Platform-Specific Notes

PostgreSQL 8.4.2 Documentation
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# 15.8. Platform-Specific Notes

This section documents additional platform-specific issues regarding the installation and setup of PostgreSQL. Be sure to read the installation instructions, and in particular Section 15.2 as well. Also, check Chapter 29 regarding the interpretation of regression test results.

Platforms that are not covered here have no known platform-specific installation issues.

## 15.8.1. AIX

PostgreSQL works on AIX, but getting it installed properly can be challenging. AIX versions from 4.3.3 to 6.1 are considered supported. You can use GCC or the native IBM compiler xlc. In general, using recent versions of AIX and PostgreSQL helps. Check the build farm for up to date information about which versions of AIX are known to work.

Use the following `configure` flags in addition to your own if you have installed Readline or libz there: `--with-includes=/usr/local/include --with-libraries=/usr/local/lib`.

If you don't have a PowerPC or use GCC you might see rounding differences in the geometry regression test. There will probably be warnings about 0.0/0.0 division and duplicate symbols which you can safely ignore.

Some of the AIX tools may be "a little different" from what you may be accustomed to on other platforms. If you are looking for a version of `ldd`, useful for determining what object code depends on what libraries, the following URLs may help you: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/aix-faq/part4/section-22.html, http://www.han.de/~jum/aix/ldd.c.

Table 15-1 shows the minimum recommended fix levels for various AIX versions. To check your current fix level, use `oslevel -r` in AIX 4.3.3 to AIX 5.2 ML 7, or `oslevel -s` in later versions.

Table 15-1. Minimum recommended AIX fix levels

AIX version | fix level
--- | ---
AIX 4.3.3 | Maintenance Level 11 + post ML11 bundle
AIX 5.1 | Maintenance Level 9 + post ML9 bundle
AIX 5.2 | Technology Level 10 Service Pack 3
AIX 5.3 | Technology Level 7
AIX 6.1 | Base Level

### 15.8.1.1. GCC issues

On AIX 5.3, there have been some problems getting PostgreSQL to compile and run using GCC.

You will want to use a version of GCC subsequent to 3.3.2, particularly if you use a prepackaged version. We had good success with 4.0.1. Problems with earlier versions seem to have more to do with the way IBM packaged GCC than with actual issues with GCC, so that if you compile GCC yourself, you might well have success with an earlier version of GCC.

### 15.8.1.2. Unix-domain sockets broken

AIX 5.3 has a problem where `sockaddr_storage` is not defined to be large enough. In version 5.3, IBM increased the size of `sockaddr_un`, the address structure for Unix-domain sockets, but did not correspondingly increase the size of `sockaddr_storage`. The result of this is that attempts to use Unix-domain sockets with PostgreSQL lead to libpq overflowing the data structure. TCP/IP connections work OK, but not Unix-domain sockets, which prevents the regression tests from working.

The problem was reported to IBM, and is recorded as bug report PMR29657. If you upgrade to maintenance level 5300-03 or later, that will include this fix. A quick workaround is to alter `_SS_MAXSIZE` to 1025 in `/usr/include/sys/socket.h`. In either case, recompile PostgreSQL once you have the corrected header file.

### 15.8.1.3. Internet address issues

PostgreSQL relies on the system's `getaddrinfo` function to parse IP addresses in `listen_addresses`, `pg_hba.conf`, etc. Older versions of AIX have assorted bugs in this function. If you have problems related to these settings, updating to the appropriate fix level shown in Table 15-1 should take care of it.

One user reports:

When implementing PostgreSQL version 8.1 on AIX 5.3, we periodically ran into problems where the statistics collector would "mysteriously" not come up successfully. This appears to be the result of unexpected behaviour in the IPv6 implementation. It looks like PostgreSQL and IPv6 do not play very well together at this time on AIX.

Any of the following actions "fix" the problem.

- Delete the IPv6 address for localhost:

      (as root)
      # ifconfig lo0 inet6 ::1/0 delete

- Remove IPv6 from net services. The file `/etc/netsvc.conf` on AIX is roughly equivalent to `/etc/nsswitch.conf` on Solaris/Linux. The default, on AIX, is thus:

      hosts=local,bind

  Replace this with:

      hosts=local4,bind4

  to deactivate searching for IPv6 addresses.

### 15.8.1.4. Memory management

AIX can be somewhat peculiar with regards to the way it does memory management. You can have a server with many multiples of gigabytes of RAM free, but still get out of memory or address space errors when running applications. One example is `createlang` failing with unusual errors. For example, running as the owner of the PostgreSQL installation:

    -bash-3.00$ createlang plpgsql template1
    createlang: language installation failed: ERROR:  could not load library "/opt/dbs/pgsql748/lib/plpgsql.so": A memory address is not in the address space for the process.

Running as a non-owner in the group posessing the PostgreSQL installation:

    -bash-3.00$ createlang plpgsql template1
    createlang: language installation failed: ERROR:  could not load library "/opt/dbs/pgsql748/lib/plpgsql.so": Bad address

Another example is out of memory errors in the PostgreSQL server logs, with every memory allocation near or greater than 256 MB failing.

The overall cause of all these problems is the default bittedness and memory model used by the server process. By default, all binaries built on AIX are 32-bit. This does not depend upon hardware type or kernel in use. These 32-bit processes are limited to 4 GB of memory laid out in 256 MB segments using one of a few models. The default allows for less than 256 MB in the heap as it shares a single segment with the stack.

In the case of the `createlang` example, above, check your umask and the permissions of the binaries in your PostgreSQL installation. The binaries involved in that example were 32-bit and installed as mode 750 instead of 755. Due to the permissions being set in this fashion, only the owner or a member of the possessing group can load the library. Since it isn't world-readable, the loader places the object into the process' heap instead of the shared library segments where it would otherwise be placed.

The "ideal" solution for this is to use a 64-bit build of PostgreSQL, but that is not always practical, because systems with 32-bit processors can build, but not run, 64-bit binaries.

If a 32-bit binary is desired, set `LDR_CNTRL` to `MAXDATA=0x`n`0000000`, where 1 <= n <= 8, before starting the PostgreSQL server, and try different values and `postgresql.conf` settings to find a configuration that works satisfactorily. This use of `LDR_CNTRL` tells AIX that you want the server to have `MAXDATA` bytes set aside for the heap, allocated in 256 MB segments. When you find a workable configuration, `ldedit` can be used to modify the binaries so that they default to using the desired heap size. PostgreSQL can also be rebuilt, passing `configure LDFLAGS="-Wl,-bmaxdata:0x`n`0000000"` to achieve the same effect.

For a 64-bit build, set `OBJECT_MODE` to 64 and pass `CC="gcc -maix64"` and `LDFLAGS="-Wl,-bbigtoc"` to `configure`. (Options for `xlc` might differ.) If you omit the export of `OBJECT_MODE`, your build may fail with linker errors. When `OBJECT_MODE` is set, it tells AIX's build utilities such as `ar`, `as`, and `ld` what type of objects to default to handling.

By default, overcommit of paging space can happen. While we have not seen this occur, AIX will kill processes when it runs out of memory and the overcommit is accessed. The closest to this that we have seen is fork failing because the system decided that there was not enough memory for another process. Like many other parts of AIX, the paging space allocation method and out-of-memory kill is configurable on a system- or process-wide basis if this becomes a problem.

### References and resources

"Large Program Support", AIX Documentation: General Programming Concepts: Writing and Debugging Programs.

"Program Address Space Overview", AIX Documentation: General Programming Concepts: Writing and Debugging Programs.

"Performance Overview of the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM)", AIX Documentation: Performance Management Guide.

"Page Space Allocation", AIX Documentation: Performance Management Guide.

"Paging-space thresholds tuning", AIX Documentation: Performance Management Guide.

Developing and Porting C and C++ Applications on AIX, IBM Redbook.

## 15.8.2. Cygwin

PostgreSQL can be built using Cygwin, a Linux-like environment for Windows, but that method is inferior to the native Windows build (see Chapter 16) and is no longer recommended.

When building from source, proceed according to the normal installation procedure (i.e., `./configure; make`; etc.), noting the following-Cygwin specific differences:

- Set your path to use the Cygwin bin directory before the Windows utilities. This will help prevent problems with compilation.

- The GNU make command is called "make" not "gmake".

- The `adduser` command is not supported; use the appropriate user management application on Windows NT, 2000, or XP. Otherwise, skip this step.

- The `su` command is not supported; use ssh to simulate su on Windows NT, 2000, or XP. Otherwise, skip this step.

- OpenSSL is not supported.

- Start `cygserver` for shared memory support. To do this, enter the command `/usr/sbin/cygserver &`. This program needs to be running anytime you start the PostgreSQL server or initialize a database cluster (`initdb`). The default `cygserver` configuration may need to be changed (e.g., increase `SEMMNS`) to prevent PostgreSQL from failing due to a lack of system resources.

- The parallel regression tests (`make check`) can generate spurious regression test failures due to overflowing the `listen()` backlog queue which causes connection refused errors or hangs. You can limit the number of connections using the make variable `MAX_CONNECTIONS` thus:

      make MAX_CONNECTIONS=5 check

  (On some systems you can have up to about 10 simultaneous connections).

It is possible to install `cygserver` and the PostgreSQL server as Windows NT services. For information on how to do this, please refer to the `README` document included with the PostgreSQL binary package on Cygwin. It is installed in the directory `/usr/share/doc/Cygwin`.

## 15.8.3. HP-UX

PostgreSQL 7.3+ should work on Series 700/800 PA-RISC machines running HP-UX 10.X or 11.X, given appropriate system patch levels and build tools. At least one developer routinely tests on HP-UX 10.20, and we have reports of successful installations on HP-UX 11.00 and 11.11.

Aside from the PostgreSQL source distribution, you will need GNU make (HP's make will not do), and either GCC or HP's full ANSI C compiler. If you intend to build from CVS sources rather than a distribution tarball, you will also need Flex (GNU lex) and Bison (GNU yacc). We also recommend making sure you are fairly up-to-date on HP patches. At a minimum, if you are building 64 bit binaries on on HP-UX 11.11 you may need PHSS_30966 (11.11) or a successor patch otherwise `initdb` may hang:

PHSS_30966 s700_800 ld(1) and linker tools cumulative patch

On general principles you should be current on libc and ld/dld patches, as well as compiler patches if you are using HP's C compiler. See HP's support sites such as http://itrc.hp.com and ftp://us-ffs.external.hp.com/ for free copies of their latest patches.

If you are building on a PA-RISC 2.0 machine and want to have 64-bit binaries using GCC, you must use GCC 64-bit version. GCC binaries for HP-UX PA-RISC and Itanium are available from http://www.hp.com/go/gcc. Don't forget to get and install binutils at the same time.

If you are building on a PA-RISC 2.0 machine and want the compiled binaries to run on PA-RISC 1.1 machines you will need to specify `+DAportable` in `CFLAGS`.

If you are building on a HP-UX Itanium machine, you will need the latest HP ANSI C compiler with its dependent patch or successor patches:

PHSS_30848 s700_800 HP C Compiler (A.05.57)
PHSS_30849 s700_800 u2comp/be/plugin library Patch

If you have both HP's C compiler and GCC's, then you might want to explicitly select the compiler to use when you run `configure`:

    ./configure CC=cc

for HP's C compiler, or

    ./configure CC=gcc

for GCC. If you omit this setting, then configure will pick `gcc` if it has a choice.

The default install target location is `/usr/local/pgsql`, which you might want to change to something under `/opt`. If so, use the `--prefix` switch to `configure`.

In the regression tests, there might be some low-order-digit differences in the geometry tests, which vary depending on which compiler and math library versions you use. Any other error is cause for suspicion.

## 15.8.4. IRIX

PostgreSQL has been reported to run successfully on MIPS r8000, r10000 (both ip25 and ip27) and r12000(ip35) processors, running IRIX 6.5.5m, 6.5.12, 6.5.13, and 6.5.26 with MIPSPro compilers version 7.30, 7.3.1.2m, 7.3, and 7.4.4m.

You will need the MIPSPro full ANSI C compiler. There are problems trying to build with GCC. It is a known GCC bug (not fixed as of version 3.0) related to using functions that return certain kinds of structures. This bug affects functions like `inet_ntoa`, `inet_lnaof`, `inet_netof`, `inet_makeaddr`, and `semctl`. It is supposed to be fixed by forcing code to link those functions with libgcc, but this has not been tested yet.

It is known that version 7.4.1m of the MIPSPro compiler generates incorrect code. The symptom is "invalid primary checkpoint record" when trying to start the database.) Version 7.4.4m is OK; the status of intermediate versions is uncertain.

There may be a compilation problem like the following:

    cc-1020 cc: ERROR File = pqcomm.c, Line = 427
      The identifier "TCP_NODELAY" is undefined.

                    if (setsockopt(port->sock, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY,

Some versions include TCP definitions in `sys/xti.h`, so it is necessary to add `#include <sys/xti.h>` in `src/backend/libpq/pqcomm.c` and in `src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c`. If you encounter this, please let us know so we can develop a proper fix.

In the regression tests, there might be some low-order-digit differences in the geometry tests, depending on which FPU are you using. Any other error is cause for suspicion.

## 15.8.5. MinGW/Native Windows

PostgreSQL for Windows can be built using MinGW, a Unix-like build environment for Microsoft operating systems, or using Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler suite. The MinGW build variant uses the normal build system described in this chapter; the Visual C++ build works completely differently and is described in Chapter 16. There is also a precompiled binary installer which you can find at from http://pgfoundry.org/projects/pginstaller. It is a fully native build and uses no additional software like MinGW. The ready-made installer files are available on the main PostgreSQL FTP servers in the `binary/win32` directory.

The native Win32 port requires a 32-bit NT-based Microsoft operating system, like Windows NT 4, Windows 2000/2003, or Windows XP. (NT 4 is no longer supported.) Earlier operating systems do not have sufficient infrastructure (but Cygwin may be used on those). MinGW, the Unix-like build tools, and MSYS, a collection of Unix tools required to run shell scripts like `configure`, can be downloaded from http://www.mingw.org/. Neither is required to run the resulting binaries; they are needed only for creating the binaries.

After you have everything installed, it is suggested that you run psql under `CMD.EXE`, as the MSYS console has buffering issues.

## 15.8.6. SCO OpenServer and SCO UnixWare

PostgreSQL can be built on SCO UnixWare 7 and SCO OpenServer 5. On OpenServer, you can use either the OpenServer Development Kit or the Universal Development Kit. However, some tweaking may be needed, as described below.

### 15.8.6.1. Skunkware

You should locate your copy of the SCO Skunkware CD. The Skunkware CD is included with UnixWare 7 and current versions of OpenServer 5. Skunkware includes ready-to-install versions of many popular programs that are available on the Internet. For example, gzip, gunzip, GNU Make, Flex, and Bison are all included. For UnixWare 7.1, this CD is now labeled "Open License Software Supplement". If you do not have this CD, the software on it is available from http://www.sco.com/skunkware/.

Skunkware has different versions for UnixWare and OpenServer. Make sure you install the correct version for your operating system, except as noted below.

On UnixWare 7.1.3 and beyond, the GCC compiler is included on the UDK CD as is GNU Make.

### 15.8.6.2. GNU Make

You need to use the GNU Make program, which is on the Skunkware CD. By default, it installs as `/usr/local/bin/make`. To avoid confusion with the SCO `make` program, you may want to rename GNU `make` to `gmake`.

As of UnixWare 7.1.3 and above, the GNU Make program is is the OSTK portion of the UDK CD, and is in `/usr/gnu/bin/gmake`.

### 15.8.6.3. Readline

The Readline library is on the Skunkware CD. But it is not included on the UnixWare 7.1 Skunkware CD. If you have the UnixWare 7.0.0 or 7.0.1 Skunkware CDs, you can install it from there. Otherwise, try ftp://ftp.sco.com/skunkware.

By default, Readline installs into `/usr/local/lib` and `/usr/local/include`. However, the PostgreSQL `configure` program will not find it there without help. If you installed Readline, then use the following options to `configure`:

    ./configure --with-libraries=/usr/local/lib --with-includes=/usr/local/include

### 15.8.6.4. Using the UDK on OpenServer

If you are using the new Universal Development Kit (UDK) compiler on OpenServer, you need to specify the locations of the UDK libraries:

    ./configure --with-libraries=/udk/usr/lib --with-includes=/udk/usr/include

Putting these together with the Readline options from above:

    ./configure --with-libraries="/udk/usr/lib /usr/local/lib" --with-includes="/udk/usr/include /usr/local/include"

### 15.8.6.5. Reading the PostgreSQL man pages

By default, the PostgreSQL man pages are installed into `/usr/local/pgsql/man`. By default, UnixWare does not look there for man pages. To be able to read them you need to modify the `MANPATH` variable in `/etc/default/man`, for example:

    MANPATH=/usr/lib/scohelp/%L/man:/usr/dt/man:/usr/man:/usr/share/man:scohelp:/usr/local/man:/usr/local/pgsql/man

On OpenServer, some extra research needs to be invested to make the man pages usable, because the man system is a bit different from other platforms. Currently, PostgreSQL will not install them at all.

### 15.8.6.6. C99 Issues with the 7.1.1b Feature Supplement

For compilers earlier than the one released with OpenUNIX 8.0.0 (UnixWare 7.1.2), including the 7.1.1b Feature Supplement, you may need to specify `-Xb` in `CFLAGS` or the `CC` environment variable. The indication of this is an error in compiling `tuplesort.c` referencing inline functions. Apparently there was a change in the 7.1.2(8.0.0) compiler and beyond.

### 15.8.6.7. `--enable-thread-safety` and UnixWare

If you use the `configure` option `--enable-thread-safety`, you must use `-Kpthread` on all libpq-using programs. libpq uses `pthread_*` calls, which are only available with the `-Kpthread`/`-Kthread` flag.

## 15.8.7. Solaris

PostgreSQL is well-supported on Solaris. The more up to date your operating system, the fewer issues you will experience; details below.

Note that PostgreSQL is bundled with Solaris 10 (from update 2). Official packages are also available on http://pgfoundry.org/projects/solarispackages/. Packages for older Solaris versions (8, 9) you can be obtained from http://www.sunfreeware.com/ or http://www.blastwave.org/.

### 15.8.7.1. Required tools

You can build with either GCC or Sun's compiler suite. For better code optimization, Sun's compiler is strongly recommended on the SPARC architecture. We have heard reports of problems when using GCC 2.95.1; gcc 2.95.3 or later is recommended. If you are using Sun's compiler, be careful not to select `/usr/ucb/cc`; use `/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc`.

You can download Sun Studio from http://developers.sun.com/sunstudio/downloads/. Many of GNU tools are integrated into Solaris 10, or they are present on the Solaris companion CD. If you like packages for older version of Solaris, you can find these tools at http://www.sunfreeware.com or http://www.blastwave.org. If you prefer sources, look at http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html.

### 15.8.7.2. Problems with OpenSSL

When you build PostgreSQL with OpenSSL support you might get compilation errors in the following files:

- `src/backend/libpq/crypt.c`

- `src/backend/libpq/password.c`

- `src/interfaces/libpq/fe-auth.c`

- `src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c`

This is because of a namespace conflict between the standard `/usr/include/crypt.h` header and the header files provided by OpenSSL.

Upgrading your OpenSSL installation to version 0.9.6a fixes this problem. Solaris 9 and above has a newer version of OpenSSL.

### 15.8.7.3. configure complains about a failed test program

If `configure` complains about a failed test program, this is probably a case of the run-time linker being unable to find some library, probably libz, libreadline or some other non-standard library such as libssl. To point it to the right location, set the `LDFLAGS` environment variable on the `configure` command line, e.g.,

    configure ... LDFLAGS="-R /usr/sfw/lib:/opt/sfw/lib:/usr/local/lib"

See the ld man page for more information.

### 15.8.7.4. 64-bit build sometimes crashes

On Solaris 7 and older, the 64-bit version of libc has a buggy `vsnprintf` routine, which leads to erratic core dumps in PostgreSQL. The simplest known workaround is to force PostgreSQL to use its own version of vsnprintf rather than the library copy. To do this, after you run `configure` edit a file produced by `configure`: In `src/Makefile.global`, change the line

    LIBOBJS =

to read

    LIBOBJS = snprintf.o

(There might be other files already listed in this variable. Order does not matter.) Then build as usual.

### 15.8.7.5. Compiling for optimal performance

On the SPARC architecture, Sun Studio is strongly recommended for compilation. Try using the `-xO5` optimization flag to generate significantly faster binaries. Do not use any flags that modify behavior of floating-point operations and `errno` processing (e.g., `-fast`). These flags could raise some nonstandard PostgreSQL behavior for example in the date/time computing.

If you do not have a reason to use 64-bit binaries on SPARC, prefer the 32-bit version. The 64-bit operations are slower and 64-bit binaries are slower than the 32-bit variants. And on other hand, 32-bit code on the AMD64 CPU family is not native, and that is why 32-bit code is significant slower on this CPU family.

Some tricks for tuning PostgreSQL and Solaris for performance can be found at http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/tnb/applications_postgresql.jsp. This article is primary focused on T2000 platform, but many of the recommendations are also useful on other hardware with Solaris.

### 15.8.7.6. Using DTrace for tracing PostgreSQL

Yes, using DTrace is possible. See Section 26.4 for further information. You can also find more information in this article: http://blogs.sun.com/robertlor/entry/user_level_dtrace_probes_in.

If you see the linking of the postgres executable abort with an error message like:

    Undefined                       first referenced
     symbol                             in file
    AbortTransaction                    utils/probes.o
    CommitTransaction                   utils/probes.o
    ld: fatal: Symbol referencing errors. No output written to postgres
    collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
    gmake: *** [postgres] Error 1

your DTrace installation is too old to handle probes in static functions. You need Solaris 10u4 or newer.

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