Re: Error message "psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory"

>> I need unfortunately to come back to this issue. I (again) re-installed Lion from scratch, and finally got everything working. The Postgres was running, I uploaded a couple of dumped SQL files. And then re-started the machine for another reason. And suddenly it says again the it can't connect to the server.
>>
>> I tried
>> /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/initdb -U postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data --encoding=UTF8 --locale=en_US
>>
>> and
>> /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data/ -l logfile start
>>
>> and
>> sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.postgresql.postgres.plist
>>
>> … but nothing happens. I don't have the feeling that it's a problem with the "postgres" and "_postgres" users (as it has worked before already).
>>
>> Can anyone give me a hint how I can figure out where the problem lies and what I can do about it? Why did it work before I restarted the computer and why does it not work anymore?
>>
>> Thanks a lot for any hints!
>>
>
> When troubleshooting I am firm believer in working from the known to the unknown. In that vein:
>
> 1) Is there /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data/?

Yes:

drwx------ 18 _postgres _postgres 612 Jun 19 09:41 data

> a) If so are there subdirectories in it indicating cluster was created? i.e. base/ global/ pg_clog/, etc

Yes:

drwx------ 7 _postgres _postgres 238 Jun 19 08:59 base
drwx------ 43 _postgres _postgres 1462 Jun 19 09:41 global
….

> 2) When you say nothing happens does that mean nothing is written to log file and/or terminal? No process shows up in process list?

When I do: sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.postgresql.postgres.plist
it says: org.postgresql.postgres: Already loaded

When I do: /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/initdb -U postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data --encoding=UTF8 --locale=en_US
it says: The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "xxx".
This user must also own the server process.
The database cluster will be initialized with locale en_US.
The default text search configuration will be set to "english".
initdb: could not access directory "/usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data": Permission denied

Same when using "_postgres" instead of "postgres".

When I do: sudo su - _postgres /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/initdb -U postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data --encoding=UTF8 --locale=en_US
it seems to run, but still, same error message "psql: could not connect…."

And still nothing in the process list (using "ps auxw | grep post").

> 3) If something does happen in, terms of error messages, what are they?
>
> 4) Have you looked at system (not Postgres specific) logs to see if this a system issue?

I looked at Apple's Console, where all (?) logs/messages are being assembled, but nothing worrisome there. is there any other specific place where I can look for error messages?

> 5) What user are you running the above commands as?

I am user with "Administrator" rights.

> a) What user is associated with the Postgres data directory(if it exists)?

See above, "_postgres". There is or could be confusion between Apple's "_postgres" and the normal "postgres" user. But it looks as it isn't in this case..

Thanks for your help!