Rich Shepard <rshepard(at)appl-ecosys(dot)com> writes:
> When I run '/etc/rc.d/rc.postgresql start' it returns 'Starting
> PostgreSQL: ok', but '/etc/rc.d/rc.postgresql status' returns 'pg_ctl:
> neither postmaster nor postgres running' which is true.
Have you looked in the postmaster log? Under almost all circumstances,
a failing postmaster should emit some sort of bleat on stderr, or
perhaps to syslog if you've configured it that way (and it managed to
get as far as absorbing the contents of postgresql.conf).
Some PG start scripts redirect the postmaster's stderr to /dev/null;
if yours does, change it, at least till you've resolved the problem.
regards, tom lane