Index: src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /projects/cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c,v
retrieving revision 1.32
diff -u -r1.32 pg_ctl.c
--- src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c	7 Oct 2004 15:21:55 -0000	1.32
+++ src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c	10 Oct 2004 06:22:02 -0000
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@
 	int			i;
 	char		portstr[32];
 	char	   *p;
+	char	   *errMsg;
 
 
 	*portstr = '\0';
@@ -414,23 +415,42 @@
 
 	for (i = 0; i < wait_seconds; i++)
 	{
-		if ((conn = PQsetdbLogin(NULL, portstr, NULL, NULL,
-								 "template1", NULL, NULL)) != NULL &&
-			PQstatus(conn) == CONNECTION_OK)
-		{
-			PQfinish(conn);
-			success = true;
-			break;
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			if (!silence_echo)
+		if ((conn = PQsetdbLogin(NULL, portstr, NULL, NULL, "template1", NULL, NULL)) != NULL) {
+			if (PQstatus(conn) == CONNECTION_OK)
 			{
-				printf(".");
-				fflush(stdout);
+				PQfinish(conn);
+				success = true;
+				break;
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				/* Try a little harder to see if the
+				 * backend is up.  The connection may
+				 * be bad, but if we're getting a
+				 * valid response from the backend,
+				 * then assume the backend is up.
+				 * There has to be a better way of
+				 * doing this than looking at the
+				 * error string, but maybe not for
+				 * pg_ctl(1)'s purpose. */
+				errMsg = PQerrorMessage(conn);
+				if (errMsg && strcmp(errMsg, "fe_sendauth: no password supplied\n") == 0) {
+					PQfinish(conn);
+					success = true;
+					break;
+				}
+				else if (!silence_echo)
+				{
+					printf(".");
+
+					fflush(stdout);
+				}
+				pg_usleep(1000000); /* 1 sec */
 			}
-			pg_usleep(1000000); /* 1 sec */
 		}
+
+		if (conn)
+			PQfinish(conn);
 	}
 
 	return success;