up vote -2 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

Where are the files postgresql.conf and pg_hba.conf on a Linux server running PostgreSQL 8.4 installed from Ubuntu repos?

link|improve this question
3  
The problem is b/w the chair and the keyboard. It depends on how you installed it. Did you use source tar-gz file or did you use apt utility. If you download tar-gzipped file and installed it. The pg_hba.conf file does not exist yet unless you initialize your data directory. The INSTALL/Readme file has that info. You will find pg_hba.conf file in whatever you selected as your data directory. Secondly, if you used apt utility then you should find it in /etc/postgresql/8.4/main you can also do a 'find' on the filename but doing that on the entire disk is cpu-consuming. – Nikolas Sakic Jun 20 '10 at 17:56
Installing from source to the default install location, you run the following: /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data before starting postgres and hba file will be created in that directory. – Nikolas Sakic Jun 20 '10 at 17:59
feedback

migrated from stackoverflow.com Jun 20 '10 at 13:42

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

3 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

Looking for "pg_hba.conf ubuntu" on Google gives you

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PostgreSQL

which shows the location of the files.

The documentation states the following:

Client authentication is controlled by a configuration file, which traditionally is named pg_hba.conf and is stored in the database cluster's data directory. (HBA stands for host-based authentication.) A default pg_hba.conf file is installed when the data directory is initialized by initdb. It is possible to place the authentication configuration file elsewhere, however; see the hba_file configuration parameter.

Note it says stored in the database cluster's data directory and that it's possible to place it elsewhere, via a configuration parameter. Official documentation cannot point you to a specific folder because the actual location depends on both how the OS maker and the machine's administrator have set PostgreSQL up. Remember PostgreSQL supports a lot of different operating systems (and Linux distributions.)

Also, two tips:

  1. locate will help you find files you know the name of but not the location
  2. Debian based distributions place under /usr/share/doc documentation on how they set up different packages by default, I'm sure you'll find under /usr/share/doc/postgresql-8.4 (or maybe just postgresql) info about the configuration files. Very useful to read in case they have modified some standard behavior.
link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

As Vinko said, the location is distribution-dependent. To add to his answer:

Your package management sofware will tell you where are the files installed by each package, (for example: dpkg -L postgresql).

You can also look inside the service startup script ( typically /etc/init.d/postgresql)

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.