Making PostgreSQL Start Automatically on Debian Linux

I installed the latest version of PostgreSQL from the source. The version was 9.1.4.

I looked for a way to make PostgreSQL start automatically on Debian Linux.

The commands were:

cp /pathToTheSource/postgresql-9.1.4/contrib/start-scripts/linux /etc/init.d/postgresql

cd /etc/init.d

nano postgresql 

Add the bold-faced part in order to use the script at boot time.

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          postgresql
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog $local_fs $network $named $time
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# X-Start-Before:    kdm gdm xdm hal
# X-Stop-After:      kdm gdm xdm hal
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: starts postgresql
# Description:       starts postgresql
#                    version  9.1.4
### END INIT INFO

set -e

# Get lsb functions
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

# chkconfig: 2345 98 02
# description: PostgreSQL RDBMS

# This is an example of a start/stop script for SysV-style init, such
# as is used on Linux systems.  You should edit some of the variables
# and maybe the 'echo' commands.
#
# ---------NOTE: This Init Script has been made
# ---------      LSB (Linux Standards Base)-compliant
# ---------      instead of manually inserting files below
#
# Place this file at /etc/init.d/postgresql (or
# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql) and make symlinks to
#   /etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K02postgresql
#   /etc/rc.d/rc1.d/K02postgresql
#   /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/K02postgresql
#   /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S98postgresql
#   /etc/rc.d/rc4.d/S98postgresql
#   /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S98postgresql
# Or, if you have chkconfig, simply:
# chkconfig --add postgresql
#
# Proper init scripts on Linux systems normally require setting lock
# and pid files under /var/run as well as reacting to network
# settings, so you should treat this with care.

# Original author:  Ryan Kirkpatrick

# contrib/start-scripts/linux

## EDIT FROM HERE

# Installation prefix
prefix=/usr/local/pgsql

# Data directory
PGDATA="/usr/local/pgsql/data"

# Who to run the postmaster as, usually "postgres".  (NOT "root")
PGUSER=postgres

# Where to keep a log file
PGLOG="$PGDATA/serverlog"

# It's often a good idea to protect the postmaster from being killed by the
# OOM killer (which will tend to preferentially kill the postmaster because
# of the way it accounts for shared memory).  Setting the OOM_ADJ value to
# -17 will disable OOM kill altogether.  If you enable this, you probably want
# to compile PostgreSQL with "-DLINUX_OOM_ADJ=0", so that individual backends
# can still be killed by the OOM killer.
#OOM_ADJ=-17

## STOP EDITING HERE

# The path that is to be used for the script
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

# What to use to start up the postmaster.  (If you want the script to wait
# until the server has started, you could use "pg_ctl start -w" here.
# But without -w, pg_ctl adds no value.)
DAEMON="$prefix/bin/postmaster"

# What to use to shut down the postmaster
PGCTL="$prefix/bin/pg_ctl"

set -e

# Only start if we can find the postmaster.
test -x $DAEMON ||
{
    echo "$DAEMON not found"
    if [ "$1" = "stop" ]
    then exit 0
    else exit 5
    fi
}


# Parse command line parameters.
case $1 in
  start)
    echo -n "Starting PostgreSQL: "
    test x"$OOM_ADJ" != x && echo "$OOM_ADJ" > /proc/self/oom_adj
    su - $PGUSER -c "$DAEMON -D '$PGDATA' &" >>$PGLOG 2>&1
    echo "ok"
    ;;
  stop)
    echo -n "Stopping PostgreSQL: "
    su - $PGUSER -c "$PGCTL stop -D '$PGDATA' -s -m fast"
    echo "ok"
    ;;
  restart)
    echo -n "Restarting PostgreSQL: "
    su - $PGUSER -c "$PGCTL stop -D '$PGDATA' -s -m fast -w"
    test x"$OOM_ADJ" != x && echo "$OOM_ADJ" > /proc/self/oom_adj
    su - $PGUSER -c "$DAEMON -D '$PGDATA' &" >>$PGLOG 2>&1
    echo "ok"
    ;;
  reload)
        echo -n "Reload PostgreSQL: "
        su - $PGUSER -c "$PGCTL reload -D '$PGDATA' -s"
        echo "ok"
        ;;
  status)
    su - $PGUSER -c "$PGCTL status -D '$PGDATA'"
    ;;
  *)
    # Print help
    echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload|status}" 1>&2
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

The rest of the file should remain unchanged.

I pressed F3 and then hit Enter to save the file.

I made the file executable by typing:

chmod a+x postgresql 

I told Debian Linux to run the file at boot time by typing:
update-rc.d postgresql start 98 2 3 4 5 . stop 02 0 1 6 .

I saw:
update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing

I restarted the computer and could use the database because it had started.