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I just made a mistake: I installed PostgreSQL on Mac OSX 10.6.7 and when I wanted to connect to it I did su postgres, then it asked me for a password and I did sudo passwd postgres to change the password to something I know.

The problem is, as explained here, this created a Unix user account for postgres and afterwards I had two users on my Mac : me and postgres.

So I deleted the postgres account. Now I cannot connect to postgres because I just cannot su postgres. How to recreate a "locked" user account postgres that I could use safely (by doing sudo su postgres as I should have done before) ?

Edit: added version of Mac OS X

Community
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Weier
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    Uninstall and reinstall PostgreSQL? That's probably the safest route, given that you'd need to assign the correct user ID etc. Other than that, [this question](http://superuser.com/questions/376910/remove-password-on-osx-creation-of-that-user) contains command line calls on how to create user accounts manually, and the answer explains how to not assign a password. It worked on my machine when I tested it, so chances are it'll work on yours. – Daniel Beck Jan 12 '12 at 09:26
  • It'd be helpful if you'd mention the major release of OS X you're using. Just, you know, things change over 10+ years. – Daniel Beck Jan 12 '12 at 09:29
  • @DanielBeck, thanks. I installed PostgreSQL from source on macOS, so now I need to create a user named `postgres`. What value should I use for the `postgres` user's `UniqueID`? I don't think it matters much, but what number would you suggest and why? And should I also create a new group named `postgres`? If not, then what value should I put for the `postgres` user's `PrimaryGroupID`. Why does macOS come with the user `_postgres` and the group `_postgres` but not PostgreSQL itself? Should I just use the `_postgres` user instead of creating a new one named `postgres`? – ma11hew28 May 02 '20 at 17:42

2 Answers2

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from the following stack overflow:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15301826/psql-fatal-role-postgres-does-not-exist

CREATE USER postgres SUPERUSER;
CREATE DATABASE postgres WITH OWNER postgres;
Michael Dimmitt
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    The question is how to create a macOS user under which to run PostgreSQL, not how to create a PostgreSQL database role. See [Chapter 18. Server Setup and Operation: 18.1. The PostgreSQL User Account](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/postgres-user.html) vs the [PostgreSQL command `CREATE ROLE`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-createrole.html). (Note: The [PostgreSQL command `CREATE USER`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-createuser.html) "is now an alias for CREATE ROLE.") – ma11hew28 May 02 '20 at 17:19
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Create a new user with account name "postgres". Then you'll be able to do sudo su postgress.

Vaibhav Mishra
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