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Installing Postgres via Brew (OSX)
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postgres-brew.md

Installing Postgres via Brew

Pre-Reqs

Brew Package Manager

In your command-line run the command: brew update

Installing

  1. In your command-line run the command: brew install postgresql
  2. Read the Caveats section that is outputted to the Terminal.
  3. Run the command: ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
  4. Open your zsh config file: subl ~/.zshrc
  5. At the bottom of the file, create two new aliases to start and stop your postgres server. They could look something like this:
alias pg-start="launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist"
alias pg-stop="launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist"

Details

What is this ln command I ran in my Terminal?

from the man ln command

The ln utility creates a new directory entry (linked file) which has the same modes as the original file. It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in many places at once without using up storage for the copies''; instead, a link points'' to the original copy. There are two types of links; hard links and symbolic links. How a link ``points'' to a file is one of the differences between a hard and symbolic link.

What is launchctl?

from the man launchctl command

launchctl interfaces with launchd to manage and inspect daemons, angents and XPC services.

@cyber-sourceress
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Oh!

For anyone getting launchctl load i/o errors

do:

launchctl unload ~/path
launchctl load ~/path

That should clear the error for BigSur+

And isn't "load" a legacy command now?

@C-Compton
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Oh!

For anyone getting launchctl load i/o errors

do:

launchctl unload ~/path
launchctl load ~/path

That should clear the error for BigSur+

And isn't "load" a legacy command now?

I'm on Big Sur. I created the aliases as described above and I'm receiving
Load failed: 5: Input/output error

Your suggestion here didn't work either.

And to answer your question about the load option for launchctl, it is legacy per the man page.

LEGACY SUBCOMMANDS
     Subcommands from the previous implementation of launchd are generally available, though some may be unimplemented.
     Unimplemented subcommands are documented as such.

     load | unload [-wF] [-S sessiontype] [-D searchpath] paths ...
              Load the specified configuration files or directories of configuration files.  Jobs that are not on-demand...

@cyber-sourceress
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cyber-sourceress commented Aug 13, 2021 via email

@C-Compton
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Interesting! I wonder what is occurring, are you on an M1 or a Hackintosh? And I appreciate the man page clarification!
…

Native MacOS on Intel.

I just went with the brew services ... solution posted higher in this thread.

@Mahfuz2811
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I am facing the same issue in MacOS BigSur

Load failed: 5: Input/output error

Does anyone find the solution?

@C-Compton
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C-Compton commented Aug 28, 2021 •
edited
Loading

I am facing the same issue in MacOS BigSur

Load failed: 5: Input/output error

Does anyone find the solution?

@Mahfuz2811 Check out this response here: https://gist.github.com/ibraheem4/ce5ccd3e4d7a65589ce84f2a3b7c23a3#gistcomment-3443897

@ai4jenenerey
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I am facing the same issue in MacOS BigSur

Load failed: 5: Input/output error

Does anyone find the solution?

Stucked with this issue too.

@williammmussa
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Hello everyone i try to create a user it returns no response but the is not created....what am i missing here

@dknopf
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dknopf commented Aug 30, 2021 •
edited
Loading

I am facing the same issue in MacOS BigSur

Load failed: 5: Input/output error

Does anyone find the solution?

I'm also stuck here when running either the alias OR brew services start postgresql, and running brew services cleanup in the response by @C-Compton didn't seem to work either. Is there a way to revert the launchutl/ln commands that I ran because of this gist?

When trying to run the unload commands from @remilia-grimm I get Unload failed: 5: Input/output error

@jkapeniak
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jkapeniak commented Oct 3, 2021 •
edited
Loading

I am facing the same issue in MacOS BigSur
Load failed: 5: Input/output error
Does anyone find the solution?

I'm also stuck here when running either the alias OR brew services start postgresql, and running brew services cleanup in the response by @C-Compton didn't seem to work either. Is there a way to revert the launchutl/ln commands that I ran because of this gist?

When trying to run the unload commands from @remilia-grimm I get Unload failed: 5: Input/output error

I also had the Unload failed: 5: Input/output error I was able to solve it and run it via brew services start from the following steps:

This was my link command:
ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

Which produced the following output:
/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents -> /usr/local/opt/postgresql/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist

As per this stack post you can remove by removing the thing to the left of the arrow:

sudo rm /Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents

I was then able to run
brew services start postgresql

@Thihasoehlaing
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That help me alot. Thanks

@joshades
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joshades commented Dec 6, 2021

This helps a lot. Thank you. :-)

@nileshpandey3
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  • This command brew services stop postgresql helped me resolve Input/output error
  • Then I could successfully start using pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start

@developerbello
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Thank Man

@brianlens
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brianlens commented Apr 13, 2022 •
edited
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For M1 Macs, the directory changed a bit I see. usr/local/ should be replaced with /opt/homebrew/ when running step 2

@joy-joel
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joy-joel commented May 6, 2022

As it is said here, it is not necessary to manage services manually that are explained on 2, 3 and 4 steps. Instead of these steps you can use these ones, I think, it is simpler and more manageable;

  • To start PostgreSQL as service use;
    brew services start postgresql
  • To stop PostgreSQL
    brew services stop postgresql
  • And if you un-install the postgresql then you can remove its links with that command;
    brew services cleanup

And also by doing this way, brew services maintains the status of the service. I mean; when you stop the service via brew services, then it is not automatically started on next system start up. But, on the other hand, if you do not use brew services, then the service (postgresql) always started up on the system start up.

Thank you @ibraheem4 and @rclik

@marciprescott
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marciprescott commented May 30, 2022 •
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Thanks @joy2323

@lucas-larsson
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This might seem like a total noob question but, wouldn't launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents load everything in the directory? and unload would unload everything.

As ~/Library/LaunchAgents is a default created folder, it might contain other agents that one would not want to load/unload.

Please let me know If I am mistaken.

@sofiree-zz
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removing

Thanks, this helped.

@pnoken
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pnoken commented Aug 19, 2022

replace line 2 with ln -sfv /opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents for macOs 12.5 or recent versions

@gnorman
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gnorman commented Sep 3, 2022

Thanks pnoken.

@Sillians
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Sillians commented Oct 6, 2022

Quite helpful, thanks

@hariramsr
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replace line 2 with ln -sfv /opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents for macOs 12.5 or recent versions

Thank you

@aperez-kueski
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use this if not working for ventura and PG14, ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql@14/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

@carakessler
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for Ventura+, use ln -sfv /opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql@14/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

@jsantanders
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Thanks @carakessler!

@codetit4n
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ln -sfv /opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql@14/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

Thanks it worked!

@0x-2a
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0x-2a commented Sep 26, 2023

Here's an updated version, which has the idea of "this is a local dev db, just grant everything to my user and set their password".

brew install postgresql@14

# Copy launch agents for background start/stop.
ln -sfv /opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql@14/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

# Add aliases to shell profile to always have available
open ~/.zprofile # or vi ~/.zprofile

# In ~/.zprofile, add to the bottom
# 
alias pg_start="launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/[email protected]"
alias pg_stop="launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/[email protected]"
#
# Save and quit

# Load what you just added in zprofile
source ~/.zprofile

# No turn on postgres, run pg_stop to turn off
pg_start 

createdb localdb

# open psql console
psql postgres 

# Inside the psql console, Use semicolons!
# 
#
create role dev_local with password 'dev_local' login;
alter role dev_local superuser createdb createrole replication bypassrls;
grant all privileges on database localdb to dev_local;
grant usage on schema public to dev_local;
alter database localdb owner to dev_local;
alter schema public owner to dev_local;
\list # Check dbs
\du # Check roles
\dn+ # Check owners
\q # Quit
#
#
# End psql console

# CONN URL is postgresql://127.0.0.1:5432/localdb
# user: dev_local
# pass: dev_local

@lloyddugmore
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I encountered the input load errors and I just found another article that seems to have worked better - https://www.moncefbelyamani.com/how-to-install-postgresql-on-a-mac-with-homebrew-and-lunchy/

@intellect4all
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postgresql://127.0.0.1:5432/localdb

This works for me. Mac m1

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