreSQL community. I also presented a similar talk at pgConf India, which can be also referred to for the initial understanding.

Do you think PostgreSQL will be here for many years in the future?

Yes, and the main reason is PostgreSQL is very extensible and pluggable.

Are you reading the -hackers mailinglist? Any other list?

Yes, I try to follow the -hackers and -bugs mailing list.

Anything else you like to add?

Working with the PostgreSQL community has been a wonderful experience. It’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many intelligent individuals. I am grateful to EnterpriseDB for introducing me to PostgreSQL. Many thanks to the community members and my colleagues at EnterpriseDB for their guidance, and a special thanks to Robert Haas for his invaluable support throughout our journey.

If anyone reading this would like to understand more about PostgreSQL, or need any sort of help in contributing to the PG Community, please feel free to connect me through LinkedIn.

Lastly, thank you, Andreas, for this initiative. It helps us gain valuable insights into PostgreSQL contributors and users.