Thread

Re: pg_dump:qemu: uncaught target signal 7 (Bus error) - core dumped

Srinath Reddy Sadipiralla <srinath2133@gmail.com> — 2025-12-09T16:27:08Z

Hi,

This isn’t directly tied to the current thread, but it relates to the
discussion
about binaries and privileges.I have a question about the initdb success
message to start the server using pg_ctl. Can we update the -l logfile
suggestion it prints at the end to something like -l
/path/to/datadirectory/logfile instead?
Here’s the issue I’m seeing: when PostgreSQL is installed from packages
rather than built from source, the installation requires root privileges
(sudo).
That means directories like bin and lib are owned by root, and
non-superusers
can’t create new files there.
If someone runs initdb from inside the bin directory and then blindly
copy-pastes
the suggested pg_ctl command, pg_ctl will attempt to write the logfile into
the bin directory.
Since the user doesn’t have write permissions to that location, it fails.
Would it make sense for the success message to recommend a path inside
the data directory (or another writable location) instead of just -l
logfile,
which implies the current directory?, thoughts?

-- 
Thanks,
Srinath Reddy Sadipiralla
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com/