newbie question

[Mark Hattam]

On 3 May 2011, at 23:25, Ryan Schmidt wrote:

> On May 3, 2011, at 00:12, Tena Sakai wrote:
> 
>> Having installed it, the first thing I want to do is to run
>> 'psql postgres' command.  When I do this, it asks me
>> postgres user password.  I have no idea what that is
>> (I think maybe macport created postgres user?).  When
>> I use "Accounts" from System Preferences it shows no
>> such user as postgres.  However, I can become root
>> and then issue 'su postgres' command and strangely
>> enough I am indeed user postgres.
>> 
>> Can you please give me a tip as to how to reset password
>> for user postgres?
> 
> Sorry Tena, I haven't used PostgreSQL myself and don't know anything about how to set it up. I'd recommend you consult the normal PostgreSQL documentation.
> 
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/


I installed PostgreSQL 8.4 a while ago for some testing.

I had to create a new user account for postgres on the machine (as you say in "Accounts"), then switch user to that account to run psql ... which of course isn't in my $PATH as it's in
/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/
so why it's tucked away someother other than
/opt/local/bin
I don't know


So having logged in and run psql specifying the db, it worked for me.

su postgres
/opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/psql <databasename>

I used dbvis ... http://www.dbvis.com/ ...  as a GUI front end to the PostgreSQL database which again worked for me.

But it was only a testing exercise, and my install of it has long since been uninstalled.

Mark