Build error: permission denied to create extension "vector"

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1

Hi,

I’m having problems rebuilding my multisite discourse install. I get the errors pasted below.

  • I’m running ./launcher rebuild app as root.
  • git status in /var/discourse says I’m up to date with branch main.
  • it reports running postgres 15.13:
    2025-08-14 10:35:04.390 UTC [45] LOG: starting PostgreSQL 15.13 (Debian 15.13-1.pgdg120+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, 64-bit
  • I have disabled all plugins apart from docker_manager
  • discourse-doctor doesn’t find any problems

Here are the errors:

I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.213949 #1]  INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'find /var/www/discourse/vendor/bundle -name cache -not -path "*/gems/*" -type d -exec rm -rf {} +'
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.325831 #1]  INFO -- : 
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.325961 #1]  INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'find /var/www/discourse/vendor/bundle -name tmp -type d -exec rm -rf {} +'
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.430781 #1]  INFO -- : 
I, [2025-08-14T10:35:56.431139 #1]  INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && sudo -E -u discourse bundle exec rake multisite:migrate
`/root` is not writable.
Bundler will use `/tmp/bundler20250814-776-hjo98w776' as your home directory temporarily.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.626 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse ERROR:  permission denied to create extension "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.626 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse HINT:  Must be superuser to create this extension.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.626 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse STATEMENT:  CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.627 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse ERROR:  current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block
2025-08-14 10:36:05.627 UTC [872] discourse@b_discourse STATEMENT:  SELECT 1 FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name = 'vector';
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse ERROR:  permission denied to create extension "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse HINT:  Must be superuser to create this extension.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse STATEMENT:  CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse ERROR:  current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block
2025-08-14 10:36:05.753 UTC [873] discourse@c_discourse STATEMENT:  SELECT 1 FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name = 'vector';
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse ERROR:  permission denied to create extension "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse HINT:  Must be superuser to create this extension.
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse STATEMENT:  CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "vector"
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse ERROR:  current transaction is aborted, commands ignored until end of transaction block
2025-08-14 10:36:05.870 UTC [874] discourse@d_discourse STATEMENT:  SELECT 1 FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name = 'vector';

Any help/pointers much appreciated!

2

Are you doing this as a root user (ran sudo -s before this)?

3

Hi @NateDhaliwal , yes I am running as root.

1 Like
4

I solved it in postgres (first I had to restart docker with `service restart docker`)

./launcher enter app
sudo -u postgres psql

then running this for each site’s database:

\c b_discourse
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;
1 Like