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<!--
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/initdb.sgml,v 1.13 2000/11/11 23:01:45 petere Exp $
Postgres documentation
-->
<refentry id="APP-INITDB">
<docinfo>
<date>2000-11-11</date>
</docinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle id="APP-INITDB-TITLE"><application>initdb</application></refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>initdb</refname>
<refpurpose>Create a new <productname>Postgres</productname> database cluster</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>initdb</command>
<group choice="plain">
<arg>--pgdata </arg>
<arg>-D </arg>
<replaceable>dbdir</replaceable>
</group>
<group>
<arg>--sysid </arg>
<arg>-i </arg>
<replaceable>sysid</replaceable>
</group>
<group><arg>--pwprompt</arg><arg>-W</arg></group>
<group>
<arg>--encoding </arg>
<arg>-E </arg>
<replaceable>encoding</replaceable>
</group>
<arg>-L <replaceable>directory</replaceable></arg>
<group><arg>--noclean</arg><arg>-n</arg></group>
<group><arg>--debug</arg><arg>-d</arg></group>
<group><arg>--template</arg><arg>-t</arg></group>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1 id="R1-APP-INITDB-1">
<title>
Description
</title>
<para>
<application>initdb</application> creates a new
<productname>Postgres</productname> database cluster or system. A
database cluster is a collection of databases that are managed by a
single postmaster.
</para>
<para>
Creating a database system consists of creating the directories in which
the database data will live, generating the shared catalog tables
(tables that don't belong to any particular database), and
creating the <literal>template1</literal>
database. When you create a new database, everything in the
<literal>template1</literal> database is copied.
It contains catalog tables filled in for things like the
built-in types.
</para>
<para>
You must not execute <application>initdb</application> as root. This is
because you cannot run the database server as root either, but the
server needs to have access to the files <application>initdb</application>
creates. Furthermore, during the initialization phase, when there are no
users and no access controls installed, <productname>Postgres</productname>
will only connect with
the name of the current Unix user, so you must log in under the account
that will own the server process.
</para>
<para>
Although <application>initdb</application> will attempt to create the respective
data directory, chances are that it won't have the permission to do so. Thus
it is a good idea to create the data directory before running <application>initdb</application>
<emphasis>and</emphasis> to hand over the ownership of it to the database superuser.
</para>
<refsect2>
<title>Options</title>
<para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>--pgdata=<replaceable class="parameter">dbdir</replaceable></term>
<term>-D <replaceable class="parameter">dbdir</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This option specifies where in the file system the database should be
stored. This is the only information required by initdb, but you can avoid
it by setting the <envar>PGDATA</envar> environment variable, which
can be convenient since the database server (<filename>postmaster</filename>)
can find the database directory later by the same variable.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--sysid=<replaceable class="parameter">sysid</replaceable></term>
<term>-i <replaceable class="parameter">sysid</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Selects the system id of the database superuser. This defaults to
the effective user id of the user running initdb. It is really
not important what the superuser's sysid is, but one might choose
to start the numbering at some number like 1.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--pwprompt</term>
<term>-W</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Makes initdb prompt for a password of 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.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--encoding=<replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable></term>
<term>-E <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Selects the multibyte encoding of the template database. This will also
be the default encoding of any database you create later, unless you
override it there. To use the multibyte encoding feature, you must
specify so at build time, at which time you also select the default
for this option.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
Other, less commonly used, parameters are also available:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>-L <replaceable class="parameter">directory</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies where initdb should find its input files to
initialize the database system. This is normally not
necessary. You will be told if you need to specify their
location explicitly.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--template</term>
<term>-t</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Replace the <literal>template1</literal>
database in an existing database system, and don't touch anything else.
This is useful when you need to upgrade your <literal>template1</literal>
database using <application>initdb</application>
from a newer release of <productname>Postgres</productname>,
or when your <literal>template1</literal>
database has become corrupted by some system problem. Normally the
contents of <literal>template1</literal>
remain constant throughout the life of the database system. You can't
destroy anything by running <application>initdb</application>
with the
<option>--template</option>
option.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--noclean</term>
<term>-n</term>
<listitem>
<para>
By default, when <application>initdb</application>
determines that an error prevented it from completely creating the database
system, it removes any files it may have created before determining
that it can't finish the job. This option inhibits any tidying-up and is
thus useful for debugging.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>--debug</term>
<term>-d</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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 <application>initdb</application>
uses to create the catalog tables. This option generates a tremendous
amount of output.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</refsect2>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See also</title>
<simpara>
<citetitle>PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide</citetitle>
</simpara>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
<!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
Local variables:
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