PostgreSQL 8.3.4-1 OS X installer fails post install step

Sachin_S wrote:
Philipps-MacBook-Pro:~ Philipp$ su admin Password: bash-3.2$ ls -l `sudo su postgres -c "echo \\\$HOME/.."` Password: ls: /Users/Philipp/Library/PostgreSQL/8.3/..: Permission denied
Why the 'admin' user doesn't have permissions to access 'postgres' user home directory?

my guess is, that it's a users lib, that admin isnt allowed to access?

The installer is run by 'admin' user. and if it doesnt have access to the 'postgres' user home directory it will create problems. I believe the code:

~:su admin password: ~:sudo su - postgres

Should result in su: no directory error.

yes, that returns no directory.

.. granted admin rights to user philipp, reinstalled. same error.

Jon,

So now user 'philipp' is also part of admin group. Which means you can run the installer from user 'philipp'.
i) Please, uninstall all previous installation tries.
ii) Remove all the installed directories.
iii) Remove the 'postgres' user.

Run the installer with user 'philipp'. (If you haven't done the above steps already.)

Otherwise, Run this command as user 'philipp'

whether this code returns or you are able to log in.

yeah, did that reinstall. however still not working.

sudo su - postgres returns no directory.

maybe that library path is protected somehow? what commands should i enter to set the right flags for user postgres in that directory? or u have any other ideas?

Jon,

Since the installer is run by 'philipp' user, and the 'postgres' user is also created by user 'philipp'. It should access its home directory/ allowed to login.

Please post the output of following commands:

In my machine. I get :

Also the postgres user home directory (in my case /Library/PostgreSQL/8.3) and all parent directories (i.e /, /Library, /Library/PostgreSQL) should be readable to the user which runs the installer(in your case 'philipp')

Please make sure the above condition holds also.

bash-3.2$ sudo dscl . -read /users/Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_hint: Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_jpegphoto: Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_LinkedIdentity: Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_passwd: Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_picture: Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_realname: Philipp
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_UserCertificate: Philipp
AppleMetaNodeLocation: /Local/Default
AuthenticationAuthority: ;ShadowHash; ;Kerberosv5;;Philipp@LKDC:SHA1.5B09DDCF074FCA339CE06445CE99C40140FA1F51;LKDC:SHA1.5B09DDCF074FCA339CE06445CE99C40140FA1F51;
AuthenticationHint:
GeneratedUID: A3BAF3E9-A910-42C0-89A9-86779AB7CE66
NFSHomeDirectory: /Users/Philipp
Password: ********
PrimaryGroupID: 20
RealName: Philipp
RecordName: Philipp
RecordType: dsRecTypeNative:users
UniqueID: 502
UserShell: /bin/bash

bash-3.2$ sudo dscl . -read /users/Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_hint: Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_jpegphoto: Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_LinkedIdentity: Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_passwd: Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_picture: Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_realname: Admin
dsAttrTypeNative:_writers_UserCertificate: Admin
AppleMetaNodeLocation: /Local/Default
AuthenticationAuthority: ;ShadowHash; ;Kerberosv5;;Admin@LKDC:SHA1.5B09DDCF074FCA339CE06445CE99C40140FA1F51;LKDC:SHA1.5B09DDCF074FCA339CE06445CE99C40140FA1F51;
AuthenticationHint:
GeneratedUID: FDF49590-72A5-4C05-9A05-B05740B017E6
NFSHomeDirectory: /Users/Admin
Password: ********
PrimaryGroupID: 20
RealName: Admin
RecordName: Admin
RecordType: dsRecTypeNative:users
UniqueID: 501
UserShell: /bin/bash

bash-3.2$ sudo dscl . -read /users/postgres
AppleMetaNodeLocation: /Local/Default
NFSHomeDirectory: /Users/Philipp/Library/PostgreSQL/8.3
Password: *
PrimaryGroupID: 1
RealName: PostgreSQL
RecordName: postgres
RecordType: dsRecTypeNative:users
UniqueID: 503

also all above directories are readable by philipp (admin-rights and his home-dir).

This one also:

Philipps-MacBook-Pro:~ Philipp$ sudo dscl . read /groups/admin
AppleMetaNodeLocation: /Local/Default
GeneratedUID: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF00000050
GroupMembership: root Admin Philipp
Password: *
PrimaryGroupID: 80
RealName: Administrators
RecordName: admin
RecordType: dsRecTypeNative:groups
SMBSID: S-1-5-32-544

installing to normal /library/.. works btw! /users/philipp/library does not.

Jon,

Ok so i tried installing the same in /Users/sachin/Library/PostgreSQL/8.3 and i got :

su : no directory.

then i did (from user sachin) sudo su - postgres and again i get :

su : no directory.

then i did (from user sachin) sudo chmod 755 /Users/sachin/Library

and then i Uninstalled the previous installation, removed user and removed all the installed directories.

Ran the installer again and got successful.

sounds like a plan

I dont want my personal lib-dir to be readable by others.
can I chmod 700 (I guess thats the correct command to set back to deafult?) after installation and postgres will work and no security-risks emerge?

Jon,

If after installation you change the permissions to 700. Then unfortunately your postgresql installation will cease to work.

ok, installing to /users/philipp.. is no option then.

I will use the default install path, which is working fine now after deleting the old postgres-user.

Thanks alot for your help

You must to do some modifications on User Accounts on your mac:

1. Open User preferences after from Postgres Instalation
2. Rename user PostgresSQL to postgres
3. Enable the administrator permisions.
4. Execute newly the Postgres instaler.

I applied these steps on Mac OS X V 10.7 with Postgres 9.0.4-1
regards,

Alejandro Sánchez
Postgres DBA

Mariaama wrote:You must to do some modifications on User Accounts on your mac:

1. Open User preferences after from Postgres Instalation
2. Rename user PostgresSQL to postgres
3. Enable the administrator permisions.
4. Execute newly the Postgres instaler.

I applied these steps on Mac OS X V 10.7 with Postgres 9.0.4-1
regards,

Alejandro Sánchez
Postgres DBA

Could you explain each step more detail, because I bought the new Macbook Pro (lion) but can not install Postgres.I have the same problem like others.
1.where I can find the User preferences? I install fail.
2.where to rename
3.how to enable the administrator permissins
4.newly postgres installer means reinstall Postgres 9.0.4-1, am I right.

It is not necessary to give admin permissions to the postgres user. The problem on Lion is the following.

On Lion, there is a user _postgres precreated in the system. The createuser.sh script greps the users list with the pattern "postgres" and finds the precreated _postgres user. The result is that no user is created during the installation and it fails. What you have to do is deleting the _postgres user.

When you install postgres again, you'll see that the user postgres is created.

But it still fails due to caching of the directory service. You can either flush the ds cache or reboot Lion. And reinstall again. It should work then. Good luck.