How to upgrade PostgreSQL minor releases without a dump/restore?

Question

Our production server is running PostgreSQL v8.2.3 on CentOS5.2. We're planning to upgrade to the latest version in 8.2 series, that is v8.2.20. Also, in future, we've planned to upgrade to the most recent minor release as soon as possible (as and when released by PostgreSQL).

Initially, we've installed v8.2.3 from source. PostgreSQL is installed in /usr/local/pgsql/ and data directory is available in /usr/local/pgsql/data

PostgreSQL Versioning policy says:

Upgrading to a minor release does not require a dump and restore; merely stop the database server, install the updated binaries, and restart the server.

Now, without a dump/restore, what are the recommended ways/steps involved in upgrading PostgreSQL to latest version for minor releases?

EDIT: Well, I should have asked my question this way. Since the doc says install the updated binaries, my question is whether the latest version can be installed as-is. Will my data directory /usr/local/pgsql/data/ be disturbed in any way? Or should this data directory be moved temporarily until the latest installation is completed. In addition, iss there anything, as an admin, I need to take care, like, taking a backup of /usr/local/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf, etc.?

Answer 1

If you are doing a minor version upgrade, nothing will or should touch your data directory. If you are using binary packages, just run whatever upgrade procedure they provide (apt/yum upgrade, etc.). If building from source, just do make install over the old files and then restart the server (pg_ctl restart or whatever you're using).

The documentation could perhaps be amended to say that you could even install the new binaries before restarting the server.