Re: Forgot to dump old data before re-installing machine

Stefan Schwarzer <stefan(dot)schwarzer(at)grid(dot)unep(dot)ch> writes:
> After running initdb the postmaster started smoothly. I stopped it,
> copied my database files into the same location, started the
> postmaster again, and then got this error message:

> schwarzers-mac-mini:/usr/local/pgsql schwarzer$ /usr/local/bin/pg_ctl
> -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l postgres.log start
> pg_ctl: could not open PID file "/usr/local/pgsql/data/
> postmaster.pid": Permission denied

You're trying to start the server as yourself (user schwarzer) but the
files all belong to user postgres:

> drwx------ 16 postgres admin 544 Jan 23 18:23 data

The files have to be owned by the user that runs the server. If you
want to switch over to doing that as schwarzer, a quick "chown -R"
will help.

regards, tom lane