Setting up postgres on linux mint debian edition
This is a step-by-step guide to getting up and running with postgres on LMDE. I'm new to postgres, since I've only been working with mysql so far. I want to share with you the problems and solutions I encountered getting postgres up and running, hoping that it may help you setup postgres, too.
Setting up postgres on my local machine wasn't as easy as I expected. I had to get it up and running when I started using heroku, where postgres is the default database. At some point, the tutorial required a working installation of postgres, without explaining how it's done. But even if you don't use heroku, postgres offers some advantages to you, especially when used in a rails app. In case you're interested, check the further reading section after you finished this article.
Installing postgres
This is actually simple, it takes two commands:
~ $ sudo apt-get update
~ $ sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-server-dev-<required-postgres-version, e.g. 9.4>
postgresql installs all you need to run the database, while postgresql-server-dev-9.4 is required to install the pg gem later. You may also use Synaptics to install postgres if you prefer using a GUI.
Getting access
When I tried the psql command, I got this error:
Fatal: role lmde does not exist
After some research, I learned that a role is what you would call a user in mysql. So psql tried to access the database using my username as role, and that role did not exist. When installing postgres a user account and a role called postgres were created. So, in order to access the database, I had to login as postgres, like so:
~ $ su -
~ # su - postgres
~ $ createuser lmde --createdb
createuser is a utility command offered by postgres, which creates a role. Don't forget the –createdb option, or rake db:create will fail.
This is all I had to do to continue the heroku tutorial. If this guide doesn't work for you, here are some of the resources that helped me setup postgres: