INITDB(1)						  PostgreSQL Server Applications						 INITDB(1)

NAME

       initdb - create a new PostgreSQL database cluster

SYNOPSIS

       initdb [ options... ]  --pgdata	| -D directory

DESCRIPTION

       initdb  creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster (or database system). A database cluster is a collection of databases that are managed by
       a single server instance.

       Creating a database system 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 template1 database. When you create a
       new database, everything in the template1 database is copied.  It contains catalog tables filled in for things like the built-in types.

       initdb initializes the database cluster's default locale and character set encoding. Some locale categories are fixed for the  lifetime	of
       the cluster, so it is important to make the right choice when running initdb.  Other locale categories can be changed later when the server
       is started. initdb will write those locale settings into the postgresql.conf configuration file so they are the default, but  they  can	be
       changed	by  editing  that file. To set the locale that initdb uses, see the description of the --locale option. The character set encoding
       can be set separately for each database as it is created.  initdb determines the encoding for the template1 database, which will  serve	as
       the default for all other databases. To alter the default encoding use the --encoding option.

       initdb  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
       initdb creates.	Since the server may not be run as root, you must not run initdb as root either. (It will in fact refuse to do so.)

       Although initdb will attempt to create the specified data directory, often it won't have permission to do  so,  since  the  parent  of  the
       desired	data  directory  is often a root-owned directory. To set up an arrangement like this, create an empty data directory as root, then
       use chown to hand over ownership of that directory to the database user account, then su to become  the	database  user,  and  finally  run
       initdb as the database user.

OPTIONS

       -D directory

       --pgdata=directory
	      This option specifies the directory where the database system should be stored. This is the only information required by initdb, but
	      you can avoid writing it by setting the PGDATA environment variable, which can be convenient since the database server  (postmaster)
	      can find the database directory later by the same variable.

       -E encoding

       --encoding=encoding
	      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. To use the encoding feature, you must have enabled it at build time, at which time you also  select  the  default
	      for this option.

       --locale=locale
	      Sets the default locale for the database cluster. If this option is not specified, the locale is inherited from the environment that
	      initdb runs in.

       --lc-collate=locale

       --lc-ctype=locale

       --lc-messages=locale

       --lc-monetary=locale

       --lc-numeric=locale

       --lc-time=locale
	      Like --locale, but only sets the locale in the specified category.

       -U username

       --username=username
	      Selects the user name of the database superuser. This defaults to the name of the effective user running initdb. It  is  really  not
	      important  what  the  superuser's  name  is,  but one might choose to keep the customary name postgres, even if the operating system
	      user's name is different.

       -W

       --pwprompt
	      Makes initdb 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.

       Other, less commonly used, parameters are also available:

       -d

       --debug
	      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 initdb uses to create the catalog tables. This option generates a tremendous amount of extremely boring  out-
	      put.

       -L directory
	      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.

       -n

       --noclean
	      By default, when initdb determines that an error prevented it from completely creating the database system, it removes any files	it
	      may have created before discovering that it can't finish the job. This option inhibits tidying-up and is thus useful for debugging.

ENVIRONMENT

       PGDATA Specifies the directory where the database system is to be stored; may be overridden using the -D option.

SEE ALSO

       postgres(1), postmaster(1), PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide

Application							    2002-11-22								 INITDB(1)