This error is accompanied by a suggestion to change SEMMNI or SEMMNS. In this case, that suggestion is not appropriate. Read below for the scenario.
Suggestion: Can we modify the error message to include checking for a running postmaster? Reasoning: During my dbinit, I found the following error message. # su -l pgsql -c initdb The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "pgsql". This user must also own the server process. The database cluster will be initialized with locale C. creating directory /usr/local/pgsql/data... ok creating directory /usr/local/pgsql/data/base... ok creating directory /usr/local/pgsql/data/global... ok creating directory /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_xlog... ok creating directory /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_clog... ok creating template1 database in /usr/local/pgsql/data/base/1... IpcSemaphoreCreate: semget(key=1, num=17, 03600) failed: No space left on device This error does *not* mean that you have run out of disk space. It occurs when either the system limit for the maximum number of semaphore sets (SEMMNI), or the system wide maximum number of semaphores (SEMMNS), would be exceeded. You need to raise the respective kernel parameter. Alternatively, reduce PostgreSQL's consumption of semaphores by reducing its max_connections parameter (currently 1). The PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide contains more information about configuring your system for PostgreSQL. initdb failed. Removing /usr/local/pgsql/data. ### Here's what happened: I removed the old installs of pg (pkg_delete postgresql-7.2.3 && pkg_delete postgresql-devel-7.3.rc1 ; this is a FreeBSD box), then installed 7.3. But I did not first stop the postmaster. Then I ran initdb, and the first message was: ### initdb: The directory /usr/local/pgsql/data exists but is not empty. If you want to create a new database system, either remove or empty the directory /usr/local/pgsql/data or run initdb with an argument other than /usr/local/pgsql/data. ### So I moved it out of the way: # mv /usr/local/pgsql/data /usr/local/pgsql/data.old That's when I encountered the message mentioned in the subject. The solution involved: # mv /usr/local/pgsql/data.old /usr/local/pgsql/data # /usr/local/etc/rc.d/010.pgsql.sh stop # mv /usr/local/pgsql/data /usr/local/pgsql/data.old # su -l pgsql -c initdb Then the initdb ran successfully. -- Dan Langille : http://www.langille.org/ ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/docs/faq.html
