1

It's been some months since I've last used PostgreSQL on my Arch Linux desktop, and, apparently, after some updates, something must have broken. If I ask for the service's status, I get (systemctl status postgresql):

× postgresql.service - PostgreSQL database server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2024-02-21 16:00:22 -03; 1h 28min ago
        CPU: 54ms

fev 21 16:00:22 phili systemd[1]: Starting PostgreSQL database server...
fev 21 16:00:22 phili postgres[11667]: An old version of the database format was found.
fev 21 16:00:22 phili postgres[11667]: See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PostgreSQL#>
fev 21 16:00:22 phili systemd[1]: postgresql.service: Control process exited, code=exited, >
fev 21 16:00:22 phili systemd[1]: postgresql.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
fev 21 16:00:22 phili systemd[1]: Failed to start PostgreSQL database server.

I've already tried to reinstall in various ways. But mostly with something like this:

pacman -Rsn postgresql
rm -rf /var/lib/postgres
pacman -Syu postgresql

The version I'm installing is the latest one, 16, but I've already tried all this with 14 as well. And, yes, I have tried restarting my PC several times.

Improve this question
7
  • 2
    The error you posted says An old version of the database format was found and provides a link See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PostgreSQL#. You should read that link to make sure you update your database to the correct version for your installed version of PostgreSQL. Make sure you have a backup of your database first before trying to make changes. Commented Feb 21, 2024 at 21:08
  • Thank you for pointing that out. But in my case I quite frankly don't have any data I would like to keep. Instead, if I could just uninstall everything and start with a clean install, that would be great. Do you see anything I'm missing in terms of reinstalling things? Commented Feb 21, 2024 at 21:18
  • The only relevant section I could find in that page was this one, but it seems to be about confusing (it's not 100% about PostgreSQL?) and dangerous. Commented Feb 21, 2024 at 21:19
  • 1
    Psygo: everything's fine with your (re)installation! It's not clear why you think you need to reinstall anything? Your database server, as GracefulRestart points out, is complaining about the data. Reinstalling the database server won't fix that… so: remove your data, if you don't need it? Commented Feb 21, 2024 at 21:19
  • 1
    The section pertaining to your issue is section 8 regarding the upgrade process. If you would like to keep your data, you would need to make sure the database data is upgraded to the proper version using pg_upgrade Commented Feb 21, 2024 at 21:32

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

When you initialize a PostgreSQL database, the database data is keyed to to that major version of PostgreSQL.

When you upgrade the major version of PostgreSQL, you need to make sure the database data is compatible with that new version.

Arch Linux provides a wiki entry for exactly this scenario, the steps are summarized as follows:

  1. Make a backup of your database data
  2. Try to retrieve the initdb arguments used to create the initial database
  3. Stop the postgresql.service
  4. Upgrade all the PostgreSQL packages
  5. Delete any existing old data from previous database upgrades
  6. Move your database data to a temporary location and make a new directory to store the upgraded database.
  7. Initialize a new database with the same initdb arguments as the original database.
  8. Upgrade your previous database with pg_upgrade
  9. Start the postgresql.service

Sans any errors, your PostgreSQL database server should now be running with upgraded database. You can now clean up any old data and temporary directories if you wish.

Improve this answer
0

Following some of @GracefulRestart's comments, what works in the end for me was following some of the steps in the 8.1 pg_upgrade section:

  1. Installing postgresql-old-upgrade
  2. Rename the old cluster directory, then create a new cluster and temporary working directory: 
    mv /var/lib/postgres/data /var/lib/postgres/olddata
mkdir /var/lib/postgres/data /var/lib/postgres/tmp
chown postgres:postgres /var/lib/postgres/data /var/lib/postgres/tmp
  3. Initialize the new cluster using the same initdb arguments as were used for the old cluster: 
    [postgres]$ initdb -D /var/lib/postgres/data --locale=C.UTF-8 --encoding=UTF8 --data-checksums
Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.