provsql

Overview

Version

Build

You can build the RPM / DEB packages for provsql using pig build:

pig build pkg provsql         # build RPM / DEB packages

Install

You can install provsql directly. First, make sure the PGDG and PIGSTY repositories are added and enabled:

pig repo add pgsql -u          # Add repo and update cache

Install the extension using pig or apt/yum/dnf:

• Install
• pig
• dnf
• apt

pig install provsql;          # Install for current active PG version

pig ext install -y provsql -v 18  # PG 18
pig ext install -y provsql -v 17  # PG 17
pig ext install -y provsql -v 16  # PG 16
pig ext install -y provsql -v 15  # PG 15
pig ext install -y provsql -v 14  # PG 14

dnf install -y provsql_18       # PG 18
dnf install -y provsql_17       # PG 17
dnf install -y provsql_16       # PG 16
dnf install -y provsql_15       # PG 15
dnf install -y provsql_14       # PG 14

apt install -y postgresql-18-provsql   # PG 18
apt install -y postgresql-17-provsql   # PG 17
apt install -y postgresql-16-provsql   # PG 16
apt install -y postgresql-15-provsql   # PG 15
apt install -y postgresql-14-provsql   # PG 14

Preload:

shared_preload_libraries = 'provsql';

Create Extension:

CREATE EXTENSION provsql CASCADE;  -- requires: uuid-ossp

Usage

Sources: README, getting started, user docs, SQL API index

provsql adds semiring provenance and uncertainty management to PostgreSQL. Upstream documents provenance tracking, semiring evaluation, probabilities, Shapley and Banzhaf values, where-provenance, update provenance, and temporal features.

Load the extension

shared_preload_libraries = 'provsql'

CREATE EXTENSION provsql CASCADE;

The CASCADE form installs uuid-ossp automatically if needed. The getting-started guide says the preload step is mandatory because ProvSQL installs a planner hook.

Enable provenance on tables

SELECT provsql.add_provenance('mytable');

SELECT name, provenance()
FROM mytable;

SELECT provsql.remove_provenance('mytable');

The user docs also describe provenance mappings:

SELECT create_provenance_mapping('my_mapping', 'mytable', 'column_name');
SELECT create_provenance_mapping_view('my_mapping_view', 'mytable', 'column_name');

Probability and semiring workflows

Assign probabilities to tuple tokens:

SELECT set_prob(provenance(), 0.8)
FROM mytable
WHERE id = 1;

Evaluate provenance in a semiring:

SELECT city,
       provenance_evaluate(
         provenance(),
         'personnel_level',
         'unclassified'::classification_level,
         'security_plus',
         'security_times'
       )
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT city FROM personnel) AS t;

Compute influence scores:

SELECT shapley(provenance(), m.token)
FROM my_mapping AS m;

The docs also describe shapley_all_vars, banzhaf, and banzhaf_all_vars.

Extra modes

Session GUCs documented upstream include:

SET provsql.where_provenance = on;
SET provsql.update_provenance = on;

The user guide separately documents temporal helpers such as get_valid_time, timetravel, timeslice, history, and undo.

Notes

• Upstream tests ProvSQL on PostgreSQL 10 through 18.
• Git tags show v1.2.3 as the current packaged release in the repository.