Re: Problem starting pgsql server on Mac OS X. Pg_hba.conf reading permission.

On Mon, 2009-08-31 at 02:44 -0700, nextstopsun wrote:
> Hello.
> I’m having a problem starting server on mac os x.
>
> -------------
> bash-3.2$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl start -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
> server starting
> bash-3.2$ LOG:  could not open configuration file
> "/usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf": Permission denied
> FATAL:  could not load pg_hba.conf
> -------------
>
> The problem appears after changing permissions for /data folder in finder. I
> did this:
>
> I’m installing postgresql 8.4 from MacOS binary and it installs and starts
> ok. Then I try to edit pg_hba.conf in pgAdmin3 to add a line
> --------------
> host    all         all         10.0.0.6              md5
> --------------
> After I click save icon to save a file it doesn’t save – probably it doesn’t
> have enough permission for that. So I go to my /usr/local/pgsql/data/ folder
> in Finder – unlock it’s permissions and set read/write to everyone group.
> Then I edit the pg_hba file with TextEdit.app and it looks like this
>
> -------------
> # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
> local   all         all                               trust
> # IPv4 local connections:
> host    all         all         127.0.0.1/32          trust
> host    all         all         10.0.0.6              md5
> # IPv6 local connections:
> host    all         all         ::1/128               trust
> -------------
>
> Then server doesn’t start – start server.app exits with non-zero value.
> Command line returns
> -------------
> BigMac:~ postgres$ FATAL:  data directory "/usr/local/pgsql/data" has group
> or world access
> DETAIL:  Permissions should be u=rwx (0700).
>
> chmod 700 /usr/local/pgsql/data/
> BigMac:~ postgres$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl start -D
> /usr/local/pgsql/data
>
> server starting
> BigMac:~ postgres$ LOG:  could not open configuration file
> "/usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf": Permission denied
> FATAL:  could not load pg_hba.conf
> -------------
>
> I’ve tried installing postgre from source thru fink, and the problem stays
> the same. I’m really stuck here, and I really need postgre to be accessed
> from 10.0.0.6 machine.
> What am I doing wrong? As I understand it’s a folder access permission
> problem, but I don’t know how to fix it. Can anyone PLEASE help me?

PostgreSQL (/not/ postgre; no such name!) is trying to tell you it won't
run if the permissions are too liberal (for security reasons).  You need
to set the "/usr/local/pgsql/data" permissions to u=rwx (0700) as the
error message says.  The problem you're having is that with those
permissions you're unable to edit the pg_hba.conf file.  The solution is
to 'su - postgres' (assuming the user account postgres owns the
directory; or 'sudo su - postgres' or just 'sudo
vi /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf' or whatever else works for you on
OSX) and then edit the file with the privileges of that account.  There
is a reason your normal user account isn't allowed to have write access
to that directory.  You cannot have both weak security and tight
security at the same time.

HTH,
Tim Bowden