> 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.
