Isaac Braham <isaac.o.braham@gmail.com> writes:
...
> chown postgres /usr/local/pgsql/data
> su - postgres
> /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
> pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l logfile start - leads to "waiting
> for server to start..../bin/sh: logfile: Permission denied stopped
> waiting pg_ctl: could not start server"
Apparently, you haven't got sufficient privilege to create "logfile".
Given that you just did "su - postgres", that seems to mean that
whatever directory is recorded as being postgres' home directory
(look in /etc/passwd to find out) isn't writable by postgres.
Or, maybe there already is a "logfile" there, but it's not
writable by postgres. Anyway, get the permissions straightened out,
or tell it to write to a log file located someplace else.
regards, tom lane