Hostname: Get The Server Host Name / PostgreSQL Extension Network

hostname 1.0.4

This library contains a single PostgreSQL extension, hostname, which provides a function, hostname(), that returns the database server’s host name:

% SELECT hostname(); hostname ---------- myserver

To build hostname, just do this:

make make installcheck make install

If you encounter an error such as:

"Makefile", line 8: Need an operator

You need to use GNU make, which may well be installed on your system as gmake:

gmake gmake install gmake installcheck

If you encounter an error such as:

make: pg_config: Command not found

Be sure that you have pg_config installed and in your path. If you used a package management system such as RPM to install PostgreSQL, be sure that the -devel package is also installed. If necessary tell the build process where to find it:

env PG_CONFIG=/path/to/pg_config make && make installcheck && make install

If you encounter an error such as:

ERROR: must be owner of database regression

You need to run the test suite using a super user, such as the default “postgres” super user:

make installcheck PGUSER=postgres

To install the extension in a custom prefix on PostgreSQL 18 or later, pass the prefix argument to install (but no other make targets):

make install prefix=/usr/local/extras

Then ensure that the prefix is included in the following [postgresql.conf parameters]:

extension_control_path = '/usr/local/extras/postgresql/share:$system' dynamic_library_path = '/usr/local/extras/postgresql/lib:$libdir'

Once hostname is installed, you can add it to a database. If you’re running PostgreSQL 9.1.0 or greater, it’s a simple as connecting to a database as a super user and running:

CREATE EXTENSION hostname;

If you’ve upgraded your cluster to PostgreSQL 9.1 and already had hostname installed, you can upgrade it to a properly packaged extension with:

CREATE EXTENSION hostname FROM unpackaged;

For versions of PostgreSQL less than 9.1.0, you’ll need to run the installation script:

psql -d mydb -f /path/to/pgsql/share/contrib/hostname.sql

If you want to install hostname and all of its supporting objects into a specific schema, use the PGOPTIONS environment variable to specify the schema, like so:

PGOPTIONS=--search_path=extensions psql -d mydb -f hostname.sql

Dependencies

The hostname extension requires PostgreSQL 9.0 or higher and the POSIX API, <unistd.h>.

Copyright and License

Copyright © 2013-2025 David E. Wheeler.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the PostgreSQL License.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose, without fee, and without a written agreement is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph and the following two paragraphs appear in all copies.

In no event shall David E. Wheeler be liable to any party for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages, including lost profits, arising out of the use of this software and its documentation, even if David E. Wheeler has been advised of the possibility of such damage.

David E. Wheeler specifically disclaim any warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The software provided hereunder is on an “as is” basis, and David E. Wheeler have no obligations to provide maintenance, support, updates, enhancements, or modifications.