Set up PostgreSQL database

Rell requires PostgreSQL 16.3. The IDE can work without it but can't run a node. A console or a remote postchain app can run without a database.

The default database configuration for Rell is:

• database: postchain
• user: postchain
• password: postchain

Install

Mac

1. Install Homebrew: Homebrew installation guide

2. Install PostgreSQL:

brew install postgresql@16
brew services start postgresql@16
createuser -s postgres

3. Prepare the PostgreSQL database:

psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE postchain WITH TEMPLATE = template0 LC_COLLATE = 'en_US.UTF-8' LC_CTYPE = 'en_US.UTF-8' ENCODING 'UTF-8';" -c "CREATE ROLE postchain LOGIN ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'postchain'; GRANT ALL ON DATABASE postchain TO postchain;"

If you get an error saying that peer authentication failed, you need to change the authentication method from peer to md5. You can change it in the pg_hba.conf file of your psql database.

Linux

1. Install PostgreSQL:

sudo apt install postgresql-16

2. Prepare the PostgreSQL database:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE postchain WITH TEMPLATE = template0 LC_COLLATE = 'C.UTF-8' LC_CTYPE = 'C.UTF-8' ENCODING 'UTF-8';" -c "CREATE ROLE postchain LOGIN ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'postchain'; GRANT ALL ON DATABASE postchain TO postchain;"

Docker

1. Install Docker: Docker installation guide

2. Prepare the PostgreSQL database:

docker run --name postgres -e POSTGRES_USER=postchain -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postchain -p 5432:5432 -d postgres:16.3-alpine3.20

note

We use the Alpine version of PostgreSQL because it provides the correct collation settings by default. This can be explicitly set using the environment variable:

POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS="--lc-collate=C.UTF-8 --lc-ctype=C.UTF-8 --encoding=UTF-8"