Re: database "postgres" does not exist

Richard,
Are you sure that you weren't typing an additional argument, such as:
sudo -u postgres psql db_name

Reason I ask is because, by default running the command  psql assumes
some things if you don't call them out explicitly such as:

psql assumes:
    -h 127.0.0.1
    -p 5432 (or whichever was compiled in)
     user_name (database name, named that of the user)
     user_name (user name, named that of the user)

so when you type:
sudo -u postgres psql, I think it's interpreted as:
sudo -u postgres -h 127.0.0.1 -p 5432 postgres postgres


sudo -u postgres psql -d template1  (implies a user of postgres) and that's why it works.



Richard Broersma Jr wrote:

>>Hello everybody
>>We have a very strange problem here: we have been using postgresql for
>>several years now, it runs fine without any problem.
>>BUT today, we saw something I do not understand:
>>when I try to use psql like this:
>>sudo -u postgres psql
>>I get the message     psql: FATAL:  database "postgres" does not exist
>>About 1-2 months ago, this was OK
>>I know this message is current on a new installation when the system is
>>NOT initialized.
>>But what puzzles me here is that the database postgres DID exist... but
>>it seems to have suddenly disappeared !!!!
>>A part from this, everything works fine, for example the command:
>>                           sudo -u postgres psql -d template1
>>works, and the postgres applications run quite smoothly
>>So, here is my question: how such a thing could have happen ? We cannot
>>remeber any stupid thing we could have done (but may be we did... And
>>what do I have to do to recreate the postgres database... in fact, is it
>>even necessary doing so ?
>>
>>
>
>If you issue "\l" from within the posgresql command prompt does it list postgres as a database?
>If it does not show up, my guess is that is was dropped.
>
>Regards,
>
>Richard Broersma Jr.
>
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