Re: ident authentication problems postgresql 9.2

Rory Campbell-Lange <rory@campbell-lange.net> writes:
> Thanks for the suggestion for checking the logs. My apologies for not
> checking that. The logs show:

>     2013-10-16 16:21:16 BST template1 LOG:  local user with ID <abc> does not exist
>     2013-10-16 16:21:16 BST template1 FATAL:  Peer authentication failed for user "postgres"

> However /etc/passwd has
>     postgres:x:<abc>:<def>:PostgreSQL administrator,,,:/db:/bin/bash

Hm.  A look at the PG source code shows conclusively that the "local user
does not exist" error comes out only if getpwuid() fails.  Why it's
failing isn't too clear though.  Perhaps your upgrade accidentally made
/etc/passwd non-world-readable, or some such?

            regards, tom lane