Re: Getting started on Linux RH6.2 ...

----- Original Message -----
From: <j.logsdon@lancaster.ac.uk>


> Hello
>
> It is probably something quite silly but I have installed all the binaries
> from the RH6.2 installation disk and browsed through the manual.  These
> are:
>
> postgresql-6.5.3-6.i386.rpm        postgresql-python-6.5.3-6.i386.rpm
etc
> from which you will see the version.

There are newer releases - you might want to get hold of 7.0 rpms before
using it in a live system.

> Firstly the tree as described in the Administrators guide in
> /usr/doc/postgresql-6.5.3/admin/layout.htm is very much pruned - in fact
> the only directories under /usr/lib/pgsql are:
[snip]
> and there is no directory /usr/local/pgsql at all.

RPM installs tend to put files in different places than when you compile -
try
  rpm -ql <package-name>
to see where things have been put.

> postgres $ postmaster
> /usr/bin/postmaster does not know where to find the database system data.
> You must specify the directory that contains the database system either by
> specifying the -D invocation option or by setting the PGDATA environment
> variable.
>
> No data directory -- can't proceed.

Two things spring to mind - "initdb" needs to be run to set up the database
(you should have a "data" directory somewhere with datafiles within). Don't
know if the RPMs have already run that or not.

Second thing - check in /etc/rc.d/init.d/ for a postgres script - if so try
running /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgres start

- Richard Huxton