Verified · 9 verified blocks

Verified as of 16 Oct 2026 · images:debian/13 Jump to verified block →

Starting state — 10 steps set up before the doc ran

$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install -y curl ca-certificates gnupg
$ install -d /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg
$ curl -fsSL -o /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.asc https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc
$ . /etc/os-release
$ echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.asc] https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt ${VERSION_CODENAME}-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install -y postgresql-15
$ pg_lsclusters -h | grep -q '^15[[:space:]]\+main.*online' || pg_ctlcluster 15 main start
$ pg_lsclusters -h | grep -q '^15[[:space:]]\+main.*online'

Proof coverage 9/9 blocks

On this page

Upgrade PostgreSQL 15 to 17 on Debian 13

This assumes PostgreSQL 15 is installed from the PGDG repository (apt.postgresql.org) with the default 15/main cluster, and you want to move to 17 using Debian's pg_upgradecluster.

Take a backup first. pg_upgradecluster keeps the old cluster until you drop it, but a dump is cheap insurance.

Check what you have

bash

pg_lsclusters

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 41320867daa3 · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

output

Ver Cluster Port Status Owner    Data directory              Log file
15  main    5432 online postgres /var/lib/postgresql/15/main /var/log/postgresql/postgresql-15-main.log

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 b4795cabc5bf · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

Back up

bash

sudo -u postgres pg_dumpall > ~/pg15-backup.sql

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 1fc5430e0bf9 · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

Install PostgreSQL 17

bash

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y postgresql-17

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 e34065656549 · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

Depending on your postgresql-common settings, installing 17 may create an empty 17/main cluster. If it did, drop it so the upgrade can take its place:

bash

if pg_lsclusters -h | grep -q '^17 \+main '; then
  sudo pg_dropcluster 17 main --stop
fi

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 689353962dfe · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

Upgrade

bash

sudo pg_upgradecluster 15 main

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 afead507ae96 · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

This stops 15, copies the data into a new 17 cluster on port 5432, and starts it. The old cluster stays on 5433, stopped.

Verify

bash

pg_lsclusters -h | grep '^17'
sudo -u postgres psql -tAc 'show server_version' | cut -d. -f1

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 f89671a4af34 · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

You should see the 17 cluster online on port 5432, and major version 17:

output

17  main    5432 online postgres /var/lib/postgresql/17/main /var/log/postgresql/postgresql-17-main.log
17

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 75af53418922 · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.

Clean up

Once you've checked your applications:

bash

sudo pg_dropcluster 15 main
sudo apt-get purge -y postgresql-15

Proven

Proof of run

status: ✓ Verified
env: images:debian/13
signal: exit 0
checked: 16 Oct 2026

sha256 1a41c58ba65d · matches the published text

This proof supports the code shown above.