PostgreSQL on Mac OS X

Step-by-step instructions

PostgreSQL is an open source object-relational database. It is a popular database choice when using a relational database.

Installing PostgreSQL on Mac OS X is simple.

Software versions

The instructions in this post were created / tested using the following sofware versions:

• Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10
• HomeBrew 0.9.5
• PostgreSQL 9.4

Install PostgreSQL via Brew

First, we will update Brew and then install PostgreSQL.

brew update

brew install postgres

Start PostgreSQL

Start the PostgreSQL server in the foreground. There are optional instructions below in case you would like to start PostgreSQL automatically.

Brew initializes the database during installation.

postgres -D /usr/local/var/postgres

Login to PostgreSQL for the first time.

Press Cmd + T to open a new terminal tab.

whoami is surrounded by backticks, not single quotes.

createdb `whoami`

Login to PostgreSQL with your user account.

psql

Optional: Install AdminPack

AdminPack is used by PgAdmin. If you plan on using the PgAdmin UI, then installing AdminPack is a good idea.

psql postgres -c 'CREATE EXTENSION "adminpack";'

Optional: Configure PostgreSQL to start automatically

The commands below configure PostgreSQL to start automatically.

mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents

ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist

Summary

Congrats. PostgreSQL is now installed on Mac OS X. You are now ready to start using PostgreSQL for development.

------------------------------

install log:

 ➜  ~  brew install postgres
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/postgresql-9.5.0.el_capitan.bottle.1.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Pouring postgresql-9.5.0.el_capitan.bottle.1.tar.gz
==> /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.5.0/bin/initdb /usr/local/var/postgres
==> Caveats
If builds of PostgreSQL 9 are failing and you have version 8.x installed,
you may need to remove the previous version first. See:
  https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/issues/2510

To migrate existing data from a previous major version (pre-9.5) of PostgreSQL, see:
  https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/upgrading.html

To have launchd start postgresql at login:
  ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
Then to load postgresql now:
  launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
Or, if you don't want/need launchctl, you can just run:
  postgres -D /usr/local/var/postgres
==> Summary
🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.5.0: 3,113 files, 35.0M