How to configure postgresql for the first time?

Question

I have just installed postgresql and I specified password x during installation. When I try to do createdb and specify any password I get the message:

Answer 1

If you're running macOS like I am, you may not have the postgres user.

When trying to run sudo -u postgres psql I was getting the error sudo: unknown user: postgres

Luckily there are executables that postgres provides.

createuser -D /var/postgres/var-10-local --superuser --username=nick
createdb --owner=nick

Then I was able to access psql without issues.

psql
psql (10.2)
Type "help" for help.

nick=#

---

If you're creating a new postgres instance from scratch, here are the steps I took. I used a non-default port so I could run two instances.

mkdir /var/postgres/var-10-local
pg_ctl init -D /var/postgres/var-10-local

Then I edited /var/postgres/var-10-local/postgresql.conf with my preferred port, 5433.

/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/10/bin/postgres -D /Users/nick/Library/Application\ Support/Postgres/var-10-local -p 5433

createuser -D /var/postgres/var-10-local --superuser --username=nick --port=5433
createdb --owner=nick --port=5433

Done!