[Pkg-postgresql-public] Installing 8.1 while keeping 7.4.

[Phil Endecott]

Dear All,

My Debian system had postgresql-7.4.7-6sarge1 installed; this version is 
from just before the transition to a structure supporting multiple 
versions installed simultaneously.  I wanted to install a current 
version, e.g. 8.1, without upsetting apps that used the existing 
installation.  Here is some feedback on how it went.

I decided to try a simulated install.  Here's what I got:

# apt-get -s install postgresql-8.1
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
   libpq3 postgresql postgresql-7.4 postgresql-client postgresql-client-7.4
   postgresql-client-8.1 postgresql-client-common postgresql-common 
postgresql-contrib
   postgresql-contrib-7.4
Suggested packages:
   postgresql-doc libpgjava libpgtcl pgdocs pgaccess postgresql-doc-7.4 
postgresql-doc-8.1
Recommended packages:
   postgresql-plpython-7.4 postgresql-plperl-7.4 postgresql-pltcl-7.4
The following NEW packages will be installed:
   postgresql-7.4 postgresql-8.1 postgresql-client-7.4 postgresql-client-8.1
   postgresql-client-common postgresql-common postgresql-contrib-7.4
The following packages will be upgraded:
   libpq3 postgresql postgresql-client postgresql-contrib
4 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 376 not upgraded.
Inst postgresql-contrib [7.4.7-6sarge1] (7.5.17 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql [7.4.7-6sarge1] (7.5.17 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql-client [7.4.7-6sarge1] (7.5.17 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql-client-common (48 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql-common (48 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql-client-7.4 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql-7.4 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing) []
Inst postgresql-contrib-7.4 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing) []
Inst libpq3 [7.4.7-6sarge1] (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing)
Inst postgresql-client-8.1 (8.1.0-3 Debian:testing)
Inst postgresql-8.1 (8.1.0-3 Debian:testing)
Conf libpq3 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-client-common (48 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-common (48 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-client-7.4 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-7.4 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-contrib-7.4 (1:7.4.9-2 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-client (7.5.17 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql (7.5.17 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-contrib (7.5.17 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-client-8.1 (8.1.0-3 Debian:testing)
Conf postgresql-8.1 (8.1.0-3 Debian:testing)


This looked like it would do what I wanted: it installs various 8.1 
packages, and some 7.4.9 packages; presumably 7.4.9 is binary-compatible 
with 7.4.7.  I was a bit put off by the 7.5.17 version number for the 
postgresql package, but not enough to stop me from pressing on...
(Comments after >>>>>>)


# apt-get install postgresql-7.4 postgresql-8.1
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
   libpq3 postgresql postgresql-client postgresql-client-7.4 
postgresql-client-8.1
   postgresql-client-common postgresql-common postgresql-contrib 
postgresql-contrib-7.4
Suggested packages:
   postgresql-doc libpgjava libpgtcl pgdocs pgaccess postgresql-doc-7.4 
postgresql-doc-8.1
Recommended packages:
   postgresql-plpython-7.4 postgresql-plperl-7.4 postgresql-pltcl-7.4
The following NEW packages will be installed:
   postgresql-7.4 postgresql-8.1 postgresql-client-7.4 postgresql-client-8.1
   postgresql-client-common postgresql-common postgresql-contrib-7.4
The following packages will be upgraded:
   libpq3 postgresql postgresql-client postgresql-contrib
4 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 376 not upgraded.
Need to get 10.0MB of archives.
After unpacking 15.0MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-contrib 7.5.17 
[4038B]
Get:2 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql 7.5.17 [6414B]
Get:3 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-client 7.5.17 
[4146B]
Get:4 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-client-common 
48 [31.2kB]
Get:5 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-common 48 [78.5kB]
Get:6 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-client-7.4 
1:7.4.9-2 [861kB]
Get:7 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-7.4 1:7.4.9-2 
[3193kB]
Get:8 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-contrib-7.4 
1:7.4.9-2 [451kB]
Get:9 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main libpq3 1:7.4.9-2 [94.8kB]
Get:10 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-client-8.1 
8.1.0-3 [1201kB]
Get:11 ftp://mirror.bytemark.co.uk testing/main postgresql-8.1 8.1.0-3 
[4096kB]
Fetched 10.0MB in 4s (2480kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 36668 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace postgresql-contrib 7.4.7-6sarge1 (using 
../postgresql-contrib_7.5.17_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement postgresql-contrib ...
Preparing to replace postgresql 7.4.7-6sarge1 (using 
../postgresql_7.5.17_all.deb) ...
Stopping PostgreSQL database server: postmaster.
Stopping PostgreSQL database server: postmasterpg_ctl: could not find 
/var/lib/postgres/data/postmaster.pid
Is postmaster running?