Re: initdb problem

Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
Joe Barwell <jbar(at)es(dot)co(dot)nz> writes:
> I get the same result trying to initdb after rebooting,
the
> end of which is:
> /Library/PostgreSQL8/data/base/1 ... FATAL: could not
> create shared memory segment: Cannot allocate memory
> DETAIL: Failed system call was shmget(key=2,
size=1646592,
> 03600).
> HINT: This error usually means that PostgreSQL's request
> for a shared memory segment exceeded available memory or
> swap space.

Hmph. That is definitely not a SHMMAX violation (you get
"Invalid
argument" for that). AFAIK the only two causes are SHMALL
violation
(which, since your SHMMAX and SHMALL are effectively the
same, means
someone is already eating part of SHMALL); or that you
actually have not
got enough RAM to allocate the shmem segment. Which does
not seem real
probable, for a mere 1.6MB. So I'm thinking something
somewhere is
allocating a shmem segment behind your back. Maybe those
earlier
"failed" attempts actually did install a working Postgres
server?
You should troll through the "ps" listing carefully.

Hello Tom,

Um, what's that? You'll need to be pretty specific in giving
me instructions about what to do/look at, sorry.

If pg (of whatever version) were already running on my
machine, surely it would appear in Activity Monitor? What
name should I look for there--postgres? I see nothing that
looks like that.

I have asked here at work about upgrading my machine to
10.4.x, and was advised that when they first tried on a
machine like this one (g4 powermac, 400MHz, 640mb sdram),
the installer said it would not install. <shrug> I'd say
getting my machine upgraded to 10.4.x is not likely to
happen in a hurry.

Cheers!

Joe