Re: initdb error

David Noel <david(dot)i(dot)noel(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> I've tried initdb directly:
> initdb -D /zdb/pgsql/data
> ...and still seem to wind up with the error:
> creating template1 database in /zdb/pgsql/data/base/1 ... FATAL:
> could not open file "pg_xlog/000000010000000000000001" (log file 0,
> segment 1): No such file or directory

Hm, that eliminates my first theory that the rc.d script is using
initdb's --xlogdir switch to try to put pg_xlog someplace that doesn't
exist on your system. But it seems like this must be some variant of
that. A simple permissions problem is not very credible, because at
this point initdb has successfully made the data directory and a bunch
of files within it already.

You could get more information by using the --noclean switch to prevent
removal of the datadir after failure, and then having a look at the
debris. Is there a pg_xlog subdirectory inside /zdb/pgsql/data, and if
so what permissions has it got? Perhaps it is not a directory, but a
symlink to somewhere else?

regards, tom lane