1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
|
<!--
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/initdb.sgml,v 1.16 2001/09/03 12:57:50 petere Exp $
Postgres documentation
-->
<refentry id="APP-INITDB">
<docinfo>
<date>2000-12-25</date>
</docinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle id="APP-INITDB-TITLE"><application>initdb</application></refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>initdb</refname>
<refpurpose>create a new <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database cluster</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>initdb</command>
<group choice="plain">
<arg>--pgdata </arg>
<arg>-D </arg>
<replaceable>dbdir</replaceable>
</group>
<group>
<arg>--sysid </arg>
<arg>-i </arg>
<replaceable>sysid</replaceable>
</group>
<group><arg>--pwprompt</arg><arg>-W</arg></group>
<group>
<arg>--encoding </arg>
<arg>-E </arg>
<replaceable>encoding</replaceable>
</group>
<arg>-L <replaceable>directory</replaceable></arg>
<group><arg>--noclean</arg><arg>-n</arg></group>
<group><arg>--debug</arg><arg>-d</arg></group>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1 id="R1-APP-INITDB-1">
<title>
Description
</title>
<para>
<application>initdb</application> creates a new
<productname>Postgres</productname> database cluster or system. A
database cluster is a collection of databases that are managed by a
single postmaster.
</para>
<para>
Creating a database system consists of creating the directories in which
the database data will live, generating the shared catalog tables
(tables that belong to the whole cluster rather than to any particular
database), and creating the <literal>template1</literal>
database. When you create a new database, everything in the
<literal>template1</literal> database is copied.
It contains catalog tables filled in for things like the
built-in types.
</para>
<para>
You must not execute <application>initdb</application> as root; it must
be run by the Unix user account that will run the database server.
This is because you cannot run the database server as root either, but the
server needs to have access to the files <application>initdb</application>
creates. Furthermore, during the initialization phase, when there are no
users and no access controls installed, <productname>Postgres</productname>
will only connect with
the name of the current Unix user, so you must log in under the account
that will own the server process.
</para>
<para>
Although <application>initdb</application> will attempt to create the
specified data directory, often it won't have permission to do so,
since the parent of the desired data directory is often a root-owned
directory. To set up an arrangement like this, create an empty data
directory as root, then use <application>chown</application> to hand over
ownership of that directory to the database user account, then
<application>su</application> to become the database user, and
finally run <application>initdb</application> as the database user.
</para>
<refsect2>
<title>Options</title>
<para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>--pgdata=<replaceable class="parameter">dbdir</replaceable></term>
<term>-D <replaceable class="parameter">dbdir</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This option specifies where in the file system the database
should be stored. This is the only information required by
<application>initdb</application>, but you can avoid writing it by
setting the <envar>PGDATA</envar> environment variable, which
can be convenient since the database server
(<filename>postmaster</filename>) can find the database
directory later by the same variable.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--sysid=<replaceable class="parameter">sysid</replaceable></term>
<term>-i <replaceable class="parameter">sysid</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Selects the system id of the database superuser. This defaults
to the effective user id of the user running
<application>initdb</application>. It is really not important
what the superuser's sysid is, but one might choose to start
the numbering at some number like 1.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--pwprompt</term>
<term>-W</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Makes <application>initdb</application> prompt for a password
to give the database superuser. If you don't plan on using password
authentication, this is not important. Otherwise you won't be
able to use password authentication until you have a password
set up.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--encoding=<replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable></term>
<term>-E <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Selects the multibyte encoding of the template database. This will also
be the default encoding of any database you create later, unless you
override it there. To use the multibyte encoding feature, you must
specify so at build time, at which time you also select the default
for this option.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
Other, less commonly used, parameters are also available:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>-L <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies where <application>initdb</application> should find
its input files to initialize the database system. This is
normally not necessary. You will be told if you need to
specify their location explicitly.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--noclean</term>
<term>-n</term>
<listitem>
<para>
By default, when <application>initdb</application>
determines that an error prevented it from completely creating the database
system, it removes any files it may have created before discovering
that it can't finish the job. This option inhibits tidying-up and is
thus useful for debugging.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--debug</term>
<term>-d</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Print debugging output from the bootstrap backend and a few other
messages of lesser interest for the general public.
The bootstrap backend is the program <application>initdb</application>
uses to create the catalog tables. This option generates a tremendous
amount of extremely boring output.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</refsect2>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See also</title>
<simpara>
<citetitle>PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide</citetitle>
</simpara>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
<!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
Local variables:
mode: sgml
sgml-omittag:nil
sgml-shorttag:t
sgml-minimize-attributes:nil
sgml-always-quote-attributes:t
sgml-indent-step:1
sgml-indent-data:t
sgml-parent-document:nil
sgml-default-dtd-file:"../reference.ced"
sgml-exposed-tags:nil
sgml-local-catalogs:"/usr/lib/sgml/catalog"
sgml-local-ecat-files:nil
End:
-->
|
