postgresql/doc/FAQ_Solaris

============================================================
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for PostgreSQL 7.1
Sun Solaris specific
to be read in conjunction with the installation instructions
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last updated:        $Date: 2001/04/08 16:36:13 $

current maintainer:  Marc Liyanage (liyanage@access.ch)
original author:     Marc Liyanage (liyanage@access.ch)


Contents:

1) What tools do I need to build and install PostgreSQL on Solaris?
2) Why do I get problems when building with OpenSSL support?
3) Why does configure complain about a failed test program?
4) A bunch of regression tests fail in random, non-reproduceable
   patterns.  What's wrong?


1) What tools do I need to build and install PostgreSQL on Solaris?

You will need

- GNU zip (for installing the documentation)
- GNU make
- GNU readline library (optional)

Both GCC and the Sun compiler suite work.

If you like Solaris packages, you can find these tools here:
http://www.sunfreeware.com

If you prefer sources, look here:
http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html


2) Why do I get problems when building with OpenSSL support?

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.


3) Why does configure complain about a failed test program?

This is probably a case of the run-time linker being unable to find
libz or some other non-standard library, such as libssl.  To point it
to the right location, set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable,
e.g.,

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:/usr/local/ssl/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

and restart configure.  You will also have to keep this setting
whenever you run any of the installed PostgreSQL programs.

In the future, consider installing the offending libraries so they
provide their own "rpath".


4) A bunch of regression tests fail in random, non-reproduceable
   patterns.  What's wrong?

A lot of users have reported that the parallel regression test suite
causes a varying, unpredictable set of tests to fail, usually tests in
the second half of the run.  The failure is usually a failure to
connect to the server at all, or an abrupt loss of the connection.
Invariably, these problems go away when the regression test suite is
changed to use TCP/IP sockets instead of Unix domain sockets.  (Change
line 163 of src/test/regress/pg_regress to match *solaris*; yes, there
should be an easier way to do this.)  Since a number of users do not
seem to have any problems with this at all, we do not claim that "Unix
domain sockets are broken on Solaris", but feel free to draw your own
conclusions, or better yet, share your insights with the rest of us.