On Linux if you install postgres via RPM's and the postgres user
account does not exist then the RPM install creates it for you and
sets the home dir to the root for the postgres binaries (i.e. /var/lib/
pgsql)
Maybe the same thing happens on a Mac install ?
On Sep 10, 2008, at 5:14 PM, Darren Weber wrote:
> There is a postgres user account on my OSX system. I'm not clear
> about how it was created. I've installed a binary version of 8.3 in
> /Library/PostgreSQL/8.3/ and built another version from source into
> /usr/local/pgsql/. When I login as root and then 'su - postgres' it
> takes me to the postgres account and the user directory is at
> /opt/local/var/db/postgresql83/.
>
> Can someone explain how this user account was created?
>
> I'm trying to start the server that I built from source but it will
> not create a logfile, ie:
>
> elegans:~ postgres$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl -D
> /usr/local/pgsql/data -l logfile start
> server starting
> sh: logfile: Permission denied
> elegans:~ postgres$
> elegans:~ postgres$ nohup /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres -D
> /usr/local/pgsql/data </dev/null >>server.log 2>&1 </dev/null &
> [1] 28696
> elegans:~ postgres$ -sh: server.log: Permission denied
> elegans:~ postgres$
> elegans:~ postgres$ pwd
> /opt/local/var/db/postgresql83
> elegans:~ postgres$
> elegans:~ postgres$ ls -al ..
> total 0
> drwxr-xr-x 4 root admin 136 Aug 28 12:05 .
> drwxr-xr-x 8 root admin 272 Sep 9 14:49 ..
> drwxr-xr-x 3 root admin 102 Aug 28 12:05 postgresql83
> drwxr-xr-x 3 root admin 102 Aug 26 13:06 smb
>
>
> Should I remove this user somehow and replace it with a standard user
> (using the system admin GUI)?
>
> Thanks, Darren
>
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