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1 perry 1 INITDB
2 !!!INITDB
3 NAME
4 SYNOPSIS
5 DESCRIPTION
6 ENVIRONMENT
7 SEE ALSO
8 ----
9 !!NAME
10
11
12 initdb - create a new PostgreSQL database cluster
13 !!SYNOPSIS
14
15
16 __initdb --pgdata__ | __-D__ ''directory'' [[
17 __--username__ | __-U__ ''username'' ] [[
18 __--pwprompt__ | __-W__ ] [[ __--encoding__ |
19 __-E__ ''encoding'' ] [[ __-L__ ''directory'' ] [[
20 __--noclean__ | __-n__ ] [[ __--debug__ | __-d__
21 ]
22 !!DESCRIPTION
23
24
25 __initdb__ creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster (or
26 database system). A database cluster is a collection of
27 databases that are managed by a single server
28 instance.
29
30
31 Creating a database system consists of creating the
32 directories in which the database data will live, generating
33 the shared catalog tables (tables that belong to the whole
34 cluster rather than to any particular database), and
35 creating the template1 database. When you create a new
36 database, everything in the template1 database is copied. It
37 contains catalog tables filled in for things like the
38 built-in types.
39
40
41 __initdb__ must be run as the user that will own the
42 server process, because the server needs to have access to
43 the files and directories that __initdb__ creates. Since
44 the server may not be run as root, you must not run
45 __initdb__ as root either. (It will in fact refuse to do
46 so.)
47
48
49 Although __initdb__ will attempt to create the specified
50 data directory, often it won't have permission to do so,
51 since the parent of the desired data directory is often a
52 root-owned directory. To set up an arrangement like this,
53 create an empty data directory as root, then use
54 __chown__ to hand over ownership of that directory to the
55 database user account, then __su__ to become the database
56 user, and finally run __initdb__ as the database
57 user.
58
59
60 __OPTIONS__
61
62
63 __--pgdata=__''directory''
64
65
66 __-D__ ''directory''
67
68
69 This option specifies the directory where the database
70 system should be stored. This is the only information
71 required by __initdb__, but you can avoid writing it by
72 setting the __PGDATA__ environment variable, which can be
73 convenient since the database server (__postmaster__) can
74 find the database directory later by the same
75 variable.
76
77
78 __--username=__''username''
79
80
81 __-U__ ''username''
82
83
84 Selects the user name of the database superuser. This
85 defaults to the name of the effective user running
86 __initdb__. It is really not important what the
87 superuser's name is, but one might choose to keep the
88 customary name ``postgres'', even if the operating system
89 user's name is different.
90
91
92 __--pwprompt__
93
94
95 __-W__
96
97
98 Makes __initdb__ prompt for a password to give the
99 database superuser. If you don't plan on using password
100 authentication, this is not important. Otherwise you won't
101 be able to use password authentication until you have a
102 password set up.
103
104
105 __--encoding=__''encoding''
106
107
108 __-E__ ''encoding''
109
110
111 Selects the encoding of the template database. This will
112 also be the default encoding of any database you create
113 later, unless you override it there. To use the encoding
114 feature, you must have enabled it at build time, at which
115 time you also select the default for this
116 option.
117
118
119 Other, less commonly used, parameters are also
120 available:
121
122
123 __-L__ ''directory''
124
125
126 Specifies where __initdb__ should find its input files to
127 initialize the database system. This is normally not
128 necessary. You will be told if you need to specify their
129 location explicitly.
130
131
132 __--noclean__
133
134
135 __-n__
136
137
138 By default, when __initdb__ determines that an error
139 prevented it from completely creating the database system,
140 it removes any files it may have created before discovering
141 that it can't finish the job. This option inhibits
142 tidying-up and is thus useful for debugging.
143
144
145 __--debug__
146
147
148 __-d__
149
150
151 Print debugging output from the bootstrap backend and a few
152 other messages of lesser interest for the general public.
153 The bootstrap backend is the program __initdb__ uses to
154 create the catalog tables. This option generates a
155 tremendous amount of extremely boring output.
156 !!ENVIRONMENT
157
158
159 __PGDATA__
160
161
162 Specifies the directory where the database system is to be
163 stored; may be overridden using the __-D__
164 option.
165 !!SEE ALSO
166
167
168 postgres(1), postmaster(1), ''PostgreSQL
169 Administrator's Guide''
170 ----
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