Before starting to work with PostgreSQL

Who starts to work with PostgreSQL on Linux has a bad initial experience doing the first authentication. The installation process of this database server creates a SO user, the postgres, which has super user access, able to do all initial steps of a beginner programmer, like to create users and databases. But, how can we use this user if we don’t know its password?

I followed the steps below, which was compiled from different Google’s sources:

  1. change to the root user or a sudo user, who is able to change to another user without informing its password:

    # su root

    or jump step 2 doing:

    # sudo su postgres

  2. change to the Postgres user:

    # su postgres

  3. create a database server user with the same username of yours:

    # createuser -d -r -s -P (your_user_name)

    This command will create a database server super user, able to create new databases and roles. The command will request a password and then the user will be created.

  4. change to your user:

    # su (your_user_name)

  5. execute the command to create a database:

    # createdb (database-name)