Question

[OSX] pg_ctl: could not open PID file

Asked by: R7AF

For some reason Posgresql won't start anymore. When I start PGAdmin I get the following message:

Server doesn't listen
The server doesn't accept connections: the connection library reports
could not connect to server: Connection refused

In the error log I find the following message:

com.apple.SystemStarter[21] pg_ctl: could not open PID file "/databases/postgresql/8.3/postmaster.pid": Permission denied

I've tried to reinstall Postgres, but nothing changed.

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Asked On
2009-04-19 at 08:24:41ID24335600
Tags

osx

,

pid

,

postgresql

Topics

PostgreSQL Database

,

Mac OS X

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: gheistPosted on 2009-04-19 at 08:46:43ID: 24179397

What is pgadmin? Is it pgadmin3?
You need to run it as user that can connect to pid and socket of postgresql... Or use TCP with username and password.

 

by: R7AFPosted on 2009-04-21 at 00:30:45ID: 24191703

I mean pgadmin3. I've been able to run Postgresql before. At some point you need to login. However, when I run Top, I don't see any postgresql processes.

 

by: gheistPosted on 2009-04-21 at 01:59:29ID: 24192144

I have no idea where OSX stores logs.
You may get idea from equivalent of /var/log/messages
Or PostgreSQL log in dir above data dir.

 

by: R7AFPosted on 2009-04-21 at 02:14:53ID: 24192235

The postgres log reports the following:

com.apple.SystemStarter[21] pg_ctl: could not open PID file "/databases/postgresql/8.3/postmaster.pid": Permission denied

Should I look at other logs as well? Which ones in particular?

 

by: gheistPosted on 2009-04-21 at 02:17:47ID: 24192249

Check if postgresql user is owner of that file, make sure it is and start again.

 

by: earthman2Posted on 2009-04-22 at 01:11:32ID: 24202267

The account that is starting postmaster process cannot delete or create the file
/databases/postgresql/8.3/postmaster.pid

if it exists delete it, check the postgresql admin account has write access to the /databases/postgresql/8.3  directory.

 

by: R7AFPosted on 2009-04-25 at 04:20:11ID: 24231719

I finally solved it. I tried to reinstall postgres, using a different folder than the default one. This failed over and over, mainly to rights issues. In the end I used all default settings, after which the install proceeded normally. Then I copied the data (keeping all rights) to another location. I renamed the original data-folder, and created a dynamic link to the new location.

 

by: gheistPosted on 2009-04-25 at 04:38:39ID: 24231756

Good to know, thanks for keeping up with discussion.

 

by: R7AFPosted on 2009-05-06 at 01:39:03ID: 24312279

So guess what... That seemed to work, but after a restart... not anymore! Now I'm using the default installation, with the database files in /library/postgresql/8.3/data. Not what I want, but for now this problem is not important enough to give it more attention.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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