Could it be that the postgres package assumes some specific numeric UID, which is already taken? Check your /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group for anything suspicious, such as duplicate UID or GID values. Also have a look at the preinst and postinst scripts of the package to see how the users and groups are handled (perhaps created)?
I have a hook for FAI, hooks/instsoft.YKI (all our machines belong to the "YKI" class, named after the subdivision where I work). There I create several users with fixed UID's and GID's, to enforce uniform values for these across all our computers. Some examples: if [ "$FAI_ACTION" = "install" ] ; then # This user is for the logfile copy/analyze facility. $ROOTCMD adduser --home /var/log --shell /bin/false --uid 201 --ingroup adm --gecos "For copying logs" --disabled-password --no-create-home yki-logs # A more sophisticated case where the user may or may not exist already. $MYSQL_SHELL may be /bin/sh or /bin/false depending on the host $ROOTCMD grep mysql /etc/passwd > /dev/null && $ROOTCMD usermod --uid 208 mysql && $ROOTCMD groupmod --gid 208 mysql $ROOTCMD grep mysql /etc/passwd > /dev/null || $ROOTCMD adduser --home /var/lib/mysql --shell $MYSQL_SHELL --uid 208 --gecos "MySQL server" --disabled-password --no-create-home mysql fi Toomas On Thu, 2014-05-15 at 16:28 +0100, Rui Teixeira wrote: > Ok, it worked to download and install postgresql, but now I've a > strange problem. I have 1 user 'xpto' and 'root'. Installation and > boot were ok, but now I can't start postgresql because he must be > started by sshd user (?!?!). I've checked and all configuration files > belongs do sshd postgres, i.e.: > # ls -l /et/postgresql/9.3/main > -rw-r--r-- 1 sshd postgres 315 Main 15:14 environment > ... > > > I don't understand, where I can force to create and use user 'xpto' to > be the owner and be able to start services on the sysytem? >