Fwd: Bug#358546: failure of pg_ctl start -w -D

Hi PostgreSQL developers,

the bug report below was recently sent to Debian. The details and my
reply are at http://bugs.debian.org/358546, the executive summary is:
pg_ctl's -w option does not honour postgresql.conf's
unix_socket_directory configuration (and neither $PGHOST).

Thanks,

Martin
----- Forwarded message from Stephen Gildea <gildea(at)stop(dot)mail-abuse(dot)org> -----

Subject: Bug#358546: failure of pg_ctl start -w -D
Reply-To: Stephen Gildea <gildea(at)stop(dot)mail-abuse(dot)org>,
358546(at)bugs(dot)debian(dot)org
From: Stephen Gildea <gildea(at)stop(dot)mail-abuse(dot)org>
To: submit(at)bugs(dot)debian(dot)org
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:39:27 -0500
X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.3 required=4.0 tests=BAYES_50,DATE_IN_FUTURE_06_12
autolearn=no version=3.0.3

Package: postgresql-7.4
Version: 7.4.12-2
Tags: patch

When starting the PostgreSQL server (with "pg_ctl start") with a
specific directory (the -D flag), the "wait" code (triggered with the -w
option) fails to use the directory to find the Unix socket, and so it
fails to connect to the newly-started server.

To repeat, create a new database and start a server on it:

/usr/lib/postgresql/bin/initdb -D /some/directory
Edit /some/directory/postgresql.conf to define unix_socket_directory.
(It may be a separate bug that this step is necessary.)
/usr/lib/postgresql/bin/pg_ctl start -w -D /some/directory -l /some/directory/postgres.log
Note the "failed" error message, even though the server did start.

The following simple patch passes the Unix socket directory to psql for
the wait check.

In PostgreSQL 8, the pg_ctl shell script has been replaced by a C
program. I haven't tested it, but from looking at the code in pg_ctl.c,
I suspect the same bug is present. Running "start -w" calls
test_postmaster_connection(). As with the buggy script, that routine
sets only the port and fails to set the host/directory as well.

< Stephen

--- postgresql-7.4.12/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh 2004-10-21 20:24:27.000000000 -0400
+++ src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh 2006-03-20 13:31:23.000000000 -0500
@@ -387,20 +387,23 @@
if [ -z "$PGPORT" ];then
PGPORT=`sed -ne 's/^[ ]*port[^=]*=[ ]\+\([0-9]\+\).*/\1/p' $CONFFILE 2>/dev/null`
if [ -z "$PGPORT" ];then
PGPORT="$DEF_PGPORT"
fi
fi
+ if [ -z "$PGHOST" ];then
+ PGHOST=`sed -ne "s/^[ ]*unix_socket_directory[^=]*=[ ]\+'\([^'].*\)'/\1/p" "$CONFFILE" 2>/dev/null`
+ fi

# wait for postmaster to start
if [ "$wait" = yes ];then
cnt=0
$silence_echo $ECHO_N "waiting for postmaster to start..."$ECHO_C
while :
do
- if "$PGPATH/psql" -p $PGPORT -l >/dev/null 2>&1
+ if "$PGPATH/psql" -p $PGPORT -h "$PGHOST" -l >/dev/null 2>&1
then
break;
else
$silence_echo $ECHO_N "."$ECHO_C
cnt=`expr $cnt + 1`
if [ "$cnt" -gt "$wait_seconds" ];then

----- End forwarded message -----

--
Martin Pitt http://www.piware.de
Ubuntu Developer http://www.ubuntu.com
Debian Developer http://www.debian.org

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