Earlier this year we announced the Beta release of Doltgres, the world’s first and only version-controlled Postgres-compatible SQL database. We’re still hard at work delivering incremental improvements.

One of the things we weren’t paying as much attention to as we should have been was our release and installation process. We know from Dolt that the vast majority of our customers run their database server via a Docker container. But in the rush to implement database features, we neglected to provide an official Docker image for Doltgres the way we always have for Dolt, leaving our Beta customers to figure out deployment themselves.

No more! Today we’re excited to announce that Doltgres is available to install and run via Docker with official images. Every new release will automatically get a new official image on DockerHub.

Using the Docker image#

Installing Doltgres with Docker is easy:

$ docker run -p 5432:5432 dolthub/doltgresql:latest

Just like that, you get the latest release running in a fresh container serving traffic on port 5432. Connect to it with psql or any other Postgres-compatible tool.

$ PGPASSWORD=password psql --host 127.0.0.1 -U postgres

Customization#

By default, Doltgres creates a super-user with the name postgres and the password password. You probably want to change this. Specify the DOLTGRES_USER and DOLTGRES_PASSWORD environment variables to the docker run command.

$ docker run -e DOLTGRES_USER=myuser -e DOLTGRES_PASSWORD=mypass -p 5432:5432 dolthub/doltgresql:latest

You can also use the POSTGRES_USER and POSTGRES_PASSWORD variables for the same purpose, for compatibility with the official Postgres Docker image.

Finally, if you want to specify additional behavior overrides with a config.yaml file, provide it to the container via a mounted volume, like this.

$ docker run -v ./doltgres_cfg:/etc/doltgres/servercfg.d -p 5432:5432 dolthub/doltgresql:latest

For full documentation of all configuration options, check out the DockerHub image page.

Installing Doltgres locally#

Some customers prefer to install Doltgres locally without Docker. For these customers, we have introduced an easier installation method. Just run this command in your terminal to download and install the latest Doltgres into /usr/local/bin.

sudo bash -c 'curl -L https://github.com/dolthub/doltgresql/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash'

Conclusion#

We’re excited to give customers a more convenient option to install and run Doltgres. If Dolt is any indication, it’s how most of you will run the database server. Give it a try and let us know what you think. If you run into any trouble or want more customization options, please file an issue to let us know! We love hearing from our customers.

Questions about running Doltgres with Docker? Find a bug you want fixed? Come by our Discord to talk to our engineering team and meet other Doltgres users.