PostgreSQL Notes

1. Installing PostgreSQLX
2. Installing PostgreSQL ODBC Driver
3. Testing the PostgreSQL Installation

PostgreSQL does not provide Mac OS X installer packages. Even though you can download and compile the source yourself, it is better to download a third-party distribution. We currently use PostgreSQLX.

1. Installing PostgreSQLX

First download PostgreSQLX, then unzip and copy the application into /Applications or any other public directory. You will not be able to move this application after you set it up.

Run the application and follow the steps to initialize the database, all the default setting should be be fine. The only setting you will need to change is to enable "Use TCP/IP sockets".

2. Installing PostgreSQL ODBC Driver

There is no compiled PostgreSQL ODBC driver available for Mac OS X that we are aware of, so we have compiled it ourselves. The driver is based on version 8.1.2 and includes a fix for a bug that was causing loss in precision of floating point values.

First download the library, then unzip and copy it into the /usr/lib directory.

3. Testing the PostgreSQL Installation

Once you have installed the database, load Tests-Database.stp and evaluate:

PostgreSqlDatabaseTest suite run.

The following test cases are expected to fail:

PostgreSqlDatabaseTest>>#testTextU000000
This test fails because PostgreSQL is unable to store a null character within a string.
PostgreSqlDatabaseTest>>#testTextU010000ToU10FFFF
This test fails because PostgreSQL supports only the UCS2 character set and not the full range of Unicode characters.

Last modified May 22, 2006.