Practical PostgreSQL

Starting and Stopping PostgreSQL

In this section we cover two options provided with PostgreSQL that are used to start and stop PostgreSQL. The first is a general purpose application called pg_ctl, which should function identically on any machine, regardless of the system. This script is intended to be run by the system user (e.g., the user who owns the data directory) configured to execute the postmaster backend.

The second script provided is the SysV-style script, found in the contrib/start-scripts subdirectory within the PostgreSQL source path. The installation of the SysV script is discussed in Chapter 2. By default this script is named linux, as it is intended for a Linux system’s start-script directory, though in the installation instructions it is renamed to a script called postgresql in the system’s service start-up directory (e.g., /etc/rc.d/init.d).

The main functional difference between pg_ctl and the SysV-style service script is that pg_ctl is intended to be used by the user who runs the postmaster backend (e.g., postgres), whereas the service script is intended to be run by the root user.

The service script is not strictly Linux-specific, and should be compatible with most systems based on SysV start-up scripts. However, if you are not running Linux, you may prefer to stick with the pg_ctl script.

Using pg_ctl

The pg_ctl script is provided with PostgreSQL as a general control application. With it, you can start, stop, restart, or check on the status of PostgreSQL.

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