Installing PostgreSQL Server on OS X 10.6 using MacPorts

Installing PostgreSQL server using MacPorts used to be a simple matter. For some reason, using the latest MacPorts 2.0.3 on Snow Leopard seems to break the relatively simple install process.

The main problem is the install process doesn’t create the postgres user and group. This is done during the destroot phase of the install process, which doesn’t seem to be run automatically anymore.

Luckily, you can manually run the destroot phase. The following example shows you how to install PostgreSQL 8.4 server:

sudo port install postgresql84-server
sudo port destroot postgresql84-server
sudo port clean postgresql84-server

Now you can happily create the defaultdb and assign the proper user and group ownership.

Note that the problem only seems to happen on Snow Leopard, and not on Lion.

1. mintyfresh posted this