PostgreSQL 8.3

PostgreSQL 8.3

Installation Notes

Welcome to the PostgreSQL 8.3 Installation Wizard.

Before you begin

Please check the pginstaller FAQ at http://pginstaller.projects.postgresql.org/FAQ_windows.html before you get started. If you experience any problems, please check it again. Also, make sure you have read through these installation notes completely.

Legal Bits

First the boring legal stuff. The software bundled together in this package is released under a number of different Open Source licences. By using any component of this installation package, you agree to abide by the terms and conditions of it’s licence.

The PostgreSQL Server, Slony-I, JDBC driver and PL/Java are released under a variant of the BSD Licence.

Npgsql is released under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence, with TLS extensions included under the MIT licence.

psqlODBC is released under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence.

pgAdmin III is released under the Artistic Licence.

PostGIS is released under the GNU General Public License. Sourcecode is available from http://postgis.refractions.net.

PgOleDB is released under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence.

Please see the documentation for each component for a copy of each licence.

Supported Operating Systems

PostgreSQL may be installed on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. At the time of writing it has not yet been tested on 64 bit versions of Windows. PostgreSQL will not run on Windows 95, 98 and ME. Please note that whilst PostgreSQL will run on a server running Terminal Services, it must be installed from the system console.

Supported Filesystems

PostgreSQL’s data directory must be installed on an NTFS filesystem to minimise the possibility of data loss in the event of a power failure or similar problem. FAT filesystems may not be used as they cannot provide either protection against corruption, or any security features. The software itself may be installed on any partition type.

Installation as a Service

In order to start PostgreSQL automatically at boot time, it must be installed as a Windows Service. A wrapper program is used to control the postmaster from the Services control panel applet, or using net start/stop from the command line. In addition, the normal PostgreSQL control program, pg_ctl may be used to start or stop the service, as well as request it to reload it’s configuration files (or, for those familiar with Unix, send it a SIGHUP).

You will be given options to install PostgreSQL as a service later in the installation process. The installer can create a special user account to run the service under, or you may use an existing non-administrative account. This account must have read permissions on all directories leading up to the installation directory from the root of the installed drive. The installer will set the correct permissions on the installation directory and below automatically.

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