Re: Fw: Please Help

On Wed, Mar 14, 2001 at 12:25:31PM -0800, keith wrote:
> I am lost. I am a developer, new to Linux and to postgreSQL.

boy, you're in for a juorney. linux, after intimate familiarity
with mac os or windon't, will seem like you've been thrown into a
wet dungeon, blindfolded and naked. everything you seek is
already in there, but you'll have difficulty in finding it. don't
give up hope -- askthe right questions and you'll do fine...

> I am trying to install postgreSQL on a linux machine. Every
> command I try to run gives me a command not found error. I
> cannot seem to do anything. I tried running all the commands. I
> tried being the root user as well as other users, no
> difference. I tried going to the scr directory and 'make all'
> still nothing. I see the html documents and can run them, but
> that is it.
>
> Does anyone have any advice for someone who is an idiot when it
> comes to this???

yes.

to answer the next question, "what should i look for?" i'd
try these -- and these are merely guesses:

- don't forget that linux is a multi-user system; user "doogie"
may have priviliges to get into the database, where user
"biscuit" has access to the printer... each user/login has to
be set up with memberships in the necessary groups and have the
necessary environment attributes, and so forth.

NOTE -- i use debian "potato" (2.2) so any specific paths i offer
will work if yuo're no the same distribution, and might not apply
otherwise. your mileage is likely to vary.

- the documents (/usr/share/doc/postgres*/ or /usr/doc/postgres*/)
will give you hints on what went where. short of that, you can
find files on your own:

locate postmaster <-- if you've done 'updatedb' as root lately
find / -name psql -print <-- if your machine has nothing
better to do

- your $PATH might not include the postgres-specific directories.
for postgresql users, make sure their environment is properly
set at login (in ~/.bashrc or, for tcsh users, ~/.login) via
something like

source /etc/postgresql/postmaster.init

or at least

# bash:
export PATH="/usr/lib/postgresql/bin/:$PATH"
# csh:
setenv PATH "/usr/lib/postgresql/bin/:$PATH"

- there's also some other environment variables to consider
including

PGDATA=/var/postgres/data
PGLIB=/usr/lib/postgresql/lib

but i think these are more for setting up your postgresql
environment itself, as opposed to a user's environment who's
trying to connect with postgresql.

- once you can find the commands, you'll need to get going on
database security and access. the only user that postgres knows
about initially is user "postgres". (duh!) so

% su
root password:
# su postgres
$ psql

now you can get in and set a password for master-database user
postgres (so nobody else can scramble your tables) and create
normal users, giving them access to various abilities, like
database creation, table insertion and selection, yada yada.

(hmm! maybe even this will work, initially:
/path/to/psql -u postgres
but then again it may not.)

- again, once you can find the documentation that came with
postgresql, it'll guide you as to what should be where, and how
to get it all to work.

even tho it's a mountain of info, what you see really is likely
to be in there. to see if a text file contains a string, try

grep -i 'shortsearchstring' *file*pattern*

hth!

--
It is always hazardous to ask "Why?" in science, but it is often
interesting to do so just the same.
-- Isaac Asimov, 'The Genetic Code'

will(at)serensoft(dot)com
http://newbieDoc.sourceforge.net/ -- we need your brain!
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