Postgresql - postgres@localhost failed FATAL: role does not exist

Question

I just installed postgres (with brew) and started it with pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l logfile start

I now try to connect to it in the terminal but get the following:

Connection to PostgreSQL - postgres@localhost failed FATAL: role "me" does not exist

The issue might be that I first installed postgres.app and then didn't get it work right and then removed it.

The account you should be using initially is postgres and it should not require a password. — Nick
– Nick, Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 16:32
I run 'su postgres' then initdb /usr/local/var/postgres9.5 -E utf8 but I get creating directory /usr/local/var/postgres9.5 ... initdb: could not create directory "/usr/local/var/postgres9.5": Permission denied — SuperUberDuper
– SuperUberDuper, Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 8:42
for some reason when I run initdb I got the var/postgres dir created with user root — SuperUberDuper
– SuperUberDuper, Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 8:44
actually, I just checked the users on my mac, I have a postgresql user, I think its because I started with postgres.app and then switched to brew and it just confused things, not sure what to do now @Nicarus — SuperUberDuper
– SuperUberDuper, Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 8:46

Laurenz Albe · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-18 11:26:23Z

3

+100

You don't show what you typed and as which user you did it, but from the error message I'd say that you should add -U postgres to the psql invocation.

answered Jul 18, 2016 at 11:26

Laurenz Albe

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5 Comments

SuperUberDuper Over a year ago

enjoy the easiest bounty ever.. probably

Laurenz Albe Over a year ago

Well, if it did the trick for you, that's mission accomplished. If not, please tell me more details.

SuperUberDuper Over a year ago

I can award in 15hrs

SuperUberDuper Over a year ago

for some reason I am now getting FATAL: role "postgres" does not exist any easy way to resolve?

Laurenz Albe Over a year ago

Did you DROP USER postgres or something? If you have no superuser in the database, you'll have to stop the server, start it in single user mode as described here, then look with SELECT * FROM pg_authid and recreate the user if necessary.

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