

Setting up PostgreSQL for Ruby on Rails development on OS X - wlll
https://willj.net/2011/05/31/setting-up-postgresql-for-ruby-on-rails-development-on-os-x/#

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pilif
Why not just use the one-click-installer?
[http://www.enterprisedb.com/products-services-
training/pgdow...](http://www.enterprisedb.com/products-services-
training/pgdownload#osx) it neatly creates a system user if needed, modifies
sysctl.conf (for shmmax) and installs a few items in the Application folder
for quickly starting and stopping the server.

~~~
telemachos
The article mentions the Postgres installer, but mostly assumes the reader
uses Homebrew (MacPorts is mentioned at the bottom as well). I have no way to
get real numbers, but given Homebrew's overall popularity on Github, I suspect
that assumption is a good bet for a very large number of Rails developers on
OSX.

Once you choose a package manager, it tends to be easier to always use that,
rather than use one-off binary installers. (In fact, the one-off binary
installers can lead to known permissions problems when it comes to Homebrew
specifically.)

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technomancy
I'm just gonna leave this right here...
[http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/11/installing-
mysql...](http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/11/installing-mysql-on-
ubuntu)

~~~
wlll
Seems irrelevant…

~~~
telemachos
Read the whole post in the link (or skim it at least).

I'm pretty sure that Technomancy is indirectly making a point about Apple's
lack of a package manager. Something like this, I'm guessing:
[http://teddziuba.com/2011/03/osx-unsuitable-web-
development....](http://teddziuba.com/2011/03/osx-unsuitable-web-
development.html) (the part about package management, that is).

Note for both pro- and anti-Mac folks. I'm simply trying to show _how_ the
grandparent post is relevant - _why_ it's here. I'm not stating an opinion one
way or the other on anything else.

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listrophy
Great guide, even if one completely ignores the RoR part.

~~~
wlll
Thanks for the comment, that's great to hear!

------
wlll
If anyone has any questions about the process, or gets stuck leave them as
comments on my post, I'll help out where I can.

~~~
telemachos
It looks like a great overview. One thought: you might mention Lunchy
(<https://github.com/mperham/lunchy>) as a nice Ruby-friendly way to manage
the not-so-nice, not-so-friendly launchctl business.

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chopsueyar
Virtual machine!!!

~~~
roelbondoc
I agree. Developing on Ubuntu on a VM has been a great experience for me so
far. It seems much less painful to develop on a platform that is similar to
where you will be deploying.

~~~
chopsueyar
When I first read the headline, I immediately wondered who was deploying to a
production OS X server with PostgreSQL.

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techscruggs
With the advent of Homebrew, why would manually compile from source for your
local dev environment?

~~~
wlll
My article suggests and assumes you are using Homebrew.

~~~
techscruggs
Crap, my apologies, I obviously skimmed that article as opposed to reading it.
mea culpa

