[SOLVED] PostgreSQL permission issue on Mint 17

planarian · 01-11-2015, 01:40 PM

I'm in the process of installing PostgreSQL. Per the instructions on Ubuntu's site, I ran

Code:

sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo apt-get install pgadmin3
sudo -u postgres psql postgres

and encountered the following error

Code:

could not change directory to "/home/jay": Permission denied

I know enough about Linux to pause before attempting to change file/directory permissions for something like this. What should be my next step?

Thanks!

ljb643 · 01-11-2015, 07:14 PM

I've set up PostgreSQL many times, but never using Ubuntu packages. Nevertheless, reading the instructions you linked to and the error message you get, I have a suggestion. Try changing directory to /tmp and then run the "sudo -u postgres..." command. (I think the error is because the postgres user cannot access the directory you were in when you issued the command.)

planarian · 01-11-2015, 07:58 PM

Yep, when I run it outside my home directory, it works. I don't yet have enough experience with Postgres to know whether the lack of access to that directory will be a problem, but this at least allows me to setup a password. Thanks!

ljb643 · 01-11-2015, 08:50 PM

No, the 'postgres' user should not have access to your home directory. And no user except postgres (and root) should ever have access to the files where the database data is stored (which are owned by the postgres user).