No passwd entry for user 'postgres' error

postgresql, ubuntu

Solution

It sounds like you want the PostgreSQL server:

apt-get install postgresql-server

Also, you never need to use `sudo su - postgres`. Just:

sudo -u postgres -i

to get an interactive shell, or

sudo -u postgres psql

(or whatever) to run a command.

Problem

I'm trying to setup Postgres on Ubuntu 14.04 without success. After running sudo apt-get install libpq-dev python-dev and sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib I've managed to install the packages successfully. However upon executing sudo su - postgres, I'm receiving the following error: No passwd entry for user 'postgres' It seems like the installation did not create the user postgres as it is not in the /etc/passwd file. Reinstalling the package does not resolve the issue. How can I add the required postgres user?

Original source