Re: initdb error: "could not identify current directory" (or,

hi there,

>> % /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb --pgdata=/var/data/pgsql --username=testuser
>>     could not identify current directory: Permission denied
>
> What directory are you in when you give this command?  (AFAIR su doesn't
> change directory ... you might be better off with su - testuser ...)

hmmmm, that's an interesting question.

per your suggestion i tried "su - testuser", then various combos of su, su -,
sudo, etc, etc. -- all to no avail.

then, i stumbled across the following behavior.:

(1)

% rm -rf /var/data/pgsql /Volumes/data/pgsql

% ls -ald /var/data/pgsql
    lrwxr-xr-x  1 root wheel 27 Nov 22 20:26 /var/data/pgsql -> /Volumes/data/pgsql

% ls -ald /Volumes/data/pgsql
    drwxrwxr-x  12 testuser testuser 408 Nov 25 09:12 /Volumes/data/pgsql

% cd /var/data/pgsql
% pwd
    /Volumes/data/pgsql

% sudo -u testuser /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb --pgdata=/var/data/pgsql
--username=testuser

IT CHOKES.

with:

    could not identify current directory: Permission denied
    could not identify current directory: Permission denied
    could not identify current directory: Permission denied
    The program "postgres" is needed by initdb but was not found in the
    same directory as "initdb".
    Check your installation.

(2)

% rm -rf /var/data/pgsql /Volumes/data/pgsql

% ls -ald /var
    lrwxr-xr-x  1 root admin 11 Nov 23 10:28 /var -> private/var

% ls -ald /private/var
    drwxr-xr-x  24 root wheel 816 Dec  3 14:51 /private/var

% cd /var
% pwd
    /private/var

% sudo -u testuser /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb --pgdata=/var/data/pgsql
--username=testuser

IT WORKS.

% ls -ald /var/data/pgsql
    drwx------  12 testuser testuser 408 Dec  3 16:03 /var/data/pgsql
% ls /var/data/pgsql
    PG_VERSION  global   pg_hba.conf    pg_subtrans  pg_xlog
    base        pg_clog  pg_ident.conf  pg_tblspc    postgresql.conf


now, i'd guess that that indicates a problem with
(a) exec.c's getcwd,
(b) my understanding of the behavior of 'su' et al ..., and/or
(c) perms/ownership

*something* doesn't like being *in* a dir owned by testuser:testuser ...

fwiw, note also:

    % niutil -read / /users/testuser
        name: testuser
        shell: /bin/tcsh
        realname: Test User
        uid: 57
        gid: 57
        change: 0
        expire: 0
        _shadow_passwd:
        generateduid: 9ED08FE5-3755-11D9-8050-0025038BA5BD
        authentication_authority: ;ShadowHash;
        passwd: ********

    % niutil -read / /groups/testuser
        name: testuser
        gid: 57
        users: testuser root admin daemon

what've i missed?

cheers,

richard