How to Install PostgreSQL on Ubuntu 24.04 (Ubuntu Repo vs PostgreSQL Repo)

Ubuntu 24.04 ships PostgreSQL in its own repositories (PostgreSQL 16 at the time of writing). The PostgreSQL Global Development Group also provides an official Apt repository (PGDG) with newer major versions (e.g. PostgreSQL 18).

In this post I’ll run the same commands twice:

• Once with Ubuntu’s default repository only.
• Once after enabling the official PostgreSQL Apt repository.

That way you can see exactly how:

apt-cache policy postgresql
sudo apt install postgresql

behave differently before and after PGDG.

Tested on Ubuntu Server 24.04.3 LTS (noble) with a sudo-enabled user.

1. Install PostgreSQL from the default Ubuntu repository

This is the “out-of-the-box” behavior on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04.

Check what postgresql will install

apt-cache policy postgresql

Example output:

postgresql:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 16+257build1.1
  Version table:
     16+257build1.1 500
        500 http://tw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates/main amd64 Packages
     16+257build1 500
        500 http://tw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages

Interpretation:

• Only Ubuntu’s own repo is listed.
• The postgresql meta-package will install PostgreSQL 16 from Ubuntu.

Install PostgreSQL

sudo apt install postgresql

This pulls in:

• postgresql-16
• postgresql-client-16
• postgresql-common
• dependencies like libpq5, libllvm17, etc.

Check the server version

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SELECT version();"

Example:

PostgreSQL 16.11 (Ubuntu 16.11-0ubuntu0.24.04.1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, ...

At this point you have a working PostgreSQL 16 from the Ubuntu repo.

Remove this Ubuntu PostgreSQL installation

To keep the demo clean, remove it before moving to PGDG:

sudo apt purge 'postgresql*'
sudo apt autoremove -y

This removes:

• postgresql, postgresql-16, postgresql-client-16,
• postgresql-common, postgresql-client-common,
• and any unused dependencies.

(If you actually want to keep the Ubuntu install, you can skip this purge in your real environment. Here it’s just for showing a clear before/after.)

2. Enable the PostgreSQL Apt repository and install again

Now we enable the official PostgreSQL Apt repo and run the same commands.

Install postgresql-common (for the helper script)

First, reinstall postgresql-common (we purged it above):

sudo apt install -y postgresql-common

This installs the helper script:

/usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.sh

Enable the PostgreSQL Apt repository (PGDG)

Run the script and accept the defaults when it says it will use noble-pgdg:

sudo /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.sh

The script will:

• Add the PGDG signing key.
• Add a pgdg entry under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ for noble-pgdg.
• Run apt-get update for you.

Check what postgresql will install now (Ubuntu + PGDG)

Run the same check as in Step 1:

apt-cache policy postgresql

Example output after enabling PGDG:

postgresql:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 18+287.pgdg24.04+1
  Version table:
     18+287.pgdg24.04+1 500
        500 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt noble-pgdg/main amd64 Packages
     16+257build1.1 500
        500 http://tw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates/main amd64 Packages
     16+257build1 500
        500 http://tw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages

Difference vs Step 1:

• There are now two sources for postgresql:
  • Ubuntu archive (PostgreSQL 16).
  • PostgreSQL Apt repo (PostgreSQL 18).
• The Candidate is now 18+... from apt.postgresql.org, not 16+... from Ubuntu.

Install PostgreSQL again (this time from PGDG)

Run the same command as in Step 1:

sudo apt install postgresql

This time apt will:

• Install postgresql-18, postgresql-client-18,
• Upgrade postgresql-common, postgresql-client-common, libpq5 to PGDG versions,
• Create a new cluster 18/main.

Check the server version again

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SELECT version();"

Example:

PostgreSQL 18.1 (Ubuntu 18.1-1.pgdg24.04+2) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, ...

(Optional) Create an application user and database

With the PGDG version installed, you can create your application DB as usual.

Connect as postgres:

sudo -u postgres psql

In psql:

CREATE ROLE app_user WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'change_me_now';
CREATE DATABASE app_db OWNER app_user;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE app_db TO app_user;
\q

Test:

psql -h localhost -U app_user -d app_db -c "SELECT current_database(), current_user;"

(Optional) Enable password auth and remote access

Edit postgresql.conf:

sudo vi /etc/postgresql/18/main/postgresql.conf

Set:

listen_addresses = '*'

Edit pg_hba.conf:

sudo vi /etc/postgresql/18/main/pg_hba.conf

Example:

# IPv4 connections from your LAN
host    all             all             192.168.0.0/24          scram-sha-256

Restart:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

If using UFW:

sudo ufw allow 5432/tcp

Then connect from another machine:

psql -h <server-ip> -U app_user -d app_db