database_setup.md

How to host a PostgreSQL database locally

1. Install PostgreSQL server and tools

• Download installer here
• On the select componenets screen, select PostgreSQL Server, pgAdmin, and Command Line Tools
• Do not need Stack Builder
• Keep everything else as default
• Make sure you remember your the password you set

2. Add PostgreSQL to path

• Find PostgreSQL bin folder
  • Mine was C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\13\bin
• On windows search path in windows search
• Click edit system environment variables
• Click environment variables
• Under system variables, click Path
• Click edit
• Click new and paste in the bin folder path
• Hit Ok all the way down

3. Start PostgreSQL server

• Find the PostgresSQL data folder
  • Mine was C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\13\data
• Run postgres -D "<path>"
  • For me postgres -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\13\data"
• If the program terminates, something went wrong
• You want the program to not terminate after the command
• Sometimes it terminates, and I have no idea why, but I just messed around with it until it eventually didn't terminate

4. Connect with psql to test that the server is working

• Run psql -U postgres
• Use password defined during step 1
• Should be met with a prompt like postgres=#
• \l to list databases

5. To stop server, hit Ctrl C in the terminal window that is running the server

6. To start the server, run the postgres -D "<path>" command again, and if it doesn't terminate, it should be running