PostgreSQL-7.4.2
Introduction to PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system (ORDBMS), derived from the Berkeley Postgres database management system.
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Download (HTTP): http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/db/postgresql/v7.4.2/postgresql-7.4.2.tar.bz2
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Download (FTP): ftp://ftp.fr.postgresql.org/v7.4.2/postgresql-7.4.2.tar.bz2
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Download size: 9.7 MB
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Estimated Disk space required: 80 MB
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Estimated build time: 1.21 SBU
Installation of PostgreSQL
Install PostgreSQL with the following commands:
./configure --prefix=/usr &&
make &&
make install
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Note
If you are upgrading an existing system and are going to install the new files over the old ones, then you should back up your data, shut down the old server and follow the instructions in the official PostgreSQL documentation.
Initialize a database cluster with the following commands:
mkdir -p /var/pgsql/data &&
useradd -d /var/pgsql/data postgres &&
chown postgres /var/pgsql/data &&
su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/initdb -D /var/pgsql/data'
Start the database server with the following command:
su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/postmaster -D /var/pgsql/data > \
/var/pgsql/data/logfile 2>&1 &'
Now we can create a database and verify the installation:
su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/createdb test' &&
echo "create table t1 ( name varchar(20), state_province varchar(20) );" \
| (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') &&
echo "insert into t1 values ('Billy', 'NewYork');" \
| (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') &&
echo "insert into t1 values ('Evanidus', 'Quebec');" \
| (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') &&
echo "insert into t1 values ('Jesse', 'Ontario');" \
| (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') &&
echo "select * from t1;" | (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test')
Command explanations
useradd -d /var/pgsql/data postgres: Add an unprivileged user to run the database server. Running the server as root is dangerous, and moreover simply will not work.
su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/initdb -D /var/pgsql/data': Initialize the database tablespace. This command may not be executed by root.
su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/postmaster -D /var/pgsql/data > /var/pgsql/data/logfile 2>&1 &': Start the database server. User postgres must execute this command as well.
createdb test, create table t1 , insert into t1 values..., select * from t1: Create a database, add a table to it, insert some rows into the table and select them to verify that the installation is working properly.
Configuring PostgreSQL
$PGDATA/pg_ident.con, $PGDATA/pg_hba.conf, $PGDATA/postgresql.conf
The PGDATA environment variable is used to distinguish database clusters from one another by setting it to the value of the directory which contains the cluster desired. The three configuration files exist in every PGDATA/ directory. Details on the format of the files and the options that can be set in each can be found in file:///usr/share/doc/postgresql/html/index.html.
Install /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql init script included in the blfs-bootscripts-5.1 package.
make install-postgresql
Contents
The PostgreSQL package contains clusterdb, createdb, createlang, createuser, dropdb, droplang, dropuser, ecpg, initdb, initlocation, ipcclean, pg_config, pg_controldata, pg_ctl, pg_dump, pg_dumpall, pg_encoding, pg_id, pg_resetxlog, pg_restore, pgtclsh, pgtksh, pltcl_delmod, pltcl_listmod, pltcl_loadmod, postgres, postmaster, psql, vacuumdb, libecpg, libpgtcl, libpgtypes, libpq and various charset modules.
Description
pg_controldata returns information initialized during initdb, such as the catalog version and server locale.
pg_dump dumps database data and metadata into scripts which are used to recreate the database.
pg_resetxlog clears the write-ahead log and optionally resets some fields in the pg_control file.