Re: Cannot *start* server because of a typo in pg_hba.conf - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

Devrim GÜNDÜZ <devrim@gunduz.org> writes:
> On Sun, 2011-02-20 at 12:45 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
>> No, I can't.  I get something like this on stderr:
>> 
>> LOG:  invalid connection type "zlocal" 

> Err, please try putting an extra char before the first comment line,
> like:

> w# PostgreSQL Client Authentication Configuration File

Given exactly that mistake, I get

LOG:  invalid connection type "w"
CONTEXT:  line 1 of configuration file "/home/postgres/testversion/data/pg_hba.conf"
FATAL:  could not load pg_hba.conf

Are you sure you're looking in the right place?

One thought that comes to mind is that I've seen cases where SELinux
prevented the postmaster from writing anything at all to its stderr.
I didn't think that could still happen in any current SELinux versions,
but it might be worth checking the kernel log for avc denials.
        regards, tom lane