"Dave" <dave@hawk-systems.com> writes:
> Is it actually taking that long for the database to start? or is pg_ctl not
> picking up on whatever indicator it uses to determine that the database has
> indeed started?
The "indicator" is whether it can connect with psql or not;
unfortunately it is not bright enough to distinguish a password failure
from other failures. You might be entertained to read Peter E's
commentary near the bottom of pg_ctl (it's only a shell script,
feel free to take a look).
Perhaps pg_ctl could be enhanced to distinguish connection failures
(which is what it really cares about) from authorization failures.
Or maybe there's some other way that would address Peter's other gripes.
I have no time to think about it, but if anyone wants to work on it ...
regards, tom lane