Hi, this is a good bug, sorry to see it so late. It is actually very similar to bug 1862138.
Let me summarize: - postgresql.service is actualyl a target, see root@x:~# systemctl cat postgresql # /lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service # systemd service for managing all PostgreSQL clusters on the system. This # service is actually a systemd target, but we are using a service since # targets cannot be reloaded. - the individual clusters are usually synchronous, so if you need that behavior you'd need (for the default, or another name if you have others) $ systemctl start postgresql@9.5-main.service That worked well through a few tests: root@x:/# for i in $(seq 1 100); do systemctl restart postgresql@9.5-main.service; sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE testme$i;"; done I'd expect those to aso work on the docker example, but I have to admit I was generally only barely able to trigger the issue in my (LXD) containers. P.S. Maybe after it is the general bad integration of system services in docker? ** Changed in: postgresql-9.5 (Ubuntu) Status: New => Incomplete -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1826847 Title: `service postgresql start` exit before actual starts happened To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/postgresql-9.5/+bug/1826847/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs