"Faisal N. Jawdat" <faisal(at)faisal(dot)com> writes:
> If I use psql on a local database while the daemon is coming online, psql
> hangs and most be killed. Subsequent psql processes will connect without
> incident.
FWIW, I just spent some time trying to duplicate this on OSX 10.4.11,
without success. I ran the postmaster under gdb and tried psql from
another window at interesting points during the startup sequence. psql
either fails instantly if started before the postmaster has executed
listen(), or waits till the postmaster responds with "FATAL: the
database system is starting up" if started during the subsequent startup
processing, or comes up fine if started later.
Perhaps you are looking at a kernel bug in 10.5?
regards, tom lane