Thread

Problem with DEB packages

Stefanie Janine Stölting <stefanie@proopensource.eu> — 2025-09-30T08:12:37Z

Hi there,

I installed a fresh Debian 13 and added the packages from 
https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/.

Afterwards I wanted to install PostgreSQL 17, but I ended up with 
PostgreSQL 18.
I named 17, the installation messages said it is 17.

I copied commands and output from the terminal. As that system is in 
German, all messages are in German, too.

/Stefanie

------------------------------------------------------------------------

sudo apt install postgresql-17

Installiere:
   postgresql-17

Installiere Abhängigkeiten:
   postgresql-client-17

Vorgeschlagene Pakete:
   postgresql-doc-17

Zusammenfassung:
   Aktualisiere: 0, Installiere: 2, Entferne: 0, Aktualisiere nicht: 0
   Herunterlade-Größe: 18,6 MB
   Benötigter Platz: 69,4 MB / 90,4 GB verfügbar

Fortfahren? [J/n]
Holen:1 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt trixie-pgdg/main amd64 
postgresql-client-17 amd64 17.6-2.pgdg13+1 [2.031 kB]
Holen:2 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt trixie-pgdg/main amd64 
postgresql-17 amd64 17.6-2.pgdg13+1 [16,6 MB]
Es wurden 18,6 MB in 4 s geholt (4.962 kB/s).
Vorkonfiguration der Pakete ...
Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket postgresql-client-17 wird gewählt.
(Lese Datenbank ... 101091 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit 
installiert.)
Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von 
.../postgresql-client-17_17.6-2.pgdg13+1_amd64.de
b ...
Entpacken von postgresql-client-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) ...
Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket postgresql-17 wird gewählt.
Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von 
.../postgresql-17_17.6-2.pgdg13+1_amd64.deb ...
Entpacken von postgresql-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) ...
postgresql-client-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) wird eingerichtet ...
postgresql-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) wird eingerichtet ...
Trigger für postgresql-common (283.pgdg13+1) werden verarbeitet ...
Building PostgreSQL dictionaries from installed myspell/hunspell packages...
   de_at
   de_ch
   de_de
   en_us

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then I became postgres and started psql:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

sudo su postgres

psql
psql (18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3))
Geben Sie »help« für Hilfe ein.

postgres=# select version();

                                                       version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  PostgreSQL 18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, 
compiled by gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, 64-bit

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Thom Brown <thom@linux.com> — 2025-09-30T08:50:11Z

On Tue, 30 Sept 2025 at 09:12, Stefanie Janine Stölting
<stefanie@proopensource.eu> wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> I installed a fresh Debian 13 and added the packages from https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/.
>
> Afterwards I wanted to install PostgreSQL 17, but I ended up with PostgreSQL 18.
> I named 17, the installation messages said it is 17.
>
> I copied commands and output from the terminal. As that system is in German, all messages are in German, too.
>
> /Stefanie
>
> ________________________________
>
> sudo apt install postgresql-17
>
> Installiere:
>   postgresql-17
>
> Installiere Abhängigkeiten:
>   postgresql-client-17
>
> Vorgeschlagene Pakete:
>   postgresql-doc-17
>
> Zusammenfassung:
>   Aktualisiere: 0, Installiere: 2, Entferne: 0, Aktualisiere nicht: 0
>   Herunterlade-Größe: 18,6 MB
>   Benötigter Platz: 69,4 MB / 90,4 GB verfügbar
>
> Fortfahren? [J/n]
> Holen:1 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt trixie-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-client-17 amd64 17.6-2.pgdg13+1 [2.031 kB]
> Holen:2 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt trixie-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-17 amd64 17.6-2.pgdg13+1 [16,6 MB]
> Es wurden 18,6 MB in 4 s geholt (4.962 kB/s).
> Vorkonfiguration der Pakete ...
> Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket postgresql-client-17 wird gewählt.
> (Lese Datenbank ... 101091 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit installiert.)
> Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von .../postgresql-client-17_17.6-2.pgdg13+1_amd64.de
> b ...
> Entpacken von postgresql-client-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) ...
> Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket postgresql-17 wird gewählt.
> Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von .../postgresql-17_17.6-2.pgdg13+1_amd64.deb ...
> Entpacken von postgresql-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) ...
> postgresql-client-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) wird eingerichtet ...
> postgresql-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) wird eingerichtet ...
> Trigger für postgresql-common (283.pgdg13+1) werden verarbeitet ...
> Building PostgreSQL dictionaries from installed myspell/hunspell packages...
>   de_at
>   de_ch
>   de_de
>   en_us
>
> ________________________________
>
> Then I became postgres and started psql:
>
> ________________________________
>
> sudo su postgres
>
> psql
> psql (18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3))
> Geben Sie »help« für Hilfe ein.
>
> postgres=# select version();
>
>                                                       version
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  PostgreSQL 18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, 64-bit

How strange.

What do you get with:

/usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/psql -V
/usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/postgres -V

I'm wondering whether this is a pg_wrapper issue.

Thom Brown
Data Egret (https://dataegret.com)

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Stefanie Janine Stölting <stefanie@proopensource.eu> — 2025-09-30T09:17:07Z

Am 30.09.25 um 10:50 schrieb Thom Brown:
> On Tue, 30 Sept 2025 at 09:12, Stefanie Janine Stölting
> <stefanie@proopensource.eu> wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I installed a fresh Debian 13 and added the packages fromhttps://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/.
>>
>> Afterwards I wanted to install PostgreSQL 17, but I ended up with PostgreSQL 18.
>> I named 17, the installation messages said it is 17.
>>
>> I copied commands and output from the terminal. As that system is in German, all messages are in German, too.
>>
>> /Stefanie
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> sudo apt install postgresql-17
>>
>> Installiere:
>>    postgresql-17
>>
>> Installiere Abhängigkeiten:
>>    postgresql-client-17
>>
>> Vorgeschlagene Pakete:
>>    postgresql-doc-17
>>
>> Zusammenfassung:
>>    Aktualisiere: 0, Installiere: 2, Entferne: 0, Aktualisiere nicht: 0
>>    Herunterlade-Größe: 18,6 MB
>>    Benötigter Platz: 69,4 MB / 90,4 GB verfügbar
>>
>> Fortfahren? [J/n]
>> Holen:1https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt trixie-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-client-17 amd64 17.6-2.pgdg13+1 [2.031 kB]
>> Holen:2https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt trixie-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-17 amd64 17.6-2.pgdg13+1 [16,6 MB]
>> Es wurden 18,6 MB in 4 s geholt (4.962 kB/s).
>> Vorkonfiguration der Pakete ...
>> Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket postgresql-client-17 wird gewählt.
>> (Lese Datenbank ... 101091 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit installiert.)
>> Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von .../postgresql-client-17_17.6-2.pgdg13+1_amd64.de
>> b ...
>> Entpacken von postgresql-client-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) ...
>> Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket postgresql-17 wird gewählt.
>> Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von .../postgresql-17_17.6-2.pgdg13+1_amd64.deb ...
>> Entpacken von postgresql-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) ...
>> postgresql-client-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) wird eingerichtet ...
>> postgresql-17 (17.6-2.pgdg13+1) wird eingerichtet ...
>> Trigger für postgresql-common (283.pgdg13+1) werden verarbeitet ...
>> Building PostgreSQL dictionaries from installed myspell/hunspell packages...
>>    de_at
>>    de_ch
>>    de_de
>>    en_us
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> Then I became postgres and started psql:
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> sudo su postgres
>>
>> psql
>> psql (18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3))
>> Geben Sie »help« für Hilfe ein.
>>
>> postgres=# select version();
>>
>>                                                        version
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>   PostgreSQL 18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, 64-bit
> How strange.
>
> What do you get with:
>
> /usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/psql -V
> /usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/postgres -V
>
> I'm wondering whether this is a pg_wrapper issue.
>
> Thom Brown
> Data Egret (https://dataegret.com)
>
> [Google Mail Message-ID: 
> <CAA-aLv655bh_rCO_iiqMfNj7Pjp+Os8_E1E3pHFfGuq3QWXXSg@mail.gmail.com>] 

Hi, Thom,

here they are:

/usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/psql -V

psql (PostgreSQL) 17.6 (Debian 17.6-2.pgdg13+1)


/usr/lib/postgresql/17/bin/postgres -V

postgres (PostgreSQL) 17.6 (Debian 17.6-2.pgdg13+1)

/Stefanie

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Michael Banck <mbanck@gmx.net> — 2025-09-30T09:36:26Z

Hi,

On Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 11:17:07AM +0200, Stefanie Janine Stölting wrote:
> Am 30.09.25 um 10:50 schrieb Thom Brown:
> > On Tue, 30 Sept 2025 at 09:12, Stefanie Janine Stölting
> > <stefanie@proopensource.eu> wrote:
> > > Hi there,
> > > 
> > > I installed a fresh Debian 13 and added the packages fromhttps://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/.
> > > 
> > > Afterwards I wanted to install PostgreSQL 17, but I ended up with PostgreSQL 18.
> > > I named 17, the installation messages said it is 17.

It seems you ended up with both; it is a bit unclear why PostgreSQL 18
got installed as Debian 13 has 17 by default. Maybe an apt upgrade
pulled in a new postgresql meta-package that depends on postgresql-18.

> > > sudo su postgres
> > > 
> > > psql

If you have multiple versions of the client package installed, you need
to specify the version explicitly, like Thom showed.

> > > psql (18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3))
> > > Geben Sie »help« für Hilfe ein.
> > > 
> > > postgres=# select version();
> > > 
> > >                                                        version
> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >   PostgreSQL 18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, 64-bit

If you want to connect to a particular instance, you need to pass the
port or the PGCLUSTER environment variable or the pg_wrapper --cluster
option, like "psql --cluster 17/main". pg_lsclusters will show you which
instances are around and which ports they have. It seems you have at
least a 18/main and a 17/main cluster.

Michael

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Stefanie Janine Stölting <stefanie@proopensource.eu> — 2025-09-30T09:39:03Z

Am 30.09.25 um 11:36 schrieb Michael Banck:
> Hi,
>
> On Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 11:17:07AM +0200, Stefanie Janine Stölting wrote:
>> Am 30.09.25 um 10:50 schrieb Thom Brown:
>>> On Tue, 30 Sept 2025 at 09:12, Stefanie Janine Stölting
>>> <stefanie@proopensource.eu> wrote:
>>>> Hi there,
>>>>
>>>> I installed a fresh Debian 13 and added the packages fromhttps://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/.
>>>>
>>>> Afterwards I wanted to install PostgreSQL 17, but I ended up with PostgreSQL 18.
>>>> I named 17, the installation messages said it is 17.
> It seems you ended up with both; it is a bit unclear why PostgreSQL 18
> got installed as Debian 13 has 17 by default. Maybe an apt upgrade
> pulled in a new postgresql meta-package that depends on postgresql-18.
>
>>>> sudo su postgres
>>>>
>>>> psql
> If you have multiple versions of the client package installed, you need
> to specify the version explicitly, like Thom showed.
>
>>>> psql (18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3))
>>>> Geben Sie »help« für Hilfe ein.
>>>>
>>>> postgres=# select version();
>>>>
>>>>                                                         version
>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>    PostgreSQL 18.0 (Debian 18.0-1.pgdg13+3) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, 64-bit
> If you want to connect to a particular instance, you need to pass the
> port or the PGCLUSTER environment variable or the pg_wrapper --cluster
> option, like "psql --cluster 17/main". pg_lsclusters will show you which
> instances are around and which ports they have. It seems you have at
> least a 18/main and a 17/main cluster.
>
>
> Michael
>
Hi Michael,

There is only one local installation of PostgreSQL, that thing was 
installed from scratch as mentioned in my first mail.

/Stefanie

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Michael Banck <mbanck@gmx.net> — 2025-09-30T12:21:48Z

Hi,

On Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 11:39:03AM +0200, Stefanie Janine Stölting wrote:
> There is only one local installation of PostgreSQL, that thing was installed
> from scratch as mentioned in my first mail.

Turns out (via off-list discussion) that there was a PG18 instance
installed and due to a recent behaviour change in postgresql-common,
after installing PostgreSQL 17, no main cluster for 17 was created as
one already exists for 18.

Why 18 got installed in the first place is unclear, I can only reproduce
that 'apt install postgresql' after activating the PGDG APT repo will
install it, but it looks like this was not done here.

Michael

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Christoph Berg <myon@debian.org> — 2025-09-30T14:53:07Z

Re: Michael Banck
> Why 18 got installed in the first place is unclear, I can only reproduce
> that 'apt install postgresql' after activating the PGDG APT repo will
> install it, but it looks like this was not done here.

I updated https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/ to
recommend "apt install postgresql-18" instead of plain "postgresql".
That might have prevented that problem.

Christoph

Re: Problem with DEB packages

Stefanie Janine Stölting <stefanie@proopensource.eu> — 2025-09-30T15:20:40Z

Am 30.09.25 um 16:53 schrieb Christoph Berg:
> Re: Michael Banck
>> Why 18 got installed in the first place is unclear, I can only reproduce
>> that 'apt install postgresql' after activating the PGDG APT repo will
>> install it, but it looks like this was not done here.
> I updated https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/debian/ to
> recommend "apt install postgresql-18" instead of plain "postgresql".
> That might have prevented that problem.
>
> Christoph
>
Thank you very much Christoph, having the packages and the installation 
separated is IMHO a very good solution.

/Stefanie