Thread: RE: [HACKERS] Features for next release

RE: [HACKERS] Features for next release

From
Peter Mount
Date:
I also have a slight feeling that 6.5.2 is missing bits of the current
JDBC source. I'm not certain (won't be able to check until tonight), but
I think this is the case.

Peter

-- 
Peter Mount
Enterprise Support
Maidstone Borough Council
Any views stated are my own, and not those of Maidstone Borough Council.



-----Original Message-----
From: The Hermit Hacker [mailto:scrappy@hub.org]
Sent: 12 October 1999 15:44
To: Tom Lane
Cc: Bruce Momjian; Thomas Lockhart; Postgres Hackers List
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Features for next release 


On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Tom Lane wrote:

> >> Bruce, you asked for a v6.5.3 to be released...anything outstanding
that
> >> should prevent me from doing that tomorrow afternoon?  
> 
> > Not that I know of.  I was waiting to see if we could come up with
other
> > patches, but I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon.
> 
> On the other hand, is there a reason to be in a rush to put out 6.5.3?
> I didn't think we had many important changes from 6.5.2 yet.

v6.5.3, I believe, was because PgAccess somehow got removed in v6.5.2 :(


Marc G. Fournier                   ICQ#7615664               IRC Nick:
Scrappy
Systems Administrator @ hub.org 
primary: scrappy@hub.org           secondary:
scrappy@{freebsd|postgresql}.org 


************


RE: [HACKERS] Features for next release

From
The Hermit Hacker
Date:
On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Peter Mount wrote:

> I also have a slight feeling that 6.5.2 is missing bits of the current
> JDBC source. I'm not certain (won't be able to check until tonight), but
> I think this is the case.

Done, let me know  when you are finished/ready ...

Marc G. Fournier                   ICQ#7615664               IRC Nick: Scrappy
Systems Administrator @ hub.org 
primary: scrappy@hub.org           secondary: scrappy@{freebsd|postgresql}.org 



Re: [HACKERS] Features for next release

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
> On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Peter Mount wrote:
> 
> > I also have a slight feeling that 6.5.2 is missing bits of the current
> > JDBC source. I'm not certain (won't be able to check until tonight), but
> > I think this is the case.
> 
> Done, let me know  when you are finished/ready ...

I am ready.  Thomas, please check out my new INSTALL file.  I did it
with sgmltools and Netscape.  Seems to be OK.

I am not sure if you have the 6.5.* branch, so I am attaching the file
for everyone's review.

--  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610)
853-3000+  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill,
Pennsylvania19026 

Chapter 0. Installation

Table of Contents
Requirements to Run Postgres
Installation Procedure
Playing with Postgres
The Next Step
Porting Notes
    Complete installation instructions for Postgres v6.5.3.

Before installing Postgres, you may wish to visit www.postgresql.org for up
to date information, patches, etc.

These installation instructions assume:
  * Commands are Unix-compatible. See note below.
  * Defaults are used except where noted.
  * User postgres is the Postgres superuser.
  * The source path is /usr/src/pgsql (other paths are possible).
  * The runtime path is /usr/local/pgsql (other paths are possible).

Commands were tested on RedHat Linux version 5.2 using the tcsh shell.
Except where noted, they will probably work on most systems. Commands like
ps and tar may vary wildly between platforms on what options you should use.
Use common sense before typing in these commands.

Our Makefiles require GNU make (called "gmake" in this document). They will
not work with non-GNU make programs. If you have GNU make installed under
the name "make" instead of "gmake", then you will use the command make
instead. That's OK, but you need to have the GNU form of make to succeed
with an installation.

Requirements to Run Postgres

Up to date information on supported platforms is at
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/admin/install.htm. In general, most
Unix-compatible platforms with modern libraries should be able to run
Postgres.

Although the minimum required memory for running Postgres is as little as
8MB, there are noticable improvements in runtimes for the regression tests
when expanding memory up to 96MB on a relatively fast dual-processor system
running X-Windows. The rule is you can never have too much memory.

Check that you have sufficient disk space. You will need about 30 Mbytes for
/usr/src/pgsql, about 5 Mbytes for /usr/local/pgsql (excluding your
database) and 1 Mbyte for an empty database. The database will temporarily
grow to about 20 Mbytes during the regression tests. You will also need
about 3 Mbytes for the distribution tar file.

We therefore recommend that during installation and testing you have well
over 20 Mbytes free under /usr/local and another 25 Mbytes free on the disk
partition containing your database. Once you delete the source files, tar
file and regression database, you will need 2 Mbytes for /usr/local/pgsql, 1
Mbyte for the empty database, plus about five times the space you would
require to store your database data in a flat file.

To check for disk space, use

$ df -k

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Installation Procedure

Postgres Installation

For a fresh install or upgrading from previous releases of Postgres:
 1. Read any last minute information and platform specific porting notes.    There are some platform specific notes at
theend of this file for    Ultrix4.x, Linux, BSD/OS and NeXT. There are other files in directory    /usr/src/pgsql/doc,
includingfiles FAQ-Irix and FAQ-Linux. Also look    in directory ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub. If there is a file
called   INSTALL in this directory then this file will contain the latest    installation information.
 
    Please note that a "tested" platform in the list given earlier simply    means that someone went to the effort at
somepoint of making sure that    a Postgres distribution would compile and run on this platform without    modifying
thecode. Since the current developers will not have access    to all of these platforms, some of them may not compile
cleanlyand    pass the regression tests in the current release due to minor problems.    Any such known problems and
theirsolutions will be posted in    ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/INSTALL.
 
 2. Create the Postgres superuser account (postgres is commonly used) if it    does not already exist.
    The owner of the Postgres files can be any unprivileged user account.    It must not be root, bin, or any other
accountwith special access    rights, as that would create a security risk.
 
 3. Log in to the Postgres superuser account. Most of the remaining steps    in the installation will happen in this
account.
 4. Ftp file ftp://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/postgresql-v6.5.3.tar.gz from the    Internet. Store it in your home
directory.
 5. Some platforms use flex. If your system uses flex then make sure you    have a good version. To check, type
    $ flex --version
    If the flex command is not found then you probably do not need it. If    the version is 2.5.2 or 2.5.4 or greater
thenyou are okay. If it is    2.5.3 or before 2.5.2 then you will have to upgrade flex. You may get    it at
ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/flex-2.5.4.tar.gz.
    If you need flex and don't have it or have the wrong version, then you    will be told so when you attempt to
compilethe program. Feel free to    skip this step if you aren't sure you need it. If you do need it then    you will
betold to install/upgrade flex when you try to compile    Postgres.
 
    You may want to do the entire flex installation from the root account,    though that is not absolutely necessary.
Assumingthat you want the    installation to place files in the usual default areas, type the    following:
 
    $ su -    $ cd /usr/local/src    ftp prep.ai.mit.edu    ftp> cd /pub/gnu/    ftp> binary    ftp> get
flex-2.5.4.tar.gz   ftp> quit    $ gunzip -c flex-2.5.4.tar.gz | tar xvf -    $ cd flex-2.5.4    $ configure
--prefix=/usr   $ gmake    $ gmake check    # You must be root when typing the next line:    $ gmake install    $ cd
/usr/local/src   $ rm -rf flex-2.5.4
 
    This will update files /usr/man/man1/flex.1, /usr/bin/flex,    /usr/lib/libfl.a, /usr/include/FlexLexer.h and will
adda link    /usr/bin/flex++ which points to flex.
 
 6. If you are not upgrading an existing system then skip to . If you are    upgrading from 6.5, you do not need to
dump/reloador initdb. Simply    compile the source code, stop the postmaster, do a "make install", and    restart the
postmaster.If you are upgrading from 6.4.* or earlier,    back up your database. For alpha- and beta-level releases,
thedatabase    format is liable to change, often every few weeks, with no notice    besides a quick comment in the
HACKERSmailing list. Full releases    always require a dump/reload from previous releases. It is therefore a    bad
ideato skip this step.
 
         Tip: Do not use the pg_dumpall script from v6.0 or everything         will be owned by the Postgres super
user.
    To dump your fairly recent post-v6.0 database installation, type
    $ pg_dumpall > db.out
    To use the latest pg_dumpall script on your existing older database    before upgrading Postgres, pull the most
recentversion of pg_dumpall    from the new distribution:
 
    $ cd    $ gunzip -c postgresql-v6.5.3.tar.gz \        | tar xvf - src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dumpall    $ chmod a+x
src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dumpall   $ src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dumpall > db.out    $ rm -rf src
 
    If you wish to preserve object id's (oids), then use the -o option when    running pg_dumpall. However, unless you
havea special reason for doing    this (such as using OIDs as keys in tables), don't do it.
 
    If the pg_dumpall command seems to take a long time and you think it    might have died, then, from another
terminal,type
 
    $ ls -l db.out
    several times to see if the size of the file is growing.
    Please note that if you are upgrading from a version prior to    Postgres95 v1.09 then you must back up your
database,install    Postgres95 v1.09, restore your database, then back it up again. You    should also read the release
noteswhich should cover any    release-specific issues.
 
                                       Caution     You must make sure that your database is not updated in the middle
ofyour     backup. If necessary, bring down postmaster, edit the permissions in file
/usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.confto allow only you on, then bring     postmaster back up. 7. If you are upgrading an
existingsystem then kill the postmaster. Type
 
    $ ps -ax | grep postmaster
    This should list the process numbers for a number of processes. Type    the following line, with pid replaced by
theprocess id for process    postmaster. (Do not use the id for process "grep postmaster".) Type
 
    $ kill pid
    to actually stop the process.
         Tip: On systems which have Postgres started at boot time,         there is probably a startup file which will
accomplishthe         same thing. For example, on my Linux system I can type
 
         $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgres.init stop
         to halt Postgres.
 8. If you are upgrading an existing system then move the old directories    out of the way. If you are short of disk
spacethen you may have to    back up and delete the directories instead. If you do this, save the    old database in
the/usr/local/pgsql/data directory tree. At a minimum,    save file /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf.
 
    Type the following:
    $ su -    $ cd /usr/src    $ mv pgsql pgsql_6_0    $ cd /usr/local    $ mv pgsql pgsql_6_0    $ exit
    If you are not using /usr/local/pgsql/data as your data directory    (check to see if environment variable PGDATA
isset to something else)    then you will also want to move this directory in the same manner.
 
 9. Make new source and install directories. The actual paths can be    different for your installation but you must be
consistentthroughout    this procedure.
 
         Note: There are two places in this installation procedure         where you will have an opportunity to
specifyinstallation         locations for programs, libraries, documentation, and other         files. Usually it is
sufficientto specify these at the gmake         install stage of installation.
 
    Type
    $ su    $ cd /usr/src    $ mkdir pgsql    $ chown postgres:postgres pgsql    $ cd /usr/local    $ mkdir pgsql    $
chownpostgres:postgres pgsql    $ exit
 
10. Unzip and untar the new source file. Type
    $ cd /usr/src/pgsql    $ gunzip -c ~/postgresql-v6.5.3.tar.gz | tar xvf -
11. Configure the source code for your system. It is this step at which you    can specify your actual installation
pathfor the build process (see    the --prefix option below). Type
 
    $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/src    $ ./configure [ options ]
      a. Among other chores, the configure script selects a system-specific         "template" file from the files
providedin the template         subdirectory. If it cannot guess which one to use for your system,         it will say
soand exit. In that case you'll need to figure out         which one to use and run configure again, this time giving
the        --with-template=TEMPLATE option to make the right file be chosen.
 
              Please Report Problems: If your system is not              automatically recognized by configure and you
haveto do              this, please send email to scrappy@hub.org with the              output of the program
./config.guess.Indicate what the              template file should be.
 
      b. Choose configuration options. Check for details. However, for a         plain-vanilla first installation with
noextra options like         multi-byte character support or locale collation support it may be         adequate to
havechosen the installation areas and to run         configure without extra options specified. The configure script
    accepts many additional options that you can use if you don't like         the default configuration. To see them
all,type
 
              ./configure --help
         Some of the more commonly used ones are:
                --prefix=BASEDIR   Selects a different base directory for the
installationof the Postgres configuration.                                   The default is /usr/local/pgsql.
    --with-template=TEMPLATE                                   Use template file TEMPLATE - the template
                  files are assumed to be in the directory                                   src/template, so look
therefor proper values.                --with-tcl         Build interface libraries and programs requiring
                    Tcl/Tk, including libpgtcl, pgtclsh, and pgtksh.                --with-perl        Build the Perl
interfacelibrary.                --with-odbc        Build the ODBC driver package.                --enable-hba
EnablesHost Based Authentication (DEFAULT)                --disable-hba      Disables Host Based Authentication
      --enable-locale    Enables USE_LOCALE                --enable-cassert   Enables ASSERT_CHECKING
--with-CC=compiler                                  Use a specific C compiler that the configure
          script cannot find.                --with-CXX=compiler                --without-CXX
       Use a specific C++ compiler that the configure                                   script cannot find, or exclude
C++compilation                                   altogether.   (This only affects libpq++ at
      present.)
 
      c. Here is the configure script used on a Sparc Solaris 2.5 system         with /opt/postgres specified as the
installationbase directory:
 
         $ ./configure --prefix=/opt/postgres \             --with-template=sparc_solaris-gcc --with-pgport=5432 \
      --enable-hba --disable-locale
 
              Tip: Of course, you may type these three lines all on              the same line.
12. Install the man and HTML documentation. Type
    $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/doc    $ gmake install
    The documentation is also available in Postscript format. Look for    files ending with .ps.gz in the same
directory.
13. Compile the program. Type
    $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/src    $ gmake all > make.log 2>&1 &    $ tail -f make.log
    The last line displayed will hopefully be
    All of PostgreSQL is successfully made. Ready to install.
    Remember, "gmake" may be called "make" on your system. At this point,    or earlier if you wish, type control-C to
getout of tail. (If you have    problems later on you may wish to examine file make.log for warning and    error
messages.)
         Note: You will probably find a number of warning messages in         make.log. Unless you have problems later
on,these messages         may be safely ignored.
 
    If the compiler fails with a message stating that the flex command    cannot be found then install flex as
describedearlier. Next, change    directory back to this directory, type
 
    $ gmake clean
    then recompile again.
    Compiler options, such as optimization and debugging, may be specified    on the command line using the COPT
variable.For example, typing
 
    $ gmake COPT="-g" all > make.log 2>&1 &
    would invoke your compiler's -g option in all steps of the build. See    src/Makefile.global.in for further
details.
14. Install the program. Type
    $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/src    $ gmake install > make.install.log 2>&1 &    $ tail -f make.install.log
    The last line displayed will be
    gmake[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/pgsql/src/man'
    At this point, or earlier if you wish, type control-C to get out of    tail. Remember, "gmake" may be called "make"
onyour system.
 
15. If necessary, tell your system how to find the new shared libraries.    You can do one of the following, preferably
thefirst:
 
      a. As root, edit file /etc/ld.so.conf. Add a line
         /usr/local/pgsql/lib
         to the file. Then run command /sbin/ldconfig.
      b. In a bash shell, type
             export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/lib
      c. In a csh shell, type
             setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/pgsql/lib
    Please note that the above commands may vary wildly for different    operating systems. Check the platform specific
notes,such as those for    Ultrix4.x or and for non-ELF Linux.
 
    If, when you create the database, you get the message
    pg_id: can't load library 'libpq.so'
    then the above step was necessary. Simply do this step, then try to    create the database again.
16. If you used the --with-perl option to configure, check the install log    to see whether the Perl module was
actuallyinstalled. If you've    followed our advice to make the Postgres files be owned by an    unprivileged userid,
thenthe Perl module won't have been installed,    for lack of write privileges on the Perl library directories. You can
  complete its installation, either now or later, by becoming the user    that does own the Perl library (often root)
(viasu) and doing
 
          $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/src/interfaces/perl5          $ gmake install

17. If it has not already been done, then prepare account postgres for    using Postgres. Any account that will use
Postgresmust be similarly    prepared.
 
    There are several ways to influence the runtime environment of the    Postgres server. Refer to the Administrator's
Guidefor more    information.
 
         Note: The following instructions are for a bash/sh shell.         Adapt accordingly for other shells.
      a. Add the following lines to your login environment: shell,         ~/.bash_profile:
                 PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/bin                 MANPATH=$MANPATH:/usr/local/pgsql/man
PGLIB=/usr/local/pgsql/lib                PGDATA=/usr/local/pgsql/data                 export PATH MANPATH PGLIB
PGDATA

      b. Several regression tests could fail if the user's locale collation         scheme is different from that of
thestandard C locale.
 
         If you configure and compile Postgres with --enable-locale then         you should set the locale environment
to"C" (or unset all "LC_*"         variables) by putting these additional lines to your login         environment
beforestarting postmaster:
 
                 LC_COLLATE=C                 LC_CTYPE=C                 export LC_COLLATE LC_CTYPE




      c. Make sure that you have defined these variables before continuing         with the remaining steps. The
easiestway to do this is to type:
 
                 $ source ~/.bash_profile

18. Create the database installation from your Postgres superuser account    (typically account postgres). Do not do
thefollowing as root! This    would be a major security hole. Type
 
    $ initdb
19. Set up permissions to access the database system. Do this by editing    file /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf. The
instructionsare included    in the file. (If your database is not located in the default location,    i.e. if PGDATA is
setto point elsewhere, then the location of this    file will change accordingly.) This file should be made read only
again   once you are finished. If you are upgrading from v6.0 or later you can    copy file pg_hba.conf from your old
databaseon top of the one in your    new database, rather than redoing the file from scratch.
 
20. Briefly test that the backend will start and run by running it from the    command line.
      a. Start the postmaster daemon running in the background by typing
         $ cd         $ nohup postmaster -i > pgserver.log 2>&1 &
      b. Create a database by typing
         $ createdb
      c. Connect to the new database:
         $ psql
      d. And run a sample query:
         postgres=> SELECT datetime 'now';
      e. Exit psql:
         postgres=> \q
      f. Remove the test database (unless you will want to use it later for         other tests):
         $ destroydb
21. Run postmaster in the background from your Postgres superuser account    (typically account postgres). Do not run
postmasterfrom the root    account!
 
    Usually, you will want to modify your computer so that it will    automatically start postmaster whenever it boots.
Itis not required;    the Postgres server can be run successfully from non-privileged    accounts without root
intervention.
    Here are some suggestions on how to do this, contributed by various    users.
    Whatever you do, postmaster must be run by the Postgres superuser    (postgres?) and not by root. This is why all
ofthe examples below    start by switching user (su) to postgres. These commands also take into    account the fact
thatenvironment variables like PATH and PGDATA may    not be set properly. The examples are as follows. Use them with
extreme   caution.
 
       o If you are installing from a non-privileged account and have no         root access, then start the postmaster
andsend it to the         background:
 
         $ cd         $ nohup postmaster > regress.log 2>&1 &
       o Edit file rc.local on NetBSD or file rc2.d on SPARC Solaris 2.5.1         to contain the following single
line:
         su postgres -c "/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -S -D /usr/local/pgsql/data"
       o In FreeBSD 2.2-RELEASE edit /usr/local/etc/rc.d/pgsql.sh to         contain the following lines and make it
chmod755 and chown         root:bin.
 
         #!/bin/sh         [ -x /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster ] && {             su -l pgsql -c 'exec
/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster                -D/usr/local/pgsql/data                 -S -o -F >
/usr/local/pgsql/errlog'&             echo -n ' pgsql'         }
 
         You may put the line breaks as shown above. The shell is smart         enough to keep parsing beyond
end-of-lineif there is an         expression unfinished. The exec saves one layer of shell under the         postmaster
processso the parent is init.
 
       o In RedHat Linux add a file /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgres.init which is         based on the example in
contrib/linux/.Then make a softlink to         this file from /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S98postgres.init.
 
       o In RedHat Linux edit file /etc/inittab to add the following as a         single line:
         pg:2345:respawn:/bin/su - postgres -c             "/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D/usr/local/pgsql/data
        /usr/local/pgsql/server.log 2&1 /dev/null"
 
         (The author of this example says this example will revive the         postmaster if it dies, but he doesn't
knowif there are other side         effects.)
 
22. Run the regression tests. The file    /usr/src/pgsql/src/test/regress/README has detailed instructions for
runningand interpreting the regression tests. A short version follows    here:
 
      a. Type
         $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/src/test/regress         $ gmake clean         $ gmake all runtest
         You do not need to type gmake clean if this is the first time you         are running the tests.
         You should get on the screen (and also written to file         ./regress.out) a series of statements stating
whichtests passed         and which tests failed. Please note that it can be normal for some         tests to "fail" on
someplatforms. The script says a test has         failed if there is any difference at all between the actual output
    of the test and the expected output. Thus, tests may "fail" due to         minor differences in wording of error
messages,small differences         in floating-point roundoff, etc, between your system and the         regression test
referenceplatform. "Failures" of this type do not         indicate a problem with Postgres. The file ./regression.diffs
       contains the textual differences between the actual test output on         your machine and the "expected"
output(which is simply what the         reference system produced). You should carefully examine each
differencelisted to see whether it appears to be a significant         issue.
 
         For example,
            + For a i686/Linux-ELF platform, no tests failed since this is              the v6.5.3 regression testing
referenceplatform.
 
         Even if a test result clearly indicates a real failure, it may be         a localized problem that will not
affectyou. An example is that         the int8 test will fail, producing obviously incorrect output, if         your
machineand C compiler do not provide a 64-bit integer data         type (or if they do but configure didn't discover
it).This is not         something to worry about unless you need to store 64-bit integers.
 
         Conclusion? If you do see failures, try to understand the nature         of the differences and then decide if
thosedifferences will         affect your intended use of Postgres. The regression tests are a         helpful tool,
butthey may require some study to be useful.
 
         After running the regression tests, type
         $ destroydb regression         $ cd /usr/src/pgsql/src/test/regress         $ gmake clean
         to recover the disk space used for the tests. (You may want to         save the regression.diffs file in
anotherplace before doing         this.)
 
23. If you haven't already done so, this would be a good time to modify    your computer to do regular maintainence.
Thefollowing should be done    at regular intervals:
 
    Minimal Backup Procedure
      1. Run the SQL command VACUUM. This will clean up your database.
      2. Back up your system. (You should probably keep the last few         backups on hand.) Preferably, no one else
shouldbe using the         system at the time.
 
    Ideally, the above tasks should be done by a shell script that is run    nightly or weekly by cron. Look at the man
pagefor crontab for a    starting point on how to do this. (If you do it, please e-mail us a    copy of your shell
script.We would like to set up our own systems to    do this too.)
 
24. If you are upgrading an existing system then reinstall your old    database. Type
    $ cd    $ psql -e template1 < db.out
    If your pre-v6.2 database uses either path or polygon geometric data    types, then you will need to upgrade any
columnscontaining those    types. To do so, type (from within psql)
 
    UPDATE FirstTable SET PathCol = UpgradePath(PathCol);    UPDATE SecondTable SET PathCol = UpgradePath(PathCol);
...   VACUUM;
 
    UpgradePath() checks to see that a path value is consistant with the    old syntax, and will not update a column
whichfails that examination.    UpgradePoly() cannot verify that a polygon is in fact from an old    syntax, but
RevertPoly()is provided to reverse the effects of a    mis-applied upgrade.
 
25. If you are a new user, you may wish to play with Postgres as described    below.
26. Clean up after yourself. Type
    $ rm -rf /usr/src/pgsql_6_5    $ rm -rf /usr/local/pgsql_6_5    # Also delete old database directory tree if it is
notin    #  /usr/local/pgsql_6_5/data    $ rm ~/postgresql-v6.5.3.tar.gz
 
27. You will probably want to print out the documentation. If you have a    Postscript printer, or have your machine
alreadyset up to accept    Postscript files using a print filter, then to print the User's Guide    simply type
 
    $ cd /usr/local/pgsql/doc    $ gunzip user.ps.tz | lpr
    Here is how you might do it if you have Ghostscript on your system and    are writing to a laserjet printer.
    $ alias gshp='gs -sDEVICE=laserjet -r300 -dNOPAUSE'    $ export
GS_LIB=/usr/share/ghostscript:/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts   $ gunzip user.ps.gz    $ gshp -sOUTPUTFILE=user.hp user.ps
  $ gzip user.ps    $ lpr -l -s -r manpage.hp
 
28. The Postgres team wants to keep Postgres working on all of the    supported platforms. We therefore ask you to let
usknow if you did or    did not get Postgres to work on you system. Please send a mail message    to
pgsql-ports@postgresql.orgtelling us the following:
 
       o The version of Postgres (v6.5.3, 6.5, beta 990318, etc.).
       o Your operating system (i.e. RedHat v5.1 Linux v2.0.34).
       o Your hardware (SPARC, i486, etc.).
       o Did you compile, install and run the regression tests cleanly? If         not, what source code did you change
(i.e.patches you applied,         changes you made, etc.), what tests failed, etc. It is normal to         get many
warningwhen you compile. You do not need to report         these.
 
29. Now create, access and manipulate databases as desired. Write client    programs to access the database server. In
otherwords, enjoy!
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Playing with Postgres

After Postgres is installed, a database system is created, a postmaster
daemon is running, and the regression tests have passed, you'll want to see
Postgres do something. That's easy. Invoke the interactive interface to
Postgres, psql:

% psql template1

(psql has to open a particular database, but at this point the only one that
exists is the template1 database, which always exists. We will connect to it
only long enough to create another one and switch to it.)

The response from psql is:

Welcome to the POSTGRESQL interactive sql monitor: Please read the file COPYRIGHT for copyright terms of POSTGRESQL
  type \? for help on slash commands  type \q to quit  type \g or terminate with semicolon to execute queryYou are
currentlyconnected to the database: template1
 

template1=>

Create the database foo:

template1=> create database foo;
CREATEDB

(Get in the habit of including those SQL semicolons. Psql won't execute
anything until it sees the semicolon or a "\g" and the semicolon is required
to delimit multiple statements.)

Now connect to the new database:

template1=> \c foo
connecting to new database: foo

("slash" commands aren't SQL, so no semicolon. Use \? to see all the slash
commands.)

And create a table:

foo=> create table bar (i int4, c char(16));
CREATE

Then inspect the new table:

foo=> \d bar

Table    = bar
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+-------+
|              Field               |              Type                | Length|
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+-------+
| i                                | int4                             |     4 |
| c                                | (bp)char                         |    16 |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------+-------+

And so on. You get the idea.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Next Step

Questions? Bugs? Feedback? First, read the files in directory
/usr/src/pgsql/doc/. The FAQ in this directory may be particularly useful.

If Postgres failed to compile on your computer then fill out the form in
file /usr/src/pgsql/doc/bug.template and mail it to the location indicated
at the top of the form.

Check on the web site at http://www.postgresql.org For more information on
the various support mailing lists.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------


Porting Notes

Check for any platform-specific FAQs in the doc/ directory of the source
distribution.