> On Sun, 17 May 1998, The Hermit Hacker wrote:
>
> > Why? Once you've added the postgres user, with his home
> > directory, the postgres users himself should be able to do the complete
> > install...
>
> Except for setting up the libraries and letting ldconfig know where they
> are. Actually, I had to become root also to create the install
> directories under /usr/local, and then change their ownership to my
> postgres user, since that user doesn't have the rights to create
> directories under /usr/local.
>
> Brett W. McCoy
but you don't HAVE to install under /usr/local (that's just the most
logical place and is the example in the manuals).
In any case the original question was not whether you needed root access
but whether you had to have a user called 'postgres'. Indeed it is
possible for ANY user to install postgres under his own account, but
not recommended for security reasons.
Note that the ldconfig business above is Linux specific and not actually
necessary - you can use the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable instead
if you don't have root access (see Q3.6 of the Linux-specific FAQ).
Andrew
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Dr. Andrew C.R. Martin University College London
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