postgresql-17 on debian bookworm - directories missing

On Thu, 2025-11-20 at 12:35 +0100, Hu Bert wrote:

Hi there,
i have a debian bookworm with postgresql-16 installed, from
postgresql
repository. I wanted to install postgresql-17 and then do a an
inplace
upgrade via pg_upgrade.

Install: apt install postgresql-17 postgresql-17-postgis-3
postgresql-17-postgis-3-scripts postgresql-client-17

But after the installation there's no v17 cluster:

pg_lsclusters
Ver Cluster Port Status Owner    Data directory              Log file
16  main    5432 online postgres /var/lib/postgresql/16/main
/var/log/postgresql/postgresql-16-main.log

and these directories are missing:
/etc/postgresql/17/
/var/lib/postgresql/17/

Same happens when i try to install postgresql-18.

Am i doing smth wrong? Did i miss anything?

Thx,
Hubert

The binaries are at /usr/lib/postgresql/17 where the number 17
indicates the major version.

HTH
Rob

Hi Rob,

yes, this directory exists with all the files, but the rest doesn't -
so one has to create the other directories and the cluster manually?
"Long time ago" this happened when installing the packages - must've
changed at some point :-)

Thx,
Hubert

Am Do., 20. Nov. 2025 um 13:26 Uhr schrieb rob stone <floriparob@tpg.com.au>:

On 2025-Nov-20, Hu Bert wrote:

Hi there,
i have a debian bookworm with postgresql-16 installed, from postgresql
repository. I wanted to install postgresql-17 and then do a an inplace
upgrade via pg_upgrade.

Install: apt install postgresql-17 postgresql-17-postgis-3
postgresql-17-postgis-3-scripts postgresql-client-17

But after the installation there's no v17 cluster:

I think this is expected. The Debian packages create a cluster when you
install the server packages only if you don't already have a cluster.
Here it's clearly that you do have one, so a new one isn't created. You
could create one yourself with pg_createcluster. However, if what you
want to do is to upgrade the 16 one, then I think you don't need to
create a new one, but instead use pg_upgradecluster which will create
one for you.

--
Álvaro Herrera 48°01'N 7°57'E — https://www.EnterpriseDB.com/

Hi Álvaro,

interesting - about one and a half year ago i upgraded postgresql from
14 to 16 - installed the v16 packages, and both versions and two
clusters were running.

upgrade:
/usr/lib/postgresql/16/bin/pg_upgrade --link --old-options "-c
config_file=/etc/postgresql/14/main/postgresql.conf" --new-options "-c
config_file=/etc/postgresql/16/main/postgresql.conf"
--old-bindir=/usr/lib/postgresql/14/bin/
--new-bindir=/usr/lib/postgresql/16/bin/
--old-datadir=/var/lib/postgresql/14/main
--new-datadir=/var/lib/postgresql/16/main --old-port=5432
--new-port=5433

So that must've changed in the past. However... so i have 2 options:

- create a v17 cluster and run pg_upgrade or
- run pg_upgradecluster

Have to check the 2nd command :-)

Thx,
Hubert

Am Do., 20. Nov. 2025 um 13:46 Uhr schrieb Álvaro Herrera
<alvherre@kurilemu.de>:

On 11/20/25 04:37, Hu Bert wrote:

Hi Rob,

yes, this directory exists with all the files, but the rest doesn't -
so one has to create the other directories and the cluster manually?
"Long time ago" this happened when installing the packages - must've
changed at some point :-)

https://salsa.debian.org/postgresql/postgresql-common/-/commit/d9139f7777a42a39b5b6fabbffc9f020fad4dce5

/messages/by-id/e8c0e0e43cf0458fa3a021dd0cb398c8@bd.so.ch

Thx,
Hubert

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

Hi Adrian,

ah ok, so i wasn't the only one ;-) I did a couple of postgres
upgrades with pg_upgrade and installing the new posgres version in
parallel, that felt "normal" for me, so that's why i got confused. Thx
for the clarification! :-)

Hubert

Am Do., 20. Nov. 2025 um 19:35 Uhr schrieb Adrian Klaver
<adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>: