Re: Server tries to read a different config file than it is supposed to

On Sat, 2015-05-23 at 04:23 -0700, twoflower wrote:
> I thought I understood how specifying a config file path for the
> server works, but that's apparently not the case.
>
> The cluster data is at /storage/postgresql/9.4/data.
>
> The config files are at /etc/postgresql/9.4/main (this is the default
> location on Ubuntu).
>
> This is how the beginning of /etc/postgresql/9.4/main/postgresql.conf
> looks like:
>
> data_directory = '/storage/postgresql/9.4/data'
> hba_file = '/etc/postgresql/9.4/main/pg_hba.conf'
> ident_file = '/etc/postgresql/9.4/main/pg_ident.conf'
>
> So I wrote a few scripts to make my life easier, e.g. pg94start.sh:
>
> su postgres -c "/usr/lib/postgresql/9.4/bin/pg_ctl
> -D /storage/postgresql/9.4/data -o '-c
> config_file=/etc/postgresql/9.4/main/postgresql.conf'"
>
> But running this script did not work, the server would not start. So I
> checked the log file and there was:
>
> FATAL: could not open file
> "/storage/postgresql/9.4/data/postgresql.conf": Permission denied
>
> After fixing the ownership of this file, it worked.
>
> What's the reason the server was trying to access that file? Why does
> not the override given by the config_file parameter work?
>
> Thank you.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> View this message in context: Server tries to read a different config
> file than it is supposed to
> Sent from the PostgreSQL - general mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Similar hassles with Debian. I use scripts like this to start the
server.

#! /bin/sh
PGDATA=/home/postgres/data94;export PGDATA
PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/postgresql/9.4/bin;export PATH
PGBINARIES=/usr/lib/postgresql/9.4/bin;export PGBINARIES
cd /usr/lib/postgresql/9.4/bin
./pg_ctl start
exit 0

I have different scripts depending on the version of Postgres that I
need. I know that I could have a generic script and just pass in the
variables. I run them as the postgres user.
It reads the conf file from the PGDATA path.

HTH.

Robert