Install PostgreSQL with the following commands: ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && make install If you are upgrading an existing system and are going to install the new files over the old ones, then you should back up your data, shut down the old server and follow the instructions in the official PostgreSQL documentation. Initialize a database cluster with the following commands: mkdir -p /var/pgsql/data && useradd -d /var/pgsql/data postgres && chown postgres /var/pgsql/data && su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/initdb -D /var/pgsql/data' Start the database server with the following command: su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/postmaster -D /var/pgsql/data > \ /var/pgsql/data/logfile 2>&1 &' Now we can create a database and verify the installation: su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/createdb test' && echo "create table t1 ( name varchar(20), state_province varchar(20) );" \ | (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') && echo "insert into t1 values ('Billy', 'NewYork');" \ | (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') && echo "insert into t1 values ('Evanidus', 'Quebec');" \ | (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') && echo "insert into t1 values ('Jesse', 'Ontario');" \ | (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test ') && echo "select * from t1;" | (su - postgres -c '/usr/bin/psql test')