# PostgreSQL's MVCC Implementation and Its Operational Challenges

DevFeed: [PostgreSQL's MVCC Implementation and Its Operational Challenges](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-part-of-postgresql-we-hate-the-most-33715.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2023/04/the-part-of-postgresql-we-hate-the-most.html>)

Author: Andy Pavlo

Published: 2023-04-26T04:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Andy Pavlo - Carnegie Mellon University](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/andy-pavlo-carnegie-mellon-university.md>)

Topics: [PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/postgresql.md>), [Concurrency](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/concurrency.md>), [Amazon RDS](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon-rds.md>)

Tags: [amazon-rds](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/amazon-rds.md>), [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [concurrency](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/concurrency.md>), [postgresql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgresql.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains multi-version concurrency control (MVCC) and argues that PostgreSQL's implementation creates operational problems compared with other relational database systems. It describes how MVCC keeps physical row versions so concurrent queries can read and write without unnecessary blocking.

## Source excerpt

As much as Andy loves PostgreSQL, there is one part that is terrible and causes many headaches for people. Learn what it is and why it sucks.