Re: [GENERAL] initdb error: "could not identify current directory" (or,

[OpenMacNews]

hi there,
% /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb --pgdata=/var/data/pgsql --username=testuser
    could not identify current directory: Permission denied
What directory are you in when you give this command?  (AFAIR su doesn't
change directory ... you might be better off with su - testuser ...)
hmmmm, that's an interesting question.
per your suggestion i tried "su - testuser", then various combos of su, su -, 
sudo, etc, etc. -- all to no avail.

then, i stumbled across the following behavior.:
(1)
% rm -rf /var/data/pgsql /Volumes/data/pgsql
% ls -ald /var/data/pgsql
        lrwxr-xr-x  1 root wheel 27 Nov 22 20:26 /var/data/pgsql -> 
/Volumes/data/pgsql
% ls -ald /Volumes/data/pgsql
        drwxrwxr-x  12 testuser testuser 408 Nov 25 09:12 /Volumes/data/pgsql
% cd /var/data/pgsql
% pwd
        /Volumes/data/pgsql
% sudo -u testuser /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb --pgdata=/var/data/pgsql 
--username=testuser

IT CHOKES.
with:
        could not identify current directory: Permission denied
        could not identify current directory: Permission denied
        could not identify current directory: Permission denied
        The program "postgres" is needed by initdb but was not found in the
        same directory as "initdb".
        Check your installation.
(2)
% rm -rf /var/data/pgsql /Volumes/data/pgsql
% ls -ald /var
        lrwxr-xr-x  1 root admin 11 Nov 23 10:28 /var -> private/var
% ls -ald /private/var
        drwxr-xr-x  24 root wheel 816 Dec  3 14:51 /private/var
% cd /var
% pwd
        /private/var
% sudo -u testuser /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb --pgdata=/var/data/pgsql 
--username=testuser

IT WORKS.
% ls -ald /var/data/pgsql
        drwx------  12 testuser testuser 408 Dec  3 16:03 /var/data/pgsql
% ls /var/data/pgsql
        PG_VERSION  global   pg_hba.conf    pg_subtrans  pg_xlog
        base        pg_clog  pg_ident.conf  pg_tblspc    postgresql.conf
now, i'd guess that that indicates a problem with
(a) exec.c's getcwd,
(b) my understanding of the behavior of 'su' et al ..., and/or
(c) perms/ownership
*something* doesn't like being *in* a dir owned by testuser:testuser ...
fwiw, note also:
        % niutil -read / /users/testuser
                name: testuser
                shell: /bin/tcsh
                realname: Test User
                uid: 57
                gid: 57
                change: 0
                expire: 0
                _shadow_passwd:
                generateduid: 9ED08FE5-3755-11D9-8050-0025038BA5BD
                authentication_authority: ;ShadowHash;
                passwd: ********
        
        % niutil -read / /groups/testuser
                name: testuser
                gid: 57
                users: testuser root admin daemon
what've i missed?
cheers,
richard
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