The initdb command said I could use that command, but pg_ctl works fine now. I should have tried that before. I have always used pg_ctl in the past, don't know why I just went with the postgres command.
> When I start postgres using postgres -D $PGDATA, it hangs, and I see that > postgres and all the other attendant processes are running, but I never > get my prompt back.
Don't start PostgreSQL with the 'postgres' command. That's the name of the actual server process. You want to use the control script, normally named pg_ctl. You call it like this: