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Upgraded 10.6 from 10.5 and now postgres 8.1 is whacked. To make things worse I tried installing 8.4 which I'm pretty sure just made things ten times worse. Anyhow, the exception I'm getting when I try to fire postgres up and just createuser is this:

createuser: could not connect to database postgres: could not connect to server: No such file or directory Is the server running locally and accepting connections on Unix domain socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

HOW do I fully get rid of postgres on my Mac so I can do a do-over?

Thanks

wgpubs
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  • How did you install Postgresql, via source or some package install method? – Kuberchaun Apr 26 '10 at 17:03
  • I don't remember how I originally installed it. Wasn't from source. I think it was the install from here: http://www.postgresqlformac.com/ – wgpubs Apr 26 '10 at 17:12

3 Answers3

61

The problem was with the PostgreSQL account sitting on my machine.

I removed the account and proceeded with the uninstall using the instructions here:

Automatic Uninstall:

In the installation directory, there will be a uninstall-postgresql.app file. Executing (double clicking) that will uninstall the PostgreSQL installation.

Manual Uninstall:

  1. Stop the server: 

    sudo /sbin/SystemStarter stop postgresql-8.3

  2. Remove menu shortcuts: 

    sudo rm -rf /Applications/PostgreSQL 8.3

  3. Remove the ini file: 

    sudo rm -rf /etc/postgres-reg.ini

  4. Removing Startup Items: 

    sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/postgresql-8.3

  5. Remove the data and installed files: 

    sudo rm -rf /Library/PostgreSQL/8.3

  6. Delete the user postgres: 

    sudo dscl . delete /users/postgres
the Tin Man
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wgpubs
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9

I can add this tiny command to the answer too: 

rm /usr/bin/psql

Remove executable psql alias.

Amir Latifi
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    This is closer to the answer than the above. Apple ships with postgres binaries preinstalled (as of Lion, 10.7). There will *not* be the uninstaller that the chosen answer mentions. – Chris Jun 21 '12 at 19:06
  • well the question clearly states that its not lion but snow-leopard (10.6), but nevermind, the chosen answer works perfectly. – zuloo May 18 '13 at 22:55
  • explain what, the line and comment stands on its own. Its an extra line for the answer above or would you rather the entire answer was repeated? – Stevetech Jul 23 '13 at 07:20
  • You will also need to do get rid of all the /usr/bin/pg_* executables (like pg_dump, pg_restore, etc.) – rootsmith Oct 07 '13 at 21:18
  • I think better is to add postgres installation /bin path to the system $PATH instead of removing parts of system. After that you will use versions of psql pg_* same as postgresql server. – cintrzyk Nov 17 '13 at 10:11
  • I get `rm: /usr/bin/psql: Permission denied` when I try this solution. Is there a way around it? – Wilhelm Jul 15 '14 at 16:51
2

If you have newer Postgres and/or OSX/macOS version, you can check this answer.

Community
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Robert Lujo
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