Compatibility Parameters

Parameter Names and Values

The parameter settings take the same approach as native PostgreSQL. All parameter names are case-insensitive. Every parameter takes a value of one of five types: boolean, string, integer, floating point, or enumerated (enum).

compatible_mode (enum)

This parameter controls the behavior of the database server. The default value is postgres which indicates that it's native installation and the server will behave as native PG installation. If it's set to oracle then the output of the queries and system behavior overall changes, as it's expected to be more like Oracle.

When set to oracle, this parameter adds a schema of the same name to the search_path implicitly. So that Oracle compatible objects can be located.

The parameter can be set through the postgresql.conf configuration file to take effect for the whole cluster. Or it can be set on session based through the client using the set command.

nls_length_semantics (enum)

This parameter controls how to create CHAR and VARCHAR2 columns based on length semantics. The default is set to NONE which does not effect anything. BYTE can be set to store data with byte length semantics. CHAR to use the char length semantics.