by Vinod Kurup Skip this page if you're not interested in PostgreSQL. Download PostgreSQL 7.2.3 from the mirror closest to you. The list of mirrors is at http://www.postgresql.org. Download it to /tmp. As root, unpack it into /usr/local/src joeuser:~$ su - Password: *********** root:~# cd /usr/local/src root:/usr/local/src# tar xzf /tmp/postgresql-7.2.3.tar.gz Still as root, create a user and group (if you haven't done so before) for PostgreSQL. This is the account that PostgreSQL will run as since it will not run as root. Also give the postgres user a password: root:~# groupadd web root:~# useradd -g web -d /usr/local/pgsql postgres root:~# passwd postgres root:~# mkdir -p /usr/local/pgsql root:~# chown -R postgres.web /usr/local/pgsql /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3 root:~# chmod 750 /usr/local/pgsql root:~# exit logout joeuser:~$ su - postgres Password: *********** Edit /usr/local/pgsql/.bash_profile so it looks like this: LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/lib PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/bin export PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH Logout and login again as postgres. Use the echo command to make sure that /usr/local/pgsql/bin is now in your PATH postgres:~$ exit logout joeuser:~$ su - postgres Password: ************ postgres:~$ echo $PATH /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin: ... :/usr/local/pgsql/bin First, we run ./configure to set the compilation options automatically. This is the point at which you can configure PostgreSQL in various ways. For example, if you want to enable Unicode support, add the flags --enable-locale and --enable-multibyte. If you want to see what the other possibilities are, run ./configure --help. postgres:~$ cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3 postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ ./configure postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ make all Compilation will take a while (about 10 minutes). Once it's done, you will see the following message: All of PostgreSQL is successfully made. Ready to install. Next, we'll install PostgreSQL. If all is successful, you'll see the following Thank You message. postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ make install ... Thank you for choosing PostgreSQL, the most advanced open source database engine. OpenFTS is the module that provides full text search to OpenACS &version;. We won't be installing it until later, but since it needs a special PostgreSQL module called 'tsearch', we'll install it now. postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ cd contrib/tsearch postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3/contrib/tsearch$ make postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3/contrib/tsearch$ make install The initdb command initializes the database. pg_ctl is used to start up PostgreSQL. postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3/contrib/tsearch$ cd postgres:~$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data postgres:~$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l /usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log start postmaster successfully started PostgreSQL errors will be logged in /usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log Next, we'll install plpgsql into our PostgreSQL installation so that we can use stored procedures. We'll also create a database user named joeuser (replace with your own username), so that you'll be able to access the database via AOLserver. postgres:~$ createlang plpgsql template1 postgres:~$ # Test if we succeeded postgres:~$ createlang -l template1 Procedural languages Name | Trusted? ---------+---------- plpgsql | t (1 row) postgres:~$ createuser joeuser Shall the new user be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y Shall the new user be allowed to create more new users? (y/n) y CREATE USER Create a database and try some simple commands. The output should be as shown. postgres:~$ createdb mytestdb CREATE DATABASE postgres:~$ psql mytestdb Welcome to psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal. Type: \copyright for distribution terms \h for help with SQL commands \? for help on internal slash commands \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query \q to quit mytestdb=# select current_timestamp; timestamp ------------------------ 2001-12-20 14:24:30-05 (1 row) mytestdb=# create function test1() returns integer as 'begin return 1; end;' language 'plpgsql'; CREATE mytestdb=# select test1(); test1 ------- 1 (1 row) mytestdb=# \q postgres:~$ dropdb mytestdb DROP DATABASE Download postgresql.txt to /tmp. Then follow the instructions specific to your distribution: Debian: postgres:~$ su - Password: *********** root:~# cp /tmp/postgresql.txt /etc/init.d/postgresql root:~# chown root.root /etc/init.d/postgresql root:~# chmod 700 /etc/init.d/postgresql Test the script root:~# /etc/init.d/postgresql stop Stopping PostgreSQL: ok If PostgreSQL successfully stopped, then use the following command to make sure that the script is run appropriately at boot and shutdown. root:~# update-rc.d postgresql defaults Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/postgresql ... /etc/rc0.d/K20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql /etc/rc1.d/K20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql /etc/rc6.d/K20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql /etc/rc2.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql /etc/rc3.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql /etc/rc4.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql /etc/rc5.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql root:~# /etc/init.d/postgresql start Starting PostgreSQL: ok root:~# exit postgres:~$ exit Red Hat: postgres:~$ su - Password: *********** root:~# cp /tmp/postgresql.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql root:~# chown root.root /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql root:~# chmod 700 /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql Test the script. root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql stop Stopping PostgreSQL: ok If PostgreSQL successfully stopped, then use the following command to make sure that the script is run appropriately at boot and shutdown. root:~# chkconfig --add postgresql root:~# chkconfig --list postgresql ; You should see: postgresql 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql start Starting PostgreSQL: ok root:~# exit postgres:~$ exit SuSE: I have received reports that SuSE 8.0 is different from previous versions. Instead of installing the boot scripts in /etc/rc.d/init.d/, they should be placed in /etc/init.d/. If you're using SuSE 8.0, delete the rc.d/ part in each of the following commands. postgres:~$ su - Password: *********** root:~# cp /tmp/postgresql.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql root:~# chown root.root /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql root:~# chmod 700 /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql Test the script. root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql stop Stopping PostgreSQL: ok If PostgreSQL successfully stopped, then use the following command to make sure that the script is run appropriately at boot and shutdown. root:~# cd /etc/rc.d/init.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql K20postgresql root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql S20postgresql root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc2.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc2.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc3.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc3.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc4.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc4.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc5.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc5.d root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# rm K20postgresql root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# rm S20postgresql Test configuration. root:/etc/rc.d/init.d # cd root:~ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc2.d/S20postgresql start Starting PostgreSQL: ok root:~ # exit From now on, PostgreSQL should start automatically each time you boot up and it should shutdown gracefully each time you shut down. (Note: Debian defaults to starting all services on runlevels 2-5. Red Hat defaults to starting services on 3-5. So, on Red Hat, PostgreSQL won't start on runlevel 2 unless you alter the above commands a little. This usually isn't a problem as Red Hat defaults to runlevel 3) Here are some links: Official PostgreSQL Docs Migrating from 7.0 to 7.1 techdocs.postgresql.org PostgreSQL Performance Tuning ($Id: postgres.xml,v 1.5.2.1 2002/11/24 21:29:24 vinodk Exp $)