Question

I have installed postgressql 8.4-91 version in my Linux OS.
On going to the directory where its installed I am able to locate psql in the directory.
I am having 2 issues.

1. on typing ./psql ,it asks for a password and doesn’t accept any password.
2. On typibf psql i am getting ” command not found”

Answer 1

The second one is easy. Most secure Linux system don’t include . (the current directory) in the path (i.e., $PATH).

This avoids the attack vector of providing an ls script in your directory that will run if someone is foolish enough to have . before the real location of ls in their path.

If you really want to be able to run it without the dot, the safest option is to set up an alias like:

alias pg='./psql'

and then use pg to run it. I would advise against putting . in your $PATH variable, at least on a shared machine. If you’re the only one able to muck about on your machine, then you could probably do it safely.

The first you can probably get around by editing the pg_hba.conf file to get rid of authentication, using alter user (or add user) to set up a password then turn authentication back on.

Or you could just run without authentication in your development environment, as so many of us do 🙂