Starting a PostgreSQL server on a dynamic port (parameter port=0)
a.mitrokhin@postgrespro.ru
From: a.mitrokhin@postgrespro.ru
To: pgsql-bugs@lists.postgresql.org
Date: 2025-07-10T07:15:19Z
Lists: pgsql-bugs
Hello. Postgres does not allow starting the server with port=0, which prevents it from obtaining an arbitrary free port from the kernel. ~$ LANG=C pg_ctl -D data -o "-c port=0" start 2025-07-10 05:27:02.785 GMT [702503] FATAL: 0 is outside the valid range for parameter "port" (1 .. 65535) This makes it unreliable to start the server in my tests without the risk of port conflicts with already running programs, unless resorting to an unreliable and race-condition-prone procedure of reserving ports in advance. Could you please fix this?