initdb - Create a new Postgres database cluster
SYNOPSIS
initdb { --pgdata | -D dbdir } [ --sysid | -i sysid ] [
--pwprompt | -W ] [ --encoding | -E encoding ] [ -L
directory ] [ --noclean | -n ] [ --debug | -d ]
DESCRIPTION
initdb creates a new Postgres database cluster or system.
A database cluster is a collection of databases that are
managed by a single postmaster.
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.
You must not execute initdb as root; it must be run by the
Unix user account that will run the database server. This
is because you cannot run the database server as root
either, but the server needs to have access to the files
initdb creates. Furthermore, during the initialization
phase, when there are no users and no access controls
installed, Postgres will only connect with the name of the
current Unix user, so you must log in under the account
that will own the server process.
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
--pgdata=dbdir
-D dbdir
This option specifies where in the file system the
database should be stored. This is the only infor
mation required by initdb, but you can avoid writ
ing it by setting the PGDATA environment variable,
which can be convenient since the database server
(postmaster) can find the database directory later
by the same variable.
-i sysid
Selects the system id of the database superuser.
This defaults to the effective user id of the user
running initdb. It is really not important what the
superuser's sysid is, but one might choose to start
the numbering at some number like 1.
--pwprompt
-W 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.
--encoding=encoding
-E encoding
Selects the multibyte 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 multibyte encoding feature,
you must specify so at build time, at which time
you also select the default for this option.
Other, less commonly used, parameters are also available:
-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.
--noclean
-n 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.
--debug
-d 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.
PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide
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