Insecure directory in $ENV{PATH} while running with -T switch at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster

Recently i had restarted my server and i was getting a weird issue while starting up my postgresql 8.4 in ubuntu server

Insecure directory in $ENV{PATH} while running with -T switch at /usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster line 63.


Googled at many places, tried many things but the same error was repeating all the time. At the end i got a very simple solution which actually fixed my issue. Sharing it thinking it may help others as it helped me


sudo rm /var/lib/postgresql/8.4/main/postmaster.pid
sudo chown postgres:postgres /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/environment
sudo chmod u+rw,g+rw /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/environment

Installing Postgresql & using it in rails 3 application

If your are going to build a portal application which is going to hold large data then trust me "Postgresql" is the best option.

1. Install PostgreSql

sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib libpq-dev

2. After the installation is complete, create a user (like we create root user in mysql)

sudo -u postgres createuser pgs_root

This will create a user named pgs_root.

3. Now add password to the user

sudo -u postgres psql postgres
running this command will take you to psql prompt

postgres=# \passsword <user>

whatever password you wish to add must be entered twice, then type \q to exit psql prompt.

3. Configure the postgresql.conf file to make PostgreSQL listen to localhost or listen on an external IP or something, change this line to either the IP or '*' or 'localhost'.

/etc/postgresql/8.4/main/postgresql.conf (here 8.4 is the postgresql version, change it if you have installed different version)

under "CONNECTIONS AND AUTHENTICATION" uncomment the following line

listen_addresses = 'localhost'

check whether you have the following line in your /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/pg_hba.conf


# TYPE  DATABASE    USER        CIDR-ADDRESS          METHOD


# "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
local   all         all                               ident
# IPv4 local connections:
host    all         all         127.0.0.1/32          md5

5. Now postgreSQL setup is complete. To use in the application add the "pg" gem in Gemfile

gem "pg"

run bundle install

6.  In order for your application to connect with database present in PostgreSQL, configure it in the database.yml

   development:
    adapter: postgresql
    database: test_postgres
    username: pgs_root
    password: *******
    host: 127.0.0.1

7.  Create the database

    rake db:create

This will create a database named test_postgres in PostgreSQL and it is ready to use.

There is a nice GUI tool for Postgresql named pgadmin3. To install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pgadmin3

All the best...!!!