Re: BUG #4708: \d commands

"Prajakta Patil" <prajaktafirke(at)yahoo(dot)com> writes:
> PostgreSQL version: 7.4.6
> Operating system: Linux

"Linux" what, exactly?

> when i try to execute \d commands on psql i get error message
> relation "pg_catalog.pg_user does not exist"

I remembered why this seemed vaguely familar: that's the symptom
of an initdb failure that was caused by buggy ancient versions of
SELinux policy. "Ancient" here means "right about the same vintage
as PG 7.4.6", cf for instance

http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-bugs/2005-03/msg00014.php

so I am wondering if you are running a four-year-old copy of Fedora or
RHEL that has selinux enforcement mode turned on. If so, do yourself
a favor and get something newer ... there were a LOT of bugs in the
selinux policies back then. Or you could disable enforcement, but
that wouldn't be a very good idea considering the number of unpatched
security issues that are presumably in that system. In any case,
the database you have is broken and you should re-initdb after taking
care of the software problem.

regards, tom lane