PostgreSQL 'permissions error'

Too many times now I've searched high and low to find the cause of my PostgreSQL 'permissions' error. Certainly it didn't make sense...I had created a superuser and a database with that superuser; PostgreSQL was started;

dropdb dbname

would drop the database and

createdb dbname

would create the database. What was wrong?

In each case I had forgotten something so basic most guides seem to leave it out:

initdb

If you're running Ubuntu and installed PostgreSQL through apt-get, you'll need to initialize your database with the commands below as the user you want to own the data. Generally I make a login with the same name as a database superuser to simplify things.

• Note the folder must also be owned by the user who will own the data.


• Note multiple databases can be stored in this datafolder.

/usr/lib/postgresql/8.4/bin/initdb -D /path/to/datafolder