I downloaded the latest version 8.3.1 and compiled it using gmake. I followed the instructions in INSTALL file. The installation was fine and when i try to start the server i get the following error message
LOG: could not bind IPv4 socket: Can't assign requested address HINT: Is another postmaster already running on port 5432? If not, wait a few seconds and retry WARNING: could not create listen socket for "localhost" FATAL: could not create any TCP/IP sockets
I am using FreeBSD6.1. I tried for this error message in archives, but in vain.
Out of curiosity, i looked at the code and it looks like the message is from pqcomm.c. And exactly before this error in the file, comments say that the bind might fail on older linux systems.... One thought was to change the pqcomm.c and print the errno and other related details. But this would need building the server again.
This is my first stint with PostgreSQL. Also, i had to download and install since the ports were old.