Release 2.29.0

## 2.29.0 (2026-07-28)

This release contains performance improvements and bug fixes since the
2.28.3 release. We recommend that you upgrade at the next available
opportunity.

**Release Highlights**
* **Chunk exclusion for DML operations** drastically improves the
performance of `UPDATE` and `DELETE` statements on hypertables. By
acquiring exclusive locks only on the specific chunks being modified
rather than the entire hypertable, this enhancement eliminates massive
lock contention and keeps high-concurrency workloads running smoothly
without unnecessary slowdowns.
* Intelligent **row-by-row decompression** enables the query planner to
decompress data row-by-row rather than in large batches when an
operation prioritizes a fast initial response (such as queries with
`LIMIT` clauses). This dramatically reduces memory overhead and query
latency, ensuring lightning-fast performance when you only need to
retrieve a small subset of records from your compressed hypertables.

**Important: PostgreSQL 15 Support Removed**
TimescaleDB 2.29.0 removes support for PostgreSQL 15. This release
supports PostgreSQL 16, 17, and 18. If you are still running PostgreSQL
15, upgrade PostgreSQL before upgrading to TimescaleDB 2.29.0.

**Backward-Incompatible Changes**
* [#10041](#10041) Remove
support for PostgreSQL 15

**Features**
* [#9315](#9315) Speed up
`DML` operations on hypertables by using the optimized TimescaleDB
hypertable expansion code instead of the generic PostgreSQL inheritance
hierarchy expansion
* [#9534](#9534) Speed up
expression evaluation in the columnar pipeline by caching common
subexpressions
* [#9684](#9684) Add
`_timescaledb_functions.decompress_batch()` SQL function
* [#9732](#9732) Speed up
some queries with small `LIMIT` by switching to row-by-row query
execution pipeline
* [#9917](#9917) Decompress
less data in `DML` on compressed hypertables by accounting for prepared
statement parameters
* [#9957](#9957) Add
`compact_chunk()` function
* [#10048](#10048) Support
concurrent refresh policies on hierarchical continuous aggregates
* [#10081](#10081) Add
`samplerate` argument to
`_timescaledb_functions.estimate_uncompressed_size()`
* [#10100](#10100) Skip
classifying compressed relations to speed up planning
* [#10118](#10118) Don't
track compressed relations as separate chunk
* [#10119](#10119) Reduce
memory usage of `INSERT` queries using direct compress and spanning
multiple chunks
* [#10163](#10163) Add a
compaction policy for unordered chunks
* [#10204](#10204) Don't
create separate hypertable catalog entry for hypertables with
compression
* [#10217](#10217) Initial
placeholder version of granular refresh API
* [#10225](#10225) Add
`config_merge` parameter to `alter_job()` for merging `jsonb` into the
existing job configuration
* [#10226](#10226) Add
`recompress_unordered` columnstore policy option
* [#10231](#10231) Use
`regclass` for storing relation reference in chunk table
* [#10237](#10237) Add
helper functions for decoding hypertable status
* [#10240](#10240) Add the
`tsdb.direct_compress` storage parameter that allows enabling direct
compress for a given hypertable independent of global settings
* [#10266](#10266) Add
`max_batches` to `compact_chunk()`
* [#10299](#10299) Add
`continuous_aggs_tenant_tracking` and `hypertable_cagg_settings`
catalogs

**Bugfixes**
* [#10013](#10013) Make
ownership error messages on continuous aggregates consistent
* [#10052](#10052) Result
of `MIN` / `MAX` aggregate functions in columnar aggregation pipeline
possibly inconsistent with plain PostgreSQL result
* [#10071](#10071) Prune
the real-time branch of hierarchical continuous aggregates at any
nesting depth
* [#10143](#10143) Fix
division by zero when planning `time_bucket` with zero width
* [#10199](#10199) Fix
`initial_start` handling in `build_job_info`
* [#10213](#10213) Cache
sort pathkeys per hypertable
* [#10221](#10221) Fix
incremental refresh skipping the last bucket
* [#10278](#10278) Drop
`job_errors` view in `bgw_job_stat_history` migration
* [#10280](#10280)
`RETURNING` clause returned no rows for `INSERT` using direct compress
* [#10281](#10281) Disable
direct compress when the destination table has an exclusion constraint
so the constraint is still enforced
* [#10282](#10282) Only
count directly compressed rows toward the command tag when the `INSERT`
sets it
* [#10286](#10286)
Propagate `VACUUM` on a chunk to the compressed relation when running on
the chunk directly
* [#10302](#10302) Fix
useless-join removal and self-join elimination for hypertables
* [#10313](#10313) Allow
running `ALTER EXTENSION timescaledb UPDATE` inside a transaction block
* [#10315](#10315) Fix
overlap detection with running max
* [#10324](#10324) Fix
stale index entries after `rebuild_sparse_index()` on compressed chunks

**GUCs**
* `timescaledb.enable_hypertable_expansion_for_dml`: allow using the
optimized TimescaleDB hypertable expansion code for `UPDATE` and
`DELETE` instead of the generic PostgreSQL inheritance hierarchy
expansion. On by default.

**Thanks**
* @FrancescEthon and @ManuelEthon for reporting the issue
* @h0rn3t for reporting a problem with `VACUUM` not propagating to the
compressed relation
* @MaximeEthon for reporting an issue with prepared statement parameters
in DML decompression
* @proddata for reporting a problem when upgrading from 2.15.3 to 2.28.2
* @tureba for reporting and fixing stale sparse-index entries after
rebuild
* @viniciusrsouza for reporting an issue with hierarchical continuous
aggregates

Author: timescale-automation