sudo: unknown user: postgres

Question

I'm currently trying to run postgresql (9.3) on my iMac but I have some issues with user postgres and psql connection.

I bought an iMac old generation (with snow Leopard) that was migrated to Lion. As followed on other StackOverflow topics I added this line on my .bash_profile :

export PATH=/Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/bin:/usr/bin:$PATH

When launching pg :

sudo su postgres -c '/Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/bin/pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/data/ -m fast start'

it returns :

su: unknown login: postgres

What should I do ?

You need to create a user account called postgres on the system, or connect to postgresql using a different account that already exists (assuming it has permission for the operation). — lurker
– lurker, Commented May 22, 2013 at 10:57
PostgreSQL 9.3 is a beta version which at this time, should be used only to test and report bugs to the PostgreSQL developers. Use 9.2 instead. — Daniel Vérité
– Daniel Vérité, Commented May 22, 2013 at 13:02

chancyWu · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-17 17:24:34Z

34

The default postgres user in OSX 10.8 & 10.9 should be _postgres, you can use sudo -u _postgres to run the command

answered Jul 17, 2014 at 17:24

chancyWu

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1 Comment

Cyrusville Over a year ago

This is what I was missing

avjaarsveld · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-18 11:16:21Z

23

I got this same error (su: unknown login: postgres) when trying sudo su - postgres. I then managed to log in using sudo psql -U my.username postgres.

I could then create the appropriate users, etc.

Hope that helps.

answered May 18, 2015 at 11:16

avjaarsveld

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:09:37Z

0

Try to start from current user:

/Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/bin/pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/data/ -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start

Additional info: How to start PostgreSQL server on Mac OS X?

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:09

CommunityBot

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answered May 22, 2013 at 10:58

Valery Viktorovsky

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4 Comments

user1713964 Over a year ago

I tried this command line but there is no /bin directory in PostgreSQL/9.3. Should I add it ? I did probably a mistake on my bash_profile. I heard also the path /usr/var changed into usr/local/var on Lion. Could it come from this ?

Valery Viktorovsky Over a year ago

@user1713964 No, it seems your postgresql installation broken. Why not remove old installation and install using homebrew (brew.sh) package manager? brew install postgresql --without-ossp-uuid

user1713964 Over a year ago

Just did it and I have same issue :/

Kinnard Hockenhull Over a year ago

I installed with homebrew and there is no /Library/PostgreSQL/9.x/data/

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