The PostgreSQL source code is stored and managed using the Git version control system. An public mirror of this is available and updated within a minute of the master repository. Our wiki, , has additional details on working with Git. Note that building PostgreSQL from the source repository requires reasonably up-to-date versions of bison and flex. These tools are not needed to build from a distribution tarball since their output is included in the file. You will need Perl as well, but otherwise the tool requirements are the same. With Git you will make a copy of the entire code repository to your local machine, so you will have access to all history and branches offline. This is the fastest and most flexible way to develop or test patches. You will need an installed version of Git, which you can get from . Many systems also have a recent version of Git installed by default, or available in their package repository system. To being using the Git repository, make a clone of the official mirror: git clone git://git.postgresql.org/git/postgresql.git This will copy the full repository to your local machine, so it may take a while to complete, especially if you have a slow Internet connection. The Git mirror can also be reached via the HTTP protocol in case for example a firewall is blocking access to the Git protocol. Just replace the URL like: git clone http://git.postgresql.org/git/postgresql.git The HTTP protocol is less efficient than the Git protocol, so it will be slower to use. Whenever you want to get the latest updates in the system, cd into the repository, and run: git fetch Git can do a lot more things than just fetch the source. For more information, consult the man pages for the product, or the website at .