role "postgres" does not exist; cannot createuser

Question

I am on Linux Mint Cinnamon 2.2.16.

During the process of getting Rails up and running, I am having problems with Postgres.

postgres@BL ~ $ psql --version
psql (Postgres-XC) 1.1
(based on PostgreSQL) 9.2.4

I was unable to get anything working under my usual username, so I changed to the default user using

sudo su - postgres

I cannot get anything to work with createuser.

postgres@BL ~ $ psql
psql: FATAL:  role "postgres" does not exist

postgres@BL ~ $ createuser -s -U $USER
createuser: could not connect to database postgres: FATAL:  role "postgres" does not exist

postgres@BL ~ $ sudo -u postgres createuser newname
Sorry, user postgres is not allowed to execute '/usr/bin/createuser newname' as postgres on BL.

postgres@BL ~ $ which psql
/usr/bin/psql
postgres@BL ~ $ psql \l
psql: FATAL:  role "postgres" does not exist

I get no output out of $ psql \l, instead gives me the same FATAL: role "postgres" does not exist. Makes me think I have no users at all, but require a user to create a user...? — Paige
– Paige, Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 22:47

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:26:56Z

1

After thoroughly researching the problem and tearing out more than a few hairs, I decided this was some variation of a problem with packaging/installation, similar problem noted here: unable to create user postgres: role "postgres" does not exists

I did a complete uninstall, as per below, and reinstalled without postgresql-xc

How to thoroughly purge and reinstall postgresql on ubuntu?

The new install had expected behavior with the user "postgres" and I was able to add myself as a superuser and create new databases. After some post-installation finagling, Rails seems to be running and playing nice with postgres.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:26

CommunityBot

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answered Jun 3, 2015 at 17:25

Paige

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Comments

Sean Xiao · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-02 22:11:58Z

0

You have to authenticate to psql as the superuser in order to manage users. For example

psql -U root

Afterwards

create user paige with password 'paige';

answered Jun 2, 2015 at 22:11

Sean Xiao

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3 Comments

Paige Over a year ago

Unfortunately, getting the same error here. postgres@BL ~ $ psql -U root psql: FATAL: role "root" does not exist

Sean Xiao Over a year ago

Do you remember the username you first used when installing postgres?

Paige Over a year ago

I don't believe I created a user with a unique name, though it did ask if I wanted to create a password for the "admin 'root' user", which I did. Is there any other standard user name beside admin, root, user, or postgres ?

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