Re: Error message "psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory"

>>> sudo su - _postgres /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/initdb -U postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data --encoding=UTF8 --locale=en_US
>>> sudo su - _postgres /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/pg_ctl start -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data
>>>
>>> Although I don't get an error message, I don't have the feeling that it started the server. There is still nothing in the process list, and a normal "psql" results in the same message as before "psql: could not connect…"
>>>
>>> So sorry for bothering you guys… just being really frustrated now…
>>>
>>> If you have any ideas, please let me know… :-)
>> I just went back to the postgres documentation [1] (actually reading all google results on the error message one after the other) and tried out what was said there (adapted to my conditions):
>>
>> sudo -u _postgres /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/bin/postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data
>>
>> and suddenly postgres runs….
>>
>
> You really should be able to use pg_ctl though.
>
> I'm puzzled about why you don't appear to be looking at the server error logs (/usr/local/pgsql-9.1/data/pg_log) during troubleshooting. They're your main source of info.

Hmm, I guess it's because I didn't think of it, I was't really aware of it (although I tried to use the Console Error Messages to find any errors), and wouldn't have been sure how to access it (as it belongs to the _postgres user). But then, it doesn't exist. I see pg_clog and pg_xlog...