Running Postmaster - PGDATA Variable

On Thu, 26 Jul 2001 23:47:34 +0000 (UTC), Mike C <mike@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>:

Hi,

You must specify the directory that contains the database system either by specifying the -D >invocation option or by setting the PGDATA environment variable.

Where can I set this variable so I don't get this message all the time. I did type

[localhost:/usr/local] postgres% postmaster -D /usr/local/pgsql/data but got this message:
Lock file "/usr/local/pgsql/data/postmaster.pid" already exists.
--

You would set the PGDATA variable in your shell initialization file
(might be .cshrc or .profile for instance) see the documentation for
your shell on how to set the variable.

If you are absolutely sure that there is not another postmaster
still running you can remove the postmaster.pid file

The file may have been left there if you killed the postmaster
without shutting down properly (like if the power went out on
your computer.)

On Fri, Jul 27, 2001 at 12:28:25AM +0000, Lee Harr wrote:

Lock file "/usr/local/pgsql/data/postmaster.pid" already exists.

If you are absolutely sure that there is not another postmaster
still running you can remove the postmaster.pid file

The file may have been left there if you killed the postmaster
without shutting down properly (like if the power went out on
your computer.)

Can't postgres check to see if the pid listed in that file is still active?
If it is then you can say so, if not then (unless the data is shared out and
there's a postmaster running elsewhere) it's fine to delete it.

--
Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org>
http://svana.org/kleptog/

Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org> writes:

Can't postgres check to see if the pid listed in that file is still active?

It does, at least in recent releases ...

regards, tom lane