Re: Postgres installation on Leopard; database on Mac-User-Level

>> Now, it seems somewhat complicated - at least for me -, due to the
>> different read-write permissions, to do that. It worked before, but
>> now, after re-installing the machine, I really don't get it going...
>> The commands would be like this:
>> /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /Users/schwarzer/Documents/
>> data_postgres
>> /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D /Users/schwarzer/Documents/
>> data_postgres >logfile 2>&1 &
>> But, what about the user "schwarzer" and the user "postgres"? How
>> should it correctly be installed/configured?
>
> Well, the main thing to remember is that the database server needs
> to have read+write access to the data directory (and log directory)
> but no-one else needs to. So:
> cd /Users/schwarzer/Documents
> chown postgres:postgres data_postgres
> chmod 0700 data_postgres
> (you might also need to check that PG can cd to each directory in
> the path too:)
> chmod a+x /Users/schwarzer/Documents
> chmod a+x /Users/schwarzer
>
> There's no reason why you *have* to run the server as user postgres
> though. It's perfectly possible to do the above as user schwarzer.
> If the database system is intended just for that one user, that
> might make sense too.
>
> Oh, make sure the logfile is in a directory writable by the same
> user too of course.

You guys are too kind. Really. A big THANK YOU for everybody helping
me (and others) to get things working! You really do a fantastic job!

So, when you say that there is no reason to be obliged to run the
server as user postgres, but that I can run it as user schwarzer: then
I can skip the chown/chmod steps you mentioned? I just go for the
initdb etc. commands as listed above, without specifying a(nother) user?