Where are the PostgreSQL logs on macOS?

Question

I would like to take a look at the PostgreSQL log files to see what my app writes to them but I can't find them.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

On OSX Homebrew installation the log can be found at:

Latest Homebrew:

/opt/homebrew/var/log/postgres.log

or older:

/usr/local/var/log/postgres.log 

or for older version of postgres (< 9.6)

/usr/local/var/postgres/server.log

Bonus - check if PostgreSQL is running using Homebrew:

brew services info --all

Answer 2

Just ask your database:

SELECT 
    * 
FROM 
    pg_settings 
WHERE 
    category IN( 'Reporting and Logging / Where to Log' , 'File Locations')
ORDER BY 
    category,
    name;

In my case, it's in "/Library/PostgreSQL/8.4/data/pg_log"

Answer 3

The plist used to launch your Postgres on boot may also set the logfile:

$ dir ~/Library/LaunchAgents
org.postgresql.postgres.plist

$ cat ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.postgresql.postgres.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  [...]
  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/usr/local/var/postgres/server.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

So in this case, /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log.

Answer 4

On OS X, if you're using the EnterpriseDB installation of PostgreSQL, your log files will be in /Library/PostgreSQL/8.4/data/pg_log

Of course, you'll want to substitute 8.4 for whichever version number you're running.

Answer 5

For Apple M1(Big Sur / Monterey) users who installed postgres using homebrew the location is -

/opt/homebrew/var/log/postgres.log

Answer 6

If you are using Postgres.app, you can find the Data Directory location in the Preferences dialog box. In that directory, the log is at postgres-server.log.

For example, on my machine, the log is at /Users/nofinator/Library/Application Support/Postgres/var-9.4/postgres-server.log.

Answer 7

I have different Postgresql versions installed on my mac (with macports), and all the logs can be found here

/opt/local/var/log/postgresql84/postgres.log
/opt/local/var/log/postgresql91/postgres.log
/opt/local/var/log/postgresql92/postgres.log

Answer 8

Postgresapp 9.3.5.1 and later keep a server log. The log is inside the data directory, named postgres-server.log.

Answer 9

And for users of macports, expect something like /opt/local/var/log/postgresql11 (assuming you are running postgresql 11) after upgrading to Big Sur.

Answer 10

Postgres 13

All logs are arranged per in the order of dates in postgres version 13. The correct folder to find it is :

sudo ls /Library/PostgreSQL/13/data/log

Here you can see all the logs file that were created to select any one log file use

sudo vim /Library/PostgreSQL/13/data/log/postgresql-2021-08-20_051906.log