Re: Moving an existing database from an old version?

On 1/13/07, Howard Eglowstein <howard(at)yankeescientific(dot)com> wrote:
>
> Thank you all for the suggestions!! I wouldn't have guessed that you
> _can't_ just move the data, but it makes sense that you can't. I'm still
> having trouble figuring out where the data is on the existing machine.
> I've looked in /usr/local and /usr/share for places it might be and
> there doesn't seem to be any. Yet, pg_dump clearly knows how to find it.

That's because pg_dump is connecting through the socket, not reading the
data directory directly.

Last question for now (before I fire up the machine and try again): How
> does postgresql know where the data lives?
>

When you start the database with pg_ctl (or if you run postmaster/postgres
directly) then there is a -D switch which tells all of them where the data
directory lives. Take a look at your startup scripts and it should lead you
to the location. If you are using Linux, the standard location is
/var/lib/pgsql/data. Otherwise you should use "find" or "locate" to hunt
down either postgresql.conf or PG_VERSION, both should live in the data
directory.

--
Chad
http://www.postgresqlforums.com/