postgresqlpostgis

FATAL ERROR lock file "postmaster.pid" already exists


I have recently installed PostGIS on my Mac (El Capitan 10.11.4, Postgres is version 9.5.1) using Homebrew, and I am following these instructions - http://morphocode.com/how-to-install-postgis-on-mac-os-x/

When I try to start Postgres using

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start 

I get the following error:

$ FATAL:  lock file "postmaster.pid" already exists
HINT:  Is another postmaster (PID 280) running in data directory "/usr/local/var/postgres"?

So I spent a few hours researching how to address this, but to no avail.

Notably, I tried to kill the PID as recommended in an answer on Superuser - https://superuser.com/questions/553045/fatal-lock-file-postmaster-pid-already-exists- (in the case above, I ran kill 208), but as soon as I tried to start Postgres again, I got the same error, albeit with a different PID number. I saw a few people recommended deleting the postmaster.pid file, but I feel like maybe I should save that as a last resort...

Admittedly part of the reason I'm not sure how to fix this is that I'm not really clear on what the postmaster even is - I'm just starting to learn about all of this.

Hopping into a Postgres database via the psql db_name command works just fine, for what it's worth.


Solution

  • Postmaster is the main PostgreSQL process. You're trying to start PostgreSQL that's already running (and you're saying yourself you can connect to it). Just skip that step of your process.