Latest in 2025: Compiling and Installing PostgreSQL 17.4 on Ubuntu

I successfully compiled and installed the latest version of PostgreSQL (17.4) on Ubuntu ARM32.

The commands in this article mainly come from the official PostgreSQL documentation. I have tested each command in this article.

You can see the systems that can be successfully installed here: PostgreSQL Build Farm

Compile and Install PostgreSQL 17.4#

1. Create a directory and enter it#

mkdir postgresql && cd postgresql

mkdir postgresql: Create a new directory named postgresql.
cd postgresql: Enter the newly created postgresql directory.

2. Download PostgreSQL source code#

wget https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v17.4/postgresql-17.4.tar.bz2

wget: Download the file from the specified URL.
https://..../postgresql-17.4.tar.bz2: The download link for the compressed source code package of PostgreSQL version 17.4. If the link is broken, you can search for a new link yourself.

3. Extract the source code package#

tar xjf postgresql-17.4.tar.bz2

tar: Used to handle .tar compressed files.
xjf: Options for extracting tar files:
- x: Extract files.
- j: Use bzip2 compression format (.bz2).
- f: Specify the file to be extracted.
postgresql-17.4.tar.bz2: The name of the file to be extracted.

4. Enter the extracted source code directory#

cd postgresql-17.4

Enter the extracted PostgreSQL 17.4 source code directory.

5. Install dependencies#

sudo apt install libssl-dev libsystemd-dev libxml2-dev libreadline-dev

sudo apt install: Use the apt package manager to install packages.
libssl-dev, libsystemd-dev, libxml2-dev, libreadline-dev: Install the development libraries required for compiling PostgreSQL, which are SSL library, Systemd library, XML library, and Readline library, respectively.

6. Configure compilation options#

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql --with-openssl --with-libxml --with-systemd

./configure: Prepare the compilation environment for PostgreSQL.
--prefix=/usr/local/pgsql: Specify the PostgreSQL installation directory as /usr/local/pgsql.
--with-openssl: Enable OpenSSL support.
--with-libxml: Enable XML support.
--with-systemd: Enable Systemd support.

7. Compile the source code#

make -j$(nproc)

make: Start the compilation process.
-j$(nproc): Use nproc (the number of CPU cores on the system) to execute compilation tasks in parallel, speeding up the compilation process.

8. Install PostgreSQL#

sudo make install

sudo make install: Execute the installation with administrator privileges using sudo, make install will install the compiled files into the system, specifically into the /usr/local/pgsql directory specified in the previous ./configure command.

9. Set environment variables#

Using a text editor 1. Edit the /etc/profile file:

sudo nano /etc/profile

sudo: Indicates running the command with superuser (administrator) privileges. Modifying the /etc/profile file requires administrator privileges.
nano: This is a text editor commonly used in terminal environments to edit files.
/etc/profile: This is a global configuration file used to set environment variables and startup configurations system-wide. The settings in this file are executed for all users when they log into the system.

Add environment variables:

export PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:$PATH

export: Used to set an environment variable so that it is available in the current and child processes.
PATH: This is an environment variable that contains a list of directories for executable files in the system. When executing commands, the system looks for commands in the directories listed in the PATH variable.
/usr/local/pgsql/bin: This is the directory for PostgreSQL database executable files; adding it means that executable files in this directory (like psql) will be recognized by the system.
:$PATH: Here, $PATH represents the existing paths, adding the new path /usr/local/pgsql/bin to the front of the existing PATH. This way, the system will check the new directory first before checking the existing paths.

The purpose of this command is to add the PostgreSQL executable file directory to the system's PATH environment variable, ensuring that PostgreSQL commands (like psql) can be run directly from the command line without needing to provide the full path. The modified settings will take effect for all users.

Initialize PostgreSQL Database#

These commands are mainly used to manually configure the PostgreSQL database server on a Linux server, including creating a PostgreSQL system user, initializing the database, starting the database service, and registering it as a systemd service for automatic startup on boot.

1. Create PostgreSQL User#

sudo useradd -m -U -r -d /var/lib/postgresql -s /bin/bash postgres

sudo: Execute the command with superuser privileges.
useradd: Create a new user.
-m: Create a home directory for the user.
-U: Create a user group with the same name as the user.
-r: Create a system user (system user UID is less than 1000, not used for login).
-d /var/lib/postgresql: Specify the home directory as /var/lib/postgresql.
-s /bin/bash: Specify the shell as /bin/bash.
postgres: Username.

This command creates a dedicated system user postgres for PostgreSQL.

2. Change Ownership of PostgreSQL Directory#

sudo chown postgres /usr/local/pgsql

chown postgres /usr/local/pgsql: Change the owner of the /usr/local/pgsql directory to the postgres user, allowing it to read and write to this directory.

3. Set Password for PostgreSQL User#

sudo passwd postgres

passwd postgres: Change the password for the postgres user.

4. Switch to PostgreSQL User#

su postgres

su postgres: Switch to the postgres user to use PostgreSQL-related commands.

5. Initialize Database#

/usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data

initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data: Initialize the database storage in the /usr/local/pgsql/data directory.

6. Start PostgreSQL Database#

/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql/data

postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql/data: Start the database with the postgres process, storing data in the /usr/local/pgsql/data directory.

7. In another terminal session, enter the database#

su postgres

/usr/local/pgsql/bin/psql

psql: The command-line interactive tool for PostgreSQL, entering the database shell.

8. Set Password for Database User#

ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'your_new_password';

Change the password for the database user postgres.

9. Create `systemd` Service#

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/postgresql.service

nano /etc/systemd/system/postgresql.service: Edit the systemd configuration file to allow PostgreSQL to run as a service.

Configuration file content:

[Unit]
Description=PostgreSQL server
#Documentation=man:postgres(1)
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=notify
User=postgres
ExecStart=/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
KillMode=mixed
KillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutSec=infinity

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Description=PostgreSQL server: Describes that this service is the PostgreSQL server.
After=network-online.target: Wait for the network connection to be available before starting PostgreSQL.
User=postgres: Run as the postgres user.
ExecStart=/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql/data: Start the PostgreSQL server.
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID: Send HUP signal on reload.
KillMode=mixed: Mixed termination mode.
KillSignal=SIGINT: Signal to terminate the PostgreSQL process.
TimeoutSec=infinity: Set timeout to infinite.

10. Enable `systemd` Service#

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl status postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

daemon-reload: Reload systemd configuration to make the new postgresql.service effective.
start postgresql: Start the PostgreSQL service.
status postgresql: Check the running status of PostgreSQL.
enable postgresql: Enable PostgreSQL to start automatically on boot.

The purpose of these commands is:

Create a dedicated postgres user for running PostgreSQL.
Initialize the database storage directory.
Start the PostgreSQL database and enter the psql interactive command line.
Configure systemd to run PostgreSQL as a system service and support automatic startup on boot.

This way, the PostgreSQL server can run normally and can automatically start when the system boots.

References#

PostgreSQL: Documentation: 17: Chapter 17. Installation from Source Code

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