Re: Run 2 versions of Postgresql on one machine?

Thank you all for your kind help. I have set up 7.4.1 and it's up and
running perfectly.
One small question that might not belong in this mailing list:
Since all the binary commands share the same name, e.g. initdb, createdb,
psql, etc, and the
default path is already the 7.1.3 version. How do I come up a way to access
binary commands of
both versions quickly without adding absolute path infront of those of
7.4.1?

Many thanks,

Wei

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Lane" <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: "Peter Alberer" <h9351252(at)obelix(dot)wu-wien(dot)ac(dot)at>
Cc: "'Wei Wang'" <ww220(at)cam(dot)ac(dot)uk>; <pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 5:04 PM
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] Run 2 versions of Postgresql on one machine?

> "Peter Alberer" <h9351252(at)obelix(dot)wu-wien(dot)ac(dot)at> writes:
> > it is quite easy to have two different version of postgres running on
> > one machine. You need 2 different directories for the data files and 2
> > different ports for the 2 postmasters to listen.
>
> > -first you prepare the data directories with initdb, you can use the -D
> > parameter to give the location of the files.
> > -then start the database (postmaster) with parameter -p PORTNUMBER.
> > Default port is 5432 so your existing postmaster process will probably
> > listen there. The new version should listen on another port. All of the
> > other Postgres utilities (pgsql, createdb, ...) also need the -p
> > PORTNUMBER info as well, so they can connect to the right postmaster
> > process.
>
> You will also need to make sure that the executables and library files
> get installed into different places, else one version will overwrite the
> other at install time. I am not sure how to do that with an RPM-based
> installation, but it is quite easy if you are building from source:
> just supply a --prefix option to "configure". Perhaps
>
> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql735
>
> to install everything under /usr/local/pgsql735 (executables in
> /usr/local/pgsql735/bin, etc).
>
> Another thing you can do when building from source is to give each
> version a different default port number:
>
> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql735 --with-pgport=5735
>
> This is pretty handy because the created postmaster, psql, and other
> utilities will automatically use the right port number for their
> version, and you don't have to fool around with setting it as Peter
> mentions above. All that you have to do is adjust your PATH to find
> the psql you want to use at the moment.
>
> BTW, there is nothing that says you need to install under /usr. If you
> are just testing, it is perfectly possible to build, install, and create
> the data directory in directories under your own home directory, and
> then manually start the postmaster running as yourself. This wouldn't
> be good when you want the postmaster auto-started at system boot, but
> for a temporary testing setup it's cool --- you do not need root
> privileges at all when doing it this way.
>
> regards, tom lane
>
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