Updating TimescaleDB Container correctly

Containers make it relatively easy to update parts of your application independently. Timescale goes one step further (or back, it depends on your point of view).

After updating your TimescaleDB service to the latest and greatest image, you'll have still the old PostgreSQL extension running:

SELECT extversion as "Current TimescaleDB Version" FROM pg_extension where extname = 'timescaledb';

Upgrading the extension inside PostgreSQL is necessary!
For that, you'll need to shut down all your other services and even your database tools. This is because during an extension upgrade no other connections are allowed.

You'll need to start the 'psql' command for every database you have and issue the update command:

docker exec -it timescale-container-name psql -U postgres -d mydb -X

ALTER EXTENSION timescaledb UPDATE;

('mydb' being the database in question and 'timescale-container-name' the container itself)