Current File : //opt/alt/postgresql11/usr/share/doc/alt-postgresql11-9.2.24/html/app-initdb.html
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>initdb</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK
REV="MADE"
HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="PostgreSQL 9.2.24 Documentation"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="PostgreSQL Server Applications"
HREF="reference-server.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="PostgreSQL Server Applications"
HREF="reference-server.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="pg_controldata"
HREF="app-pgcontroldata.html"><LINK
REL="STYLESHEET"
TYPE="text/css"
HREF="stylesheet.css"><META
HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"
CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><META
NAME="creation"
CONTENT="2017-11-06T22:43:11"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="REFENTRY"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="5"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="index.html"
>PostgreSQL 9.2.24 Documentation</A
></TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
TITLE="PostgreSQL Server Applications"
HREF="reference-server.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="reference-server.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="60%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="20%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
TITLE="pg_controldata"
HREF="app-pgcontroldata.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><H1
><A
NAME="APP-INITDB"
></A
>initdb</H1
><DIV
CLASS="REFNAMEDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN86623"
></A
><H2
>Name</H2
>initdb -- create a new <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> database cluster</DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSYNOPSISDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN86629"
></A
><H2
>Synopsis</H2
><P
><TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> [<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>option</I
></TT
>...] [<TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--pgdata</TT
> | <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-D</TT
>]<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
> directory</I
></TT
> </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="R1-APP-INITDB-1"
></A
><H2
> Description
</H2
><P
> <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> creates a new
<SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> database cluster. A database
cluster is a collection of databases that are managed by a single
server instance.
</P
><P
> Creating a database cluster consists of creating the directories in
which the database data will live, generating the shared catalog
tables (tables that belong to the whole cluster rather than to any
particular database), and creating the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>
and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>postgres</TT
> databases. When you later create a
new database, everything in the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
> database is
copied. (Therefore, anything installed in <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>
is automatically copied into each database created later.)
The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>postgres</TT
> database is a default database meant
for use by users, utilities and third party applications.
</P
><P
> Although <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> will attempt to create the
specified data directory, it might not have permission if the parent
directory of the desired data directory is root-owned. To initialize
in such a setup, create an empty data directory as root, then use
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>chown</TT
> to assign ownership of that directory to the
database user account, then <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>su</TT
> to become the
database user to run <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
>.
</P
><P
> <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> must be run as the user that will own the
server process, because the server needs to have access to the
files and directories that <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> creates.
Since the server cannot be run as root, you must not run
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> as root either. (It will in fact refuse
to do so.)
</P
><P
> <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> initializes the database cluster's default
locale and character set encoding. The character set encoding,
collation order (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_COLLATE</TT
>) and character set classes
(<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_CTYPE</TT
>, e.g. upper, lower, digit) can be set separately
for a database when it is created. <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> determines
those settings for the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
> database, which will
serve as the default for all other databases.
</P
><P
> To alter the default collation order or character set classes, use the
<TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-collate</TT
> and <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-ctype</TT
> options.
Collation orders other than <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>C</TT
> or <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>POSIX</TT
> also have
a performance penalty. For these reasons it is important to choose the
right locale when running <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
>.
</P
><P
> The remaining locale categories can be changed later when the server
is started. You can also use <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--locale</TT
> to set the
default for all locale categories, including collation order and
character set classes. All server locale values (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>lc_*</TT
>) can
be displayed via <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>SHOW ALL</TT
>.
More details can be found in <A
HREF="locale.html"
>Section 22.1</A
>.
</P
><P
> To alter the default encoding, use the <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--encoding</TT
>.
More details can be found in <A
HREF="multibyte.html"
>Section 22.3</A
>.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN86681"
></A
><H2
>Options</H2
><P
> <P
></P
></P><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-A <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>authmethod</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--auth=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>authmethod</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> This option specifies the authentication method for local users used
in <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_hba.conf</TT
> (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>host</TT
>
and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>local</TT
> lines). Do not use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>trust</TT
>
unless you trust all local users on your system. <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>trust</TT
> is
the default for ease of installation.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--auth-host=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>authmethod</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> This option specifies the authentication method for local users via
TCP/IP connections used in <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_hba.conf</TT
>
(<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>host</TT
> lines).
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--auth-local=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>authmethod</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> This option specifies the authentication method for local users via
Unix-domain socket connections used in <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_hba.conf</TT
>
(<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>local</TT
> lines).
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-D <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>directory</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--pgdata=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>directory</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> This option specifies the directory where the database cluster
should be stored. This is the only information required by
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
>, but you can avoid writing it by
setting the <TT
CLASS="ENVAR"
>PGDATA</TT
> environment variable, which
can be convenient since the database server
(<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>postgres</TT
>) can find the database
directory later by the same variable.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-E <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>encoding</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--encoding=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>encoding</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Selects the encoding of the template database. This will also
be the default encoding of any database you create later,
unless you override it there. The default is derived from the locale, or
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>SQL_ASCII</TT
> if that does not work. The character sets supported by
the <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> server are described
in <A
HREF="multibyte.html#MULTIBYTE-CHARSET-SUPPORTED"
>Section 22.3.1</A
>.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--locale=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Sets the default locale for the database cluster. If this
option is not specified, the locale is inherited from the
environment that <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> runs in. Locale
support is described in <A
HREF="locale.html"
>Section 22.1</A
>.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-collate=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-ctype=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-messages=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-monetary=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-numeric=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--lc-time=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>locale</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Like <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--locale</TT
>, but only sets the locale in
the specified category.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--no-locale</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Equivalent to <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--locale=C</TT
>.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--pwfile=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>filename</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Makes <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> read the database superuser's password
from a file. The first line of the file is taken as the password.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-T <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>CFG</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--text-search-config=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>CFG</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Sets the default text search configuration.
See <A
HREF="runtime-config-client.html#GUC-DEFAULT-TEXT-SEARCH-CONFIG"
>default_text_search_config</A
> for further information.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-U <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>username</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--username=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>username</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Selects the user name of the database superuser. This defaults
to the name of the effective user running
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
>. It is really not important what the
superuser's name is, but one might choose to keep the
customary name <SPAN
CLASS="SYSTEMITEM"
>postgres</SPAN
>, even if the operating
system user's name is different.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-W</TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--pwprompt</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Makes <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> prompt for a password
to give the database superuser. If you don't plan on using password
authentication, this is not important. Otherwise you won't be
able to use password authentication until you have a password
set up.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-X <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>directory</I
></TT
></TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--xlogdir=<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>directory</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> This option specifies the directory where the transaction log
should be stored.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P>
</P
><P
> Other, less commonly used, options are also available:
<P
></P
></P><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-d</TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--debug</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Print debugging output from the bootstrap backend and a few other
messages of lesser interest for the general public.
The bootstrap backend is the program <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
>
uses to create the catalog tables. This option generates a tremendous
amount of extremely boring output.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-L <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>directory</I
></TT
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Specifies where <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> should find
its input files to initialize the database cluster. This is
normally not necessary. You will be told if you need to
specify their location explicitly.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-n</TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--noclean</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> By default, when <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
>
determines that an error prevented it from completely creating the database
cluster, it removes any files it might have created before discovering
that it cannot finish the job. This option inhibits tidying-up and is
thus useful for debugging.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P>
</P
><P
> Other options:
<P
></P
></P><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-V</TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--version</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Print the <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>initdb</SPAN
> version and exit.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-?</TT
><BR><TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>--help</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Show help about <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>initdb</SPAN
> command line
arguments, and exit.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P>
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN86863"
></A
><H2
>Environment</H2
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="ENVAR"
>PGDATA</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Specifies the directory where the database cluster is to be
stored; can be overridden using the <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>-D</TT
> option.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="ENVAR"
>TZ</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
> Specifies the time zone, using full time zone names, which the created
database cluster should use.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P
> This utility, like most other <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> utilities,
also uses the environment variables supported by <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>libpq</SPAN
>
(see <A
HREF="libpq-envars.html"
>Section 31.14</A
>).
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN86881"
></A
><H2
>Notes</H2
><P
> <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>initdb</TT
> can also be invoked via
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>pg_ctl initdb</TT
>.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN86886"
></A
><H2
>See Also</H2
><A
HREF="app-pg-ctl.html"
><SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>pg_ctl</SPAN
></A
>, <A
HREF="app-postgres.html"
><SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>postgres</SPAN
></A
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="reference-server.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="app-pgcontroldata.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>PostgreSQL Server Applications</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="reference-server.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>pg_controldata</SPAN
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>
Mini Shell