Frank Miles <fpm(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu> writes:
> The only thing I can imagine might be the problem is that client system
> doesn't have postgres loaded.
You don't need the server loaded, only the client libraries. If you
are getting as far as to contact the server, then AFAIK your client
libraries are present and working.
> I'm mystified.
Ditto. If this isn't a postmaster bug, at the very least it's an
inadequate log entry.
It's time to roll out the heavy artillery: I think the next step is to
trace through the postmaster with a debugger and see where and why it's
refusing the connection. Do you want to try that? If not, I'd be
willing to help if you'll grant me access to the server system.
regards, tom lane