PostgreSQL: Can't log into Postgres - sudo broken?

Question

Hey so after I ran into somes issues I decided to uninstall Postgres and re-install it (re install a newer version btw).

I'm trying to access postgres to create a new db for my Rails app so I run su postgresor su _postgres then I am asked a password but nothing that I enter works.

So I tried sudo -u postgres psql and got

sudo: unknown user: postgres
sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin

I tried also to disable SIP (see: here)

but it didn't work either. same results.

I don't know what to do. Any idea ? I am using Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6.

thank you @GordonDavisson the password works ! however, I then get: psql: FATAL: role "_postgres" does not exist. What's wrong ? — Uj Corb
– Uj Corb, Commented Sep 22, 2018 at 17:28
@wildplasser thank you for you help; it says psql: invalid option -- u — Uj Corb
– Uj Corb, Commented Sep 23, 2018 at 6:45

vvvvv · Accepted Answer · 2025-03-23 14:01:19Z

39

Thanks to @gordon Davidson and @wildplasser 's help, I found the solution:

sudo -u myusername psql postgres

edited Mar 23 at 14:01

vvvvv

32.9k19 gold badges70 silver badges103 bronze badges

answered Sep 24, 2018 at 6:45

Uj Corb

2,2074 gold badges33 silver badges59 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

user330315 Over a year ago

alternatively: psql -U myusername -d postgres without the need for sudo

Mushahid Khan Over a year ago

I am having the same error, Could you please help me what i am suppose to do right? sudo: unknown user: postgres sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin

Uj Corb Over a year ago

@MushahidKhan did you run the above mentionned command to try and solve your issue ?

Mushahid Khan Over a year ago

@JulesCorb, obvious, i tried , but not table to log in, working on it, hopefully will get some solution

Promise Preston · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-18 15:18:43Z

3

I had this same challenge when trying to access a PostgreSQL database.

When I run the command below:

sudo -u postgres psql

I get the error below:

sudo: unknown user: postgres
sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin

The issue was that I did not have the PostgreSQL database server installed on the server. The server only had a MySQL database server set up on it.

That's all.

I hope this helps

answered Mar 18, 2021 at 15:18

Promise Preston

29.9k18 gold badges176 silver badges173 bronze badges

Comments

crakama · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-07 16:53:43Z

0

From your EC2 node issue the following command to test if database is reachable.

/opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/psql -U YourExistingUsername -d template1 -h AWS-RDS-POSTGRES-ENDPOINT

answered Jan 7, 2021 at 16:53

crakama

84512 silver badges27 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PostgreSQL: Can't log into Postgres - sudo broken?

3 Answers 3

4 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

4 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related