Re: Can't connect to 7.4 DB

OK, here's a little trick you may not be aware of.

pg_connect("dbname=mydb user=stan");

will open a local unix domain socket.

pg_connect("host=127.0.0.1 dbname=mydb user=stan");

will open a local TCP/IP connection on the loopback interface.

In order for this to work, your postgresql.conf must have this line
changed:
#tcpip_socket = false
to
tcpip_socket = true

and your pg_hba.conf needs a line like this:

host all all 127.0.0.1 255.0.0.0 trust

So it's likely the "secure by default" mentality of postgresql that's
biting you here.