# PG Distribution

> Just use PostgreSQL for Everything! Build data infra with postgres superpowers
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[PostgreSQL is eating the database world](https://medium.com/@fengruohang/postgres-is-eating-the-database-world-157c204dcfc4),
and it is becoming the Linux kernel of the database world.

**But where are the distributions?**

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## What is Distribution?

Nowadays, people use OS distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, and RHEL, rather than the raw Linux kernel directly.
You'll need a lot of components to build a practical operating system, such as systemd, cron, NTP, DNS, logging, ..., to make the raw Linux kernel usable.

The linux kernel is several MB in size, but a full OS DVD can easily take up 10+GB, including all the necessary parts and software packages.
That's what a PostgreSQL Distribution is all about —— Gives you everything to build a production-grade Database Service.

![](/img/pigsty/kernel-distro.jpg)


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## Why do we need Distribution?

We have two things to forge a powerful PostgreSQL distribution: [Extensions](#extensions) and [Services](#services).


## Extensions

There are [1000+](https://gist.github.com/joelonsql/e5aa27f8cc9bd22b8999b7de8aee9d47) extensions in the PostgreSQL ecosystem.
But only 100 of them are accessible via the "Official" PGDG Repositories.

![](/img/pigsty/ecosystem.gif)

So we packed the most popular and useful extensions into pre-made RPM/DEB packages for 10 linux distributions and 5 PG Major version.
Now there are unparalleled [422 extensions](/docs/pgsql/extension) available out-of-the-box, and we will continue to add more extensions in the future.

What's more, we even have support for 8 flavors of PostgreSQL kernels (ext, fork, wrapper, etc.), including:

| Kernel                                   | Key Feature              | Description                                      |
|------------------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| [Citus](/docs/feat/kernel#citus)         | **Horizontal Scaling**   | Native Distributive PostgreSQL                   |
| [WiltonDB](/docs/feat/kernel#babelfish)  | **SQL Server Migration** | SQL Server wire-compatibility                    |
| [IvorySQL](/docs/feat/kernel#ivorysql)   | **Oracle Migration**     | Oracle Grammar and PL/SQL compatible            |
| [OpenHalo](/docs/feat/kernel#openhalo)   | **MySQL Migration**      | MySQL wire-protocol compatibility                |
| [FerretDB](/docs/ferret)                 | **MongoDB Migration**    | MongoDB wire-protocol compatibility              |
| [OrioleDB](/docs/feat/kernel#orioledb)   | **OLTP Optimization**    | Zheap, No bloat, S3 Storage                      |
| [PolarDB PG](/docs/feat/kernel#polardb)  | **Aurora flavor RAC**    | RAC, China domestic compliance                   |
| [Supabase](/docs/feat/kernel#supabase)   | **Backend as Service**   | BaaS based on PostgreSQL, Firebase alternative   |
| [Greenplum](/docs/feat/kernel#greenplum) | **Analytics/DW**         | Massively parallel processing database warehouse |



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## Services

![](/img/pigsty/infra.png)

You can get started with raw PostgreSQL kernel easily like `systemctl start postgresql`, but it's far away from production grade service.
That's the main reason why people pay 160 $ / vCPU·Month for a managed PostgreSQL service like AWS RDS.

But what if you can just build an enterprise-grade PostgreSQL service on your own, with a few commands, and no license fees?
Pigsty enables you to do that. It gives you HA PostgreSQL clusters with PITR, Monitoring & Alerting, Connection Pooling, along with