Thread

1. Alternate data locations ?

   Patrick Spinler <spinler@means.net> — 2000-08-19T04:30:44Z

   Hi:
   
   I'm installing postgresql-7.0.2 from ftp.postgresql.org on a clean
   redhat 6.2 system.
   
   I'd like to create an alternate data location, similar to that supported
   in pgsql 6.3, so,
   I do:
   
   $ export ARC_P_DAT_01="/home/httpd/data/arc_p_dat_01"
   $ initlocation initlocation $ARC_P_DAT_01
   <snip>
   initlocation is complete
   $ createdb -D $ARC_P_DAT_01 test
   ERROR:  The database path '/home/httpd/data/arc_p_dat_01' is invalid.
   This may be due to a character that is not allowed or because the chosen
   path isn't permitted for databases
   createdb: database creation failed
   $ sudo -u postgres ls -l $ARC_P_DAT_01
   total 4
   drwx------    2 postgres http_adm     4096 Aug 18 23:10 base
   
   So, everything looks okay.  Can anyone give me a hint what might be
   happening ?  What can I do to debug this ?
   
   Thanks,
   -- Pat
   
   

2. Re: Alternate data locations ?

   Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2000-08-19T22:17:13Z

   Patrick Spinler <spinler@means.net> writes:
   > $ export ARC_P_DAT_01="/home/httpd/data/arc_p_dat_01"
   > $ initlocation initlocation $ARC_P_DAT_01
   > <snip>
   > initlocation is complete
   > $ createdb -D $ARC_P_DAT_01 test
   > ERROR:  The database path '/home/httpd/data/arc_p_dat_01' is invalid.
   > This may be due to a character that is not allowed or because the chosen
   > path isn't permitted for databases
   > createdb: database creation failed
   > $ sudo -u postgres ls -l $ARC_P_DAT_01
   > total 4
   > drwx------    2 postgres http_adm     4096 Aug 18 23:10 base
   
   > So, everything looks okay.  Can anyone give me a hint what might be
   > happening ?  What can I do to debug this ?
   
   You can't do it that way unless you've compiled the backend with
   ALLOW_ABSOLUTE_DBPATHS defined, which is not the default setup
   (mainly because some people consider it a security hole).
   
   The standard way is (having done the initlocation script):
     1. (Re) start the postmaster with ARC_P_DAT_01 defined in its
        environment --- notice that you did not define that path variable
        in the postmaster's environment, only the client's.
     2. Do the createdb with -D ARC_P_DAT_01 (no dollar sign).
   
   The idea is that the set of allowed database locations is controlled
   by the dbadmin via putting them into the postmaster's environment or
   not.  I find this quite bogus myself, because the postmaster
   environment will probably contain lots of things like $HOME that should
   *not* be treated as database locations.  But presently that's the setup.
   
   			regards, tom lane