Thread: Bug #844: initdb fails on an ext2/3 fs mounted on /var/lib/pgsql/data
Bug #844: initdb fails on an ext2/3 fs mounted on /var/lib/pgsql/data
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JMM (jmm@cvni.net) reports a bug with a severity of 4 The lower the number the more severe it is. Short Description initdb fails on an ext2/3 fs mounted on /var/lib/pgsql/data Long Description If a whole filesystem (eg a whole disk in one filesystem that is dedicated to postgres data) is mounted on data location(typically /var/lib/pgsql/data), initdb files besause of the existence of the lost+found directory in the filesystemroot. There is an easy by pass by moving lost+found elsewhere, run initdb and re move lost+found to its original location. Nevertheless,having initdb tolerate lost+found (or equivalents for other fs types) would be an improvement. Sample Code No file was uploaded with this report
pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org writes: > If a whole filesystem (eg a whole disk in one filesystem that is > dedicated to postgres data) is mounted on data location (typically > /var/lib/pgsql/data), initdb files besause of the existence of the > lost+found directory in the filesystem root. > There is an easy by pass by moving lost+found elsewhere, run initdb > and re move lost+found to its original location. Nevertheless, having > initdb tolerate lost+found (or equivalents for other fs types) would > be an improvement. Hmm. Plan B would be to create a data directory just under the mount point and let PGDATA point there, rather than at the actual filesystem root directory. I am inclined to think that Plan B is considerably safer than what you propose, because what you propose requires that the unprivileged postgres user own the filesystem root directory. That seems like a bad idea (should postgres be able to remove/rename lost+found? No sir.) Certainly it would be easy to make initdb ignore "lost+found" appearing in the target directory ... I'm just not seeing the argument why this setup is really a good idea. regards, tom lane