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Asked: 2026-06-01T20:14:12+00:00

PostgreSQL seems to have an environment file that allows settings environment variables. On Linux

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PostgreSQL seems to have an environment file that allows settings environment variables. On Linux (Kubuntu 11.10 in my case), it is located at e.g. /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/environment and empty by default, apart from a few helpful comments.

On Mac OSX Lion, the file does not seem to exist: I would expect it at e.g. /Library/PostgreSQL/9.0/data/ as that’s where all the other configuration files are, but it is not there – and if I create it, it does not seem to be used.

How can I set environment variables for the PostgreSQL server on Mac OSX ?

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  1. Editorial Team

    There is no standard way to specify environment variables for PostgreSQL, I assume that file is Kubuntu specific.

    What I did to ease my life was copying approach used by ORACLE:

    • I have /etc/pgtab file on each server where I run PostgreSQL databases;
    • I specify each cluster I run on a single line in the /etc/pgtab;
    • I’ve created a script pgenv which based on the /etc/pgtab shows the menu of clusters (in case there’re more then just one) and initialize all PATHs and variables.

    It works on my MacBookPro and on all Linux and HP-UX based servers.

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