INITDB(1) PostgreSQL Server Applications INITDB(1)NAMEinitdb - create a new PostgreSQL database cluster
SYNOPSISinitdb [ options... ] --pgdata | -D directory
DESCRIPTIONinitdb creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster (or
database system). A database cluster is a collection of
databases that are managed by a single server instance.
Creating a database system consists of creating the direc-
tories in which the database data will live, generating
the shared catalog tables (tables that belong to the whole
cluster rather than to any particular database), and cre-
ating the template1 database. When you create a new
database, everything in the template1 database is copied.
It contains catalog tables filled in for things like the
built-in types.
initdb initializes the database cluster's default locale
and character set encoding. Some locale categories are
fixed for the lifetime of the cluster, so it is important
to make the right choice when running initdb. Other
locale categories can be changed later when the server is
started. initdb will write those locale settings into the
postgresql.conf configuration file so they are the
default, but they can be changed by editing that file. To
set the locale that initdb uses, see the description of
the --locale option. The character set encoding can be set
separately for each database as it is created. initdb
determines the encoding for the template1 database, which
will serve as the default for all other databases. To
alter the default encoding use the --encoding option.
initdb must be run as the user that will own the server
process, because the server needs to have access to the
files and directories that initdb creates. Since the
server may not be run as root, you must not run initdb as
root either. (It will in fact refuse to do so.)
Although initdb will attempt to create the specified data
directory, often it won't have permission to do so, since
the parent of the desired data directory is often a root-
owned directory. To set up an arrangement like this, cre-
ate an empty data directory as root, then use chown to
hand over ownership of that directory to the database user
account, then su to become the database user, and finally
run initdb as the database user.
OPTIONS-D directory
--pgdata=directory
This option specifies the directory where the
database system should be stored. This is the only
information required by initdb, but you can avoid
writing it by setting the PGDATA environment vari-
able, which can be convenient since the database
server (postmaster) can find the database directory
later by the same variable.
-E encoding
--encoding=encoding
Selects the encoding of the template database. This
will also be the default encoding of any database
you create later, unless you override it there. To
use the encoding feature, you must have enabled it
at build time, at which time you also select the
default for this option.
--locale=locale
Sets the default locale for the database cluster.
If this option is not specified, the locale is
inherited from the environment that initdb runs in.
--lc-collate=locale
--lc-ctype=locale
--lc-messages=locale
--lc-monetary=locale
--lc-numeric=locale
--lc-time=locale
Like --locale, but only sets the locale in the
specified category.
-U username
--username=username
Selects the user name of the database superuser.
This defaults to the name of the effective user
running initdb. It is really not important what the
superuser's name is, but one might choose to keep
the customary name postgres, even if the operating
system user's name is different.
-W
--pwprompt
Makes initdb prompt for a password to give the
database superuser. If you don't plan on using
password authentication, this is not important.
Otherwise you won't be able to use password authen-
tication until you have a password set up.
Other, less commonly used, parameters are also available:
-d
--debug
Print debugging output from the bootstrap backend
and a few other messages of lesser interest for the
general public. The bootstrap backend is the pro-
gram initdb uses to create the catalog tables. This
option generates a tremendous amount of extremely
boring output.
-L directory
Specifies where initdb should find its input files
to initialize the database system. This is normally
not necessary. You will be told if you need to
specify their location explicitly.
-n
--noclean
By default, when initdb determines that an error
prevented it from completely creating the database
system, it removes any files it may have created
before discovering that it can't finish the job.
This option inhibits tidying-up and is thus useful
for debugging.
ENVIRONMENT
PGDATA Specifies the directory where the database system
is to be stored; may be overridden using the -D
option.
SEE ALSOpostgres(1), postmaster(1), PostgreSQL Administrator's
Guide
Application 2002-11-22 INITDB(1)
