I managed to solve the problem.
For the record, I did the following:
mkdir -p ~/postgresql/{etc,lib,log}
cp -a /etc/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/etc/old-install
cp -a /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/lib/old-install
cp -a /var/log/postgresql ~/postgresql/log/old-install
apt-get remove --purge postgresql-9.1 postgresql-client-9.1
postgresql-client-common postgresql-common
rm -rf /etc/postgresql
rm -rf /var/lib/postgresql
apt-get install postgresql
service postgresql stop
cp -a /etc/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/etc/new-install
cp -a /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/lib/new-install
rm -rf /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main
cp -a ~/postgresql/lib/old-install /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main
su postgres -c '/usr/lib/postgresql/9.1/bin/pg_resetxlog -f
/var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main'
I edited /etc/postgresql/9.1/main/postgresql.conf
service postgresql start
And it worked :-)
On 04/04/13 21:25, Pascal Polleunus wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The server was running correctly.
> I didn't changed the configuration.
> I did an apt-get upgrade and it didn't restarted.
> The problem is maybe not related to the upgrade but appeared during the
> restart.
>
> I did the same upgrade on another (very similar) server and didn't have
> any problem.
> The configuration files and files permissions are the same.
>
>
> The PostgreSQL packages that were upgraded:
> postgresql-9.1:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
> postgresql-client-9.1:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
> libpq-dev:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
> libpq5:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
>
>
> The commands I tried to start the server:
> # service postgresql start
> [FAIL] Starting PostgreSQL 9.1 database server: main[....] The
> PostgreSQL server failed to start. Please check the log output. ... failed!
> failed!
>
> # pg_ctlcluster 9.1 main start
> The PostgreSQL server failed to start. Please check the log output.
>
>
> There's nothing in the log files.
> I checked their permissions.
> I renamed the files but they were not created again.
>
>
> I created a new cluster and it started.
> So I guess there's some corruption in the data files.
>
>
> I replaced the data files with an old copy from 12 hours before but the
> server won't start.
>
>
> I tried to use pg_resetxlog:
> # su postgres -c '/usr/lib/postgresql/9.1/bin/pg_resetxlog
> /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main'
> The database server was not shut down cleanly.
> Resetting the transaction log might cause data to be lost.
> If you want to proceed anyway, use -f to force reset.
>
> Then:
> # su postgres -c '/usr/lib/postgresql/9.1/bin/pg_resetxlog -f
> /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main'
> Transaction log reset
>
> But it still won't start.
>
>
> What can I do?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>