FAQ-Linux

====================================================
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Postgres95
Linux Specific
TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NORMAL FAQ
====================================================
last updated:           Mon Oct 14 11:00:00 BST 1996

current maintainer:     Andrew C.R. Martin (martin@biochem.ucl.ac.uk)
original author:        Andrew C.R. Martin (martin@biochem.ucl.ac.uk)


Changes in this version (* = modified, + = new):
*1.3)   [REDHAT] Why do I get problems with missing libdl and dlfcn.h?
*1.14)  [DEBIAN] Where is libtermcap?


This file is divided approximately as follows:
0.*)    Bugs in Postgres95 V1.08
1.*)    Installing Postgres95
2.*)    Compiling accessory programs
3.*)    Runtime Problems
4.*)    Spurious Problems in Need of Verification


Questions answered:
0.1)    What bugs do I need to fix before Postgres95 will compile
        under Linux?
1.1)    What changes do I need to make to src/Makefile.global
1.2)    Why do I get problems with missing libreadline?
1.3)    [REDHAT] Why do I get problems with missing libdl and dlfcn.h?
1.4)    [SLACKWARE 3.1] Why do I get problems with missing libdl and dlfcn.h?
1.5)    My compile of the backend dies complaining about the include file
        dlfcn.h missing
1.6)    GCC complains about an ignored option -fpic
1.7)    I get warnings of the form
        warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
1.8)    [SuSE-Linux 4.2] Where is curses and termcap?
1.9)    Why do I get problems with ld.so?
1.10)   Why do I get `yy_flush_buffer undefined' errors?
1.11)   How do I compile Postgres95 on an a.out system?
1.12)   Why does make fail with:
        yacc -d /disk2/postgres95/src/backend/parser/gram.y
        make: /usr/bin/make: cannot execute binary file
1.13)   What are the references in X11_LIB to libsocket and libnsl in
        src/Makefile.global?
1.14)   [DEBIAN] Where is libtermcap?
2.1)    The linker fails to find libX11 when compiling pgtclsh
3.1)    I get an error reporting _fUnKy_POSTPORT_sTuFf_ undefined when 
        running scripts like createuser
3.2)    I run postmaster and after that system says 'Bad system call(Core 
        dumped)'
3.3)    When I try to start the Postmaster, why do I get an error of the form
        Failed Assertion("!(file != 0):(null)", File:
        "/usr/local/postgres95/src/backend/storage/file/fd.c", Line: 257)
        !(file != 0) (0)
        initdb: could not create template database
        initdb: cleaning up.
3.4)    Why doesn't createuser work?
4.1)    Why doesn't the postmaster start the first time?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 0:      Bugs in Postgres95 V1.08
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.1)    What bugs do I need to fix before Postgres95 will compile
        under Linux?

        a) Fix the bug in src/Makefile.global:
           Change
                # Globally pass PORTNAME
                CFLAGS+= -DPORTNAME_$(PORTNAME)
                CFLAGS += -I ../../backend/port/$(PORTNAME)
           to
                # Globally pass PORTNAME
                CFLAGS+= -DPORTNAME_$(PORTNAME)
                CFLAGS += -I../../backend/port/$(PORTNAME)

           (i.e. remove the space after the -I)


        b) Add the missing prototype to src/bin/pg_dump/pg_dump.h
           After the line
                extern int findLastBuiltinOid();
           add
                extern void setMaxOid(FILE *fout);


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 1:      Compiling Postgres95
----------------------------------------------------------------------

1.1)    What changes do I need to make to src/Makefile.global

        You *must* set the following variables:
                PORTNAME=       linux

        You will also need to change the following to match your own
        installation:
                SRCDIR
                POSTGRESDIR

        If you switch on the USE_TCL option, you will need to set these:
                TCL_INCDIR=
                TCL_LIBDIR=
                TCL_LIB=
                TK_INCDIR=
                TK_LIBDIR=
                TK_LIB=
                X11_INCDIR=
                X11_LIBDIR=
                X11_LIB=

        On my Slackware3.0 system, these are:
                TCL_INCDIR=     /usr/include/tcl
                TCL_LIBDIR=     /usr/lib
                TCL_LIB=        -ltcl
                TK_INCDIR=      /usr/include/tcl
                TK_LIBDIR=      /usr/lib
                TK_LIB=         -ltk
                X11_INCDIR=     /usr/include/X11
                X11_LIBDIR=     /usr/X386/lib
                X11_LIB=        -lX11
 
        You may also make any other changes you need as documented in
        the INSTALL file and in Makefile.global


1.2)    Why do I get problems with missing libreadline?

        Linux systems generally don't come with the GNU readline library
        installed. Either comment out the USE_READLINE variable in   
        src/Makefile.global or install the GNU readline library.

1.3)    [REDHAT] Why do I get problems with missing libdl and dlfcn.h?

        The libdl library is used for dynamic linking of user-supplied
        functions at run-time. For some reason this library was missed out
        from the Redhat distribution.

        You can obtain the library and the header file from:
        
                ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/packages/GCC/ld.so-1.7.14.tar.gz

        Alternatively, you may find precompiled binaries in 
        distributions/debian/buzz/binary-i386/base/ld.so-1.7.14-4.deb
        on the same site, or follow the instructions given for question 1.2 for
        correcting the same error with early releases of Slackware 3.1.

1.4)    [SLACKWARE 3.1] Why do I get problems with missing libdl and dlfcn.h?

        See the answer to question 1.1. Slackware up to version 3.0 was 
        supplied with this library and include file and they seem to be
        back in again in the latest versions of 3.1, but the early 3.1
        releases (before 9th September 1996) had them missing and many 
        CD-ROM versions will have been pressed from the first 3.1 releases.

        The easiest fix is to obtain the file ldso.tgz from the a4 disk of
        a more recent Slackware 3.1 distribution and unpack this file
        from the root (/) directory, then do

                sh install/doinst.sh

        to complete the installation. Follow this with

                ldconfig

        If you want to install manually, you must first install the file
        dlfcn.h in /usr/include.

        Second, install the file libdl.so.1.7.14 (or whatever the latest
        release is) in /lib, then do:

                cd /lib
                ln -sf libdl.so.1.7.14 libdl.so.1
                ln -sf libdl.so.1 libdl.so

        On some systems (depending on your GCC configuration) it may be
        necessary to do:

                cd /usr/lib
                ln -sf /lib/libdl.so .

        Finally

                ldconfig


1.5)    My compile of the backend dies complaining about the include file 
        dlfcn.h missing

        See the answer to question 1.2. Don't forget that if you are using
        an a.out system you must first have installed the dld package
        (which is not supplied with most a.out systems) to have dlfcn.h
        at all. See Question 1.11.


1.6)    GCC complains about an ignored option -fpic

        Earlier versions of GCC accepted either -fpic or -fPIC.
        It appears that more recent versions (V2.7.2?) require -fPIC. 
        If you are using an ELF version of Linux, this can safely be 
        ignored as -fPIC is the default.

        You can correct this by editing
        src/mk/port/postgres.mk.linux


1.7)    I get warnings of the form 
        warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size

        These can safely be ignored

1.8)    [SuSE-Linux 4.2] Where is curses and termcap?

        SuSE-Linux has ncurses but not curses. Edit src/bin/psql/Makefile and 
        Change
                LIBCURSES=   -lcurses
        to
                LIBCURSES=   -lncurses

        SuSE-Linux has the termcap library is in /usr/lib/termcap instead of 
        in /usr/lib
        Edit src/bin/psql/Makefile and
        Change
                ifeq ($(PORTNAME), linux)
                LD_ADD += -ltermcap
                else
        to
                ifeq ($(PORTNAME), linux)
                LD_ADD += -L/usr/lib/termcap -ltermcap
                else

1.9)    Why do I get problems with ld.so?

        If you get problems with ld.so, another library required under
        ELF for dynamic loading, then you have messed up your installation
        or (more likely) upgrade of Linux.

        See the answers to Question 1.2. You may need to install
        ld.so.x.y.z in /lib and run ldconfig.

        The most recent stable release of the ld package is 1.7.14
        At the time of writing, 1.8.x versions of ld are experimental.

1.10)   Why do I get `yy_flush_buffer undefined' errors?

        This isn't really Linux specific, but is common on older Linux
        installations. You must have a recent version of flex (2.5.2 or later)
        to compile Postgres95. Note that flex 2.5.3 has a bug: see
        Question 3.4.

1.11)   How do I compile Postgres95 on an a.out system?

        First, you must install the dld library. This may be obtained
        from Sunsite as:
        Linux/libs/dld.3.2.7.tar.gz

        Second, comment out the LINUX_ELF line in src/mk/port/postgres.mk.linux

1.12)   Why does make fail with:
        yacc -d /disk2/postgres95/src/backend/parser/gram.y
        make: /usr/bin/make: cannot execute binary file

        yacc is generally implemented as a script which invokes bison -y
        For some reason (certain versions of make? certain versions of 
        bash?) make is unable to execute this script file.

        To correct this, simply edit src/mk/port/postgres.mk.linux
        and, at the end of the file, change:
                # YACC = bison -y
        to
                YACC = bison -y

1.13)   What are the references in X11_LIB to libsocket and libnsl in
        src/Makefile.global?

        These are Sun Solaris specific and shouldn't be in Makefile.global
        The compile (including pgtclsh) seems to go OK even though 
        these don't exist...

1.14)   [DEBIAN] Where is libtermcap?

        Debian Linux comes without the termcap library and uses ncurses
        (which uses terminfo instead). There is no need to change the 
        LIBCURSES variable in src/bin/psql/Makefile since Debian provides 
        a link from libncurses to libcurses (unlike SuSE-Linux --- see
        Question 1.8).

        Edit src/bin/psql/Makefile and change:

                ifeq ($(PORTNAME), linux)
                LD_ADD += -ltermcap
                else

        to

                ifeq ($(PORTNAME), linux)
                CFLAGS += 
                else




----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 2:      Compiling accessory programs
----------------------------------------------------------------------

2.1)    The linker fails to find libX11 when compiling pgtclsh

        Modify the src/Makefile.global to change
                X11_LIBDIR = /usr/lib
        to
                X11_LIBDIR = /usr/X11R6/lib


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3:      Runtime Problems
----------------------------------------------------------------------

3.1)    I get an error reporting _fUnKy_POSTPORT_sTuFf_ undefined when 
        running scripts like createuser

        This is a bug in V1.06-V1.07 of Postgres and is fixed in V1.08

3.2)    I run postmaster and after that system says 'Bad system call(Core 
        dumped)'

        This indicates that you have no compiled shared memory support 
        into your kernel. You need to recompile the Linux kernel to add this 
        feature.


3.3)    When I try to start the Postmaster, why do I get an error of the form
        Failed Assertion("!(file != 0):(null)", File: 
        "/usr/local/postgres95/src/backend/storage/file/fd.c", Line: 257)
        !(file != 0) (0)
        initdb: could not create template database
        initdb: cleaning up.

        Your permissions on the file /dev/null are wrong. 

        ls -l /dev/null should give you something like:

                crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel    2,   2 Oct  8 18:41 /dev/null

        Correct the permissions using:

                chmod a+rw /dev/null

3.4)    Why doesn't createuser work?

        There is a problem with Version 2.5.3 of GNU flex and createuser. 
        Your options are to downgrade flex to V2.5.2, apply a patch to
        V2.5.3 (supplied in doc/README.flex) or wait for V2.5.4 which 
        will fix the bug.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 4:      Spurious Problems in Need of Verification
----------------------------------------------------------------------

4.1)    Why doesn't the postmaster start the first time?

        Pawko Olszewski <alder@amg.com.pl> reported a problem that, using
        Linux kernel 2.0.18, the postmaster wouldn't start the first time 
        it is run using

                postmaster -B 256

        but if run as

                postmaster -B 64

        killed and then restarted as

                postmaster -B 256

        everything was OK.

        I haven't been able to repeat this problem! Nobody else has
        reported anything similar.

****************************************************************************
Dr. Andrew C.R. Martin,         University College London & SciTech Software
EMAIL: martin@biochem.ucl.ac.uk                Tel:(Work) +44(0)171 419 3890
URL: http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/~martin          (Home) +44(0)1372 275775
****************************************************************************