"Jeremy Smith" <support@xpertleagues.com> writes:
> From that I figured that I must need to update to a more current version of
> PostgreSQL. I downloaded the .tar.gz for 7.4.1 and followed the
> instructions, and installed it in my usr/local folder. Everything seemed
> to compile correctly. I didn't set the "--prefix=PREFIX" command line
> option, so I assumed it would overwrite all of the files in the
> /usr/local/pgsql folder. The problem is, that there is no proof that I now
> have an updated version of PostgreSQL. When I try to use postmaster, I
> continue to get the same result.
It sounds to me like the originally installed postmaster is still
running. (That installation will most certainly not be in /usr/local.)
You need to stop that postmaster, initdb the 7.4 installation, and start
the 7.4 postmaster. You will likely also want to change the initscript
that is auto-starting the old postmaster at boot time, so that it
autostarts the 7.4 installation instead.
On the whole it might be easier to install 7.4 from an RPM, since that
way should put the 7.4 installation where the initscript expects to find
it.
regards, tom lane