Debian Lenny postgresql and adding user problems
 

I have just remade my Debian Etch box as Lenny using the netinstall cd. I am noticing two problems I have never encountered. This was a complete new install and I then copied contents from the appropriate old home directories. I did not want to do an upgrade.

I installed the latest postgresql server and client, yet I can't get the server to start. It ignores the reference in the rc2.d directory for starting, and refuses to start when invoked manually. I never experienced this either with any version of Linux or my BSD machine. Perhaps someone can help on this issue.

I am normally at the command line, but since the initial install took me to GDM, I decided to add additional users using the administrative 'add user' facility. I added four users, and tried to check them, but none of the users were actually added, nor were the appropriate 'home' directories created, but the associated 'groups' were. I deleted the groups, reverted to my normal command line interface, and used 'adduser' to properly add the users and create the groups. Can anyone shed any insight in either of the problems?

Thank you

Can't help with the users, but how does the "and refuses to start when invoked manually."
manifest itself? Anything in the logs, any error messages? Which packages relevant to
postgres are actually installed (verify using aptitude)?

Obviously setting up postgres is a bit more complicated than I remember. Though I read the shell script in the /etc/rc2.d directory to start postgres, I didn't follow through. I had to trace the various postgres commands/ create certain libraries, and then run the initdb command to create the initial dtabase. Thank you for your suggestions. Though nothing was logged when I initially ran the shell script, I was able to work things out.

Alan

Create libraries sounds worrying, I always thought that the debian install
was quite well thought through... anyway - glad you have it sorted!

Though postgres is a very reliable and powerful product, it is not trivial to set up Postgres commands are located in /usr/lib/postgresql/8.3/bin. The first step needed to setting up postgresql is to initialize the database using the initdb command. In order to do that you have to create a directory to store the database, and also set up the the PGDATA environment variable pointing to that directory. By convention, the owner of the database is user postgres, but this can be changed. I guess it's been awhile since I created the initial database.

Heh ... well, I do postgres installs on a quite regular basis, so am
aware of what's required. ;} As I said: from my excursion(s) into the
lands of debian and *buntu I seemed to remember it wasn't that hard on
those ... pretty much a led by the hand variety.


Cheers,
Tink