PostgreSQL & PostGIS

Installing/upgrading to PostgreSQL version 12.x and PostGIS version 3.0.1 on MacOS > High Sierra (10.14.x and higher).

The reason for a manual installation is that I want to utilise the GDAL framework utilised by QGIS and GMT. This setup naturally collides with Homebrew's setup to install GDAL as part of the dependency framework when installing postgis.

I also use the Python.org's Python Frameworks.

So I am leaving the dependencies to homebrew apart from GDAL (where I still use William Kyngesbury's formidable GDAL Framework - at v 2.4.1 at time of writing) and Python.org's Python framework distribution - v.3.8.

The documentation to compile from source is available on the Postgresql.org website. Here are the individual commands I use to compile/check:

./configure PYTHON=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.x/bin/python3 \\
   --with-perl --with-uuid=e2fs --with-python --with-libxml  --with-readline  --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql/12.2  --with-libraries=/usr/local/Cellar/readline/x.x.x/
make -j24
make check
make docs
sudo make install -j24

The hint with specifying the Python distribution on the ./configure call is from the PostgreSQL mailing list. Once the configure script has completed successfully I run:

After an upgrade of the OS it seems that the LaunchDaemon is broken.

On their OpenSource pages Apple provides a template for one of the older included PostgreSQL versions (here: 9.0.4). This deviates a bit from what I used previously for the LaunchDaemon file.

Verbatim copy of [[https://opensource.apple.com/source/PostgreSQL/PostgreSQL-23/org.postgresql.postgres.plist.auto.html|of Apple's org.postgresql.postgres.plist on their opensource site :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>Disabled</key>
	<true/>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>org.postgresql.postgres</string>
	<key>UserName</key>
	<string>_postgres</string>
	<key>GroupName</key>
	<string>_postgres</string>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>/usr/bin/postgres</string>
		<string>-D</string>
		<string>/var/pgsql</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>unix_socket_directory=/var/pgsql_socket</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>logging_collector=on</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>log_connections=on</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>log_lock_waits=on</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>log_statement=ddl</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>log_line_prefix=%t </string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>listen_addresses=</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>log_directory=/Library/Logs</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>log_filename=PostgreSQL.log</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>unix_socket_group=_postgres</string>
		<string>-c</string>
		<string>unix_socket_permissions=0770</string>
	</array>
	<key>OnDemand</key>
	<false/>
</dict>
</plist>

Homebrew's distro uses a slightly different version - here's the excerpt from the postgresql.rb file:

  def plist; <<~EOS
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
    <plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
      <key>KeepAlive</key>
      <true/>
      <key>Label</key>
      <string>#{plist_name}</string>
      <key>ProgramArguments</key>
      <array>
        <string>#{opt_bin}/postgres</string>
        <string>-D</string>
        <string>#{var}/#{name}</string>
      </array>
      <key>RunAtLoad</key>
      <true/>
      <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
      <string>#{HOMEBREW_PREFIX}</string>
      <key>StandardOutPath</key>
      <string>#{var}/log/#{name}.log</string>
      <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
      <string>#{var}/log/#{name}.log</string>
    </dict>
    </plist>
  EOS
  end

Once the

 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql/x.x/ --with-projdir=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/ --with-raster --with-topology --with-pgconfig=/usr/local/pgsql/x.x/bin/pg_config --with-geosconfig=/Library/Frameworks/GEOS.framework/unix/bin/geos-config