você tem que setar o diretorio do usuário postgres no /etc/passwd como no meu exemplo abaixo: # grep ^postgres /etc/passwd postgres:x:28:28:postgres:/usr/local/pgsql:/bin/bash depois rodar os comandos do postgresql $ bin/pg_ctl stop -D /var/lib/pgsql/data/ -s -m fast $ bin/postmaster -i -l -D /var/lib/pgsql/data/ -r logfile & $ bin/psql rh psql (9.0.0) Type "help" for help. rh=# isso tem que estar tudo para a permissão do usuario postgres: postgres@darkstar:~$ pwd /usr/local/pgsql postgres@darkstar:~$ ls -la total 60 drwxr-xr-x 6 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-08 14:25 ./ drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 142 2010-10-08 12:33 ../ -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 3485 2010-10-15 17:43 .bash_history drwxr-xr-x 2 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-08 13:41 bin/ drwxr-xr-x 6 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-08 13:41 include/ drwxr-xr-x 3 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-08 13:41 lib/ -rw-r--r-- 1 postgres postgres 787 2010-10-08 13:58 logfile -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 61 2010-10-08 12:44 pgsqld.log -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 4698 2010-10-15 21:49 .psql_history -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 1024 2010-10-08 13:59 .rnd -rw-r--r-- 1 postgres postgres 3628 2010-10-08 14:01 server.crt -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 887 2010-10-08 14:01 server.key -rw-r--r-- 1 postgres postgres 2278 2010-10-08 14:00 server.req drwxr-xr-x 5 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-08 13:41 share/ -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 847 2010-10-08 14:19 .viminfo postgres@darkstar:~$ ls -la /var/lib/pgsql/data/ total 64 drwx------ 12 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-15 21:48 ./ drwx------ 3 postgres postgres 37 2010-10-08 13:52 ../ drwx------ 7 postgres postgres 62 2010-10-15 00:57 base/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 4096 2010-10-15 21:49 global/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 17 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_clog/ -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 3937 2010-10-08 14:19 pg_hba.conf -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 3939 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_hba.conf~ -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 1636 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_ident.conf drwx------ 4 postgres postgres 34 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_multixact/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 17 2010-10-15 21:48 pg_notify/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 24 2010-10-15 21:51 pg_stat_tmp/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 17 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_subtrans/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 6 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_tblspc/ drwx------ 2 postgres postgres 6 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_twophase/ -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 4 2010-10-08 13:52 PG_VERSION drwx------ 3 postgres postgres 58 2010-10-08 13:52 pg_xlog/ -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 17775 2010-10-08 13:52 postgresql.conf -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 83 2010-10-15 21:48 postmaster.opts -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 46 2010-10-15 21:48 postmaster.pid -rw-r--r-- 1 postgres postgres 3628 2010-10-08 14:17 server.crt -rw------- 1 postgres postgres 887 2010-10-08 14:17 server.key -rw-r--r-- 1 postgres postgres 2278 2010-10-08 14:17 server.req lógicamente você deve saber alguns conceitos de linux para poder chegar a uma solução.
