# Rebuild fails: Data directory /shared/postgres\_data must not be owned by root **URL:** \ **Category:** Self-hosting\ **Created:** [February 5, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rebuild-fails-data-directory-shared-postgres-data-must-not-be-owned-by-root/350658 "2025-02-05T15:45:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![JamesChevalier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jameschevalier/32/116235_2.png) [@JamesChevalier](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JamesChevalier)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rebuild-fails-data-directory-shared-postgres-data-must-not-be-owned-by-root/350658/1 "2025-02-05T15:45:52Z")
Apologies ahead of time for some lack of details… I really got myself into it here… If you know a lot about the file permission requirements in `/var/discourse/shared/standalone` you might be able to skip down to the bottom of this post for the core question & skip the details that got me here 😓 The latest web-based upgrade hosed my install - I think it was similar to [Error Updating from 3.4.0.beta3-dev to 3.4.0.beta3](https://meta.discourse.org/t/error-updating-from-3-4-0-beta3-dev-to-3-4-0-beta3/349847) but I think I was on 3.4.0.beta4-dev I’m also on Ubuntu 20, so now `./launcher rebuild app` returns the error: > ERROR: Docker version 19.03.13 not supported, please upgrade to at least 20.10.0, or recommended 24.0.7 I don’t believe this is possible, so I created a new server and followed the steps in [Move a Discourse site to another VPS with rsync](https://meta.discourse.org/t/move-a-discourse-site-to-another-vps-with-rsync/43812) with the additional command to bring over the volumes from my old server as well: `rsync -rvz root@104.236.77.249:/var/lib/docker/volumes/ /var/lib/docker/volumes` Now, on the new Ubuntu 24 server, `./launcher rebuild app` is returning this error: > Stopping PostgreSQL 15 database server: mainError: Data directory /shared/postgres\_data must not be owned by root … failed! > **full command output** > > ```plaintext > x86_64 arch detected. > WARNING: containers/app.yml file is world-readable. You can secure this file by running: chmod o-rwx containers/app.yml > Ensuring launcher is up to date > Launcher is up-to-date > 2.0.20250129-0720: Pulling from discourse/base > Digest: sha256:01b8516e5504c0e9bc3707773015ff4407be03a89154194ff3b5b8699291bc26 > Status: Image is up to date for discourse/base:2.0.20250129-0720 > docker.io/discourse/base:2.0.20250129-0720 > /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/3.3.0/gems/pups-1.2.1/lib/pups.rb > /usr/local/bin/pups --stdin > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.350842 #1] INFO -- : Reading from stdin > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.364293 #1] INFO -- : File > /etc/service/postgres/run chmod: +x chown: > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.369358 #1] INFO -- : File > /etc/service/postgres/log/run chmod: +x chown: > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.373684 #1] INFO -- : File > /etc/runit/3.d/99-postgres chmod: +x chown: > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.378720 #1] INFO -- : File > /root/install_postgres chmod: +x chown: > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.383793 #1] INFO -- : File > /root/upgrade_postgres chmod: +x chown: > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.384811 #1] INFO -- : Replacing data_directory = '/var/lib/postgresql/15/main' with data_directory = '/shared/postgres_data' in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.386020 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?listen_addresses *=.*) with listen_addresses = '*' in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.391549 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?synchronous_commit *=.*) with synchronous_commit = $db_synchronous_commit in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.392476 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?shared_buffers *=.*) with shared_buffers = $db_shared_buffers in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.393539 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?work_mem *=.*) with work_mem = $db_work_mem in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.394234 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?default_text_search_config *=.*) with default_text_search_config = '$db_default_text_search_config' in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.394860 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?checkpoint_segments *=.*) with checkpoint_segments = $db_checkpoint_segments in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.395701 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?logging_collector *=.*) with logging_collector = $db_logging_collector in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.396354 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:#?log_min_duration_statement *=.*) with log_min_duration_statement = $db_log_min_duration_statement in /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.396997 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:^#local +replication +postgres +peer$) with local replication postgres peer in /etc/postgresql/15/main/pg_hba.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.397677 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:^host.*all.*all.*127.*$) with host all all 0.0.0.0/0 md5 in /etc/postgresql/15/main/pg_hba.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.398272 #1] INFO -- : Replacing (?-mix:^host.*all.*all.*::1\/128.*$) with host all all ::/0 md5 in /etc/postgresql/15/main/pg_hba.conf > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:12.398841 #1] INFO -- : > if [-f /root/install_postgres]; then > /root/install_postgres && rm -f /root/install_postgres > elif [-e /shared/postgres_run/.s.PGSQL.5432]; then > socat /dev/null UNIX-CONNECT:/shared/postgres_run/.s.PGSQL.5432 || exit 0 && echo postgres already running stop container ; exit 1 > fi > > initdb: warning: enabling "trust" authentication for local connections > initdb: hint: You can change this by editing pg_hba.conf or using the option -A, or --auth-local and --auth-host, the next time you run initdb. > W: https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/dists/stable/InRelease: Key is stored in legacy trusted.gpg keyring (/etc/apt/trusted.gpg), see the DEPRECATION section in apt-key(8) for details. > debconf: delaying package configuration, since apt-utils is not installed > I, [2025-02-05T15:28:32.940792 #1] INFO -- : Generating locales (this might take a while)... > en_US.UTF-8... done > Generation complete. > Upgrading PostgreSQL from version 13 to 15 > The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "postgres". > This user must also own the server process. > > The database cluster will be initialized with locale "en_US.UTF-8". > The default database encoding has accordingly been set to "UTF8". > The default text search configuration will be set to "english". > > Data page checksums are disabled. > > fixing permissions on existing directory /shared/postgres_data_new ... ok > creating subdirectories ... ok > selecting dynamic shared memory implementation ... posix > selecting default max_connections ... 100 > selecting default shared_buffers ... 128MB > selecting default time zone ... Etc/UTC > creating configuration files ... ok > running bootstrap script ... ok > performing post-bootstrap initialization ... ok > syncing data to disk ... ok > > Success. You can now start the database server using: > > /usr/lib/postgresql/15/bin/pg_ctl -D /shared/postgres_data_new -l logfile start > > Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports InRelease [59.0 kB] > Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease [151 kB] > Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease [55.4 kB] > Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease [48.0 kB] > Get:5 https://deb.nodesource.com/node_22.x nodistro InRelease [12.1 kB] > Get:6 https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable InRelease [17.1 kB] > Get:7 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports/main amd64 Packages [282 kB] > Get:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 Packages [8,792 kB] > Get:9 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt bookworm-pgdg InRelease [129 kB] > Get:10 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates/main amd64 Packages [13.5 kB] > Get:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security/main amd64 Packages [243 kB] > Get:12 https://deb.nodesource.com/node_22.x nodistro/main amd64 Packages [5,274 B] > Get:13 https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable/main all Packages [10.9 kB] > Get:14 https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable/main amd64 Packages [10.9 kB] > Get:15 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt bookworm-pgdg/main amd64 Packages [360 kB] > Fetched 10.2 MB in 2s (4,214 kB/s) > Reading package lists... > Reading package lists... > Building dependency tree... > Reading state information... > The following additional packages will be installed: > postgresql-client-13 > Suggested packages: > postgresql-doc-13 > The following NEW packages will be installed: > postgresql-13 postgresql-13-pgvector postgresql-client-13 > 0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. > Need to get 17.3 MB of archives. > After this operation, 56.7 MB of additional disk space will be used. > Get:1 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt bookworm-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-client-13 amd64 13.18-1.pgdg120+1 [1,523 kB] > Get:2 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt bookworm-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-13 amd64 13.18-1.pgdg120+1 [15.4 MB] > Get:3 https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt bookworm-pgdg/main amd64 postgresql-13-pgvector amd64 0.8.0-1.pgdg120+1 [297 kB] > Fetched 17.3 MB in 2s (8,411 kB/s) > Selecting previously unselected package postgresql-client-13. > (Reading database ... 33363 files and directories currently installed.) > Preparing to unpack .../postgresql-client-13_13.18-1.pgdg120+1_amd64.deb ... > Unpacking postgresql-client-13 (13.18-1.pgdg120+1) ... > Selecting previously unselected package postgresql-13. > Preparing to unpack .../postgresql-13_13.18-1.pgdg120+1_amd64.deb ... > Unpacking postgresql-13 (13.18-1.pgdg120+1) ... > Selecting previously unselected package postgresql-13-pgvector. > Preparing to unpack .../postgresql-13-pgvector_0.8.0-1.pgdg120+1_amd64.deb ... > Unpacking postgresql-13-pgvector (0.8.0-1.pgdg120+1) ... > Setting up postgresql-client-13 (13.18-1.pgdg120+1) ... > Setting up postgresql-13 (13.18-1.pgdg120+1) ... > Creating new PostgreSQL cluster 13/main ... > /usr/lib/postgresql/13/bin/initdb -D /var/lib/postgresql/13/main --auth-local peer --auth-host md5 > The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "postgres". > This user must also own the server process. > > The database cluster will be initialized with locale "C.UTF-8". > The default database encoding has accordingly been set to "UTF8". > The default text search configuration will be set to "english". > > Data page checksums are disabled. > > fixing permissions on existing directory /var/lib/postgresql/13/main ... ok > creating subdirectories ... ok > selecting dynamic shared memory implementation ... posix > selecting default max_connections ... 100 > selecting default shared_buffers ... 128MB > selecting default time zone ... Etc/UTC > creating configuration files ... ok > running bootstrap script ... ok > performing post-bootstrap initialization ... ok > syncing data to disk ... ok > > Success. You can now start the database server using: > > pg_ctlcluster 13 main start > > Warning: The selected stats_temp_directory /var/run/postgresql/13-main.pg_stat_tmp > is not writable for the cluster owner. Not adding this setting in > postgresql.conf. > invoke-rc.d: could not determine current runlevel > invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of start. > Setting up postgresql-13-pgvector (0.8.0-1.pgdg120+1) ... > Processing triggers for postgresql-common (267.pgdg120+1) ... > Building PostgreSQL dictionaries from installed myspell/hunspell packages... > Removing obsolete dictionary files: > Stopping PostgreSQL 13 database server: main. > Stopping PostgreSQL 15 database server: mainError: Data directory /shared/postgres_data must not be owned by root ... failed! > failed! > > could not open version file "/shared/postgres_data/PG_VERSION": Permission denied > Failure, exiting > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > UPGRADE OF POSTGRES FAILED > > Please visit https://meta.discourse.org/t/postgresql-15-update/349515 for support. > > You can run ./launcher start app to restart your app in the meanwhile > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > FAILED > -------------------- > Pups::ExecError: if [-f /root/install_postgres]; then > /root/install_postgres && rm -f /root/install_postgres > elif [-e /shared/postgres_run/.s.PGSQL.5432]; then > socat /dev/null UNIX-CONNECT:/shared/postgres_run/.s.PGSQL.5432 || exit 0 && echo postgres already running stop container ; exit 1 > fi > failed with return # > Location of failure: /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/3.3.0/gems/pups-1.2.1/lib/pups/exec_command.rb:132:in `spawn' > exec failed with the params {"tag"=>"db", "cmd"=>"if [-f /root/install_postgres]; then\n /root/install_postgres && rm -f /root/install_postgres\nelif [-e /shared/postgres_run/.s.PGSQL.5432]; then\n socat /dev/null UNIX-CONNECT:/shared/postgres_run/.s.PGSQL.5432 || exit 0 && echo postgres already running stop container ; exit 1\nfi\n"} > bootstrap failed with exit code 1 > **FAILED TO BOOTSTRAP** please scroll up and look for earlier error messages, there may be more than one. > ./discourse-doctor may help diagnose the problem. > > ``` The `/var/discourse/shared` folder is owned by root on both old and new servers. Digging in some more levels, though, I notice that there were some permission differences in some folders in `/var/discourse/shared/standalone`… Old server: ```plaintext /var/discourse/shared/standalone# ls -alh total 56K drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4.0K Jan 22 2021 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Mar 12 2016 .. drwxr-xr-x 3 1000 www-data 4.0K Sep 21 2015 backups drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K Dec 10 19:36 letsencrypt drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Jun 12 2015 log drwxr-xr-x 2 syslog syslog 4.0K Jun 12 2015 postgres_backup drwx------ 19 syslog syslog 4.0K Feb 4 20:03 postgres_data drwx------ 20 colord landscape 4.0K Jan 22 2021 postgres_data_old drwxrwsr-x 7 syslog syslog 4.0K Feb 4 20:03 postgres_run drwxr-xr-x 2 landscape messagebus 4.0K Feb 4 20:03 redis_data drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Nov 7 2019 ssl drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Jun 12 2015 state drwxr-xr-x 4 1000 www-data 4.0K Feb 4 20:03 tmp drwxr-xr-x 4 1000 www-data 4.0K Jun 16 2017 uploads ``` New server: ```plaintext /var/discourse/shared/standalone# ls -alh total 60K drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4.0K Feb 5 15:32 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 .. drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 backups drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:00 letsencrypt drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 log drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 postgres_backup drwx------ 20 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:42 postgres_data drwx------ 20 messagebus tss 4.0K Feb 5 15:33 postgres_data_new drwx------ 20 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 postgres_data_older drwxrwxr-x 8 messagebus tss 4.0K Feb 5 02:41 postgres_run drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:05 redis_data drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:05 ssl drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 state drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 tmp drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 uploads ``` So I changed ownership on two of them in the new server: ```plaintext chown -R syslog: postgres_data chown -R syslog: postgres_backup ``` This changed the error message to something that I don’t know what to do with: > Stopping PostgreSQL 15 database server: mainError: Config owner (postgres:101) and data owner (messagebus:102) do not match, and config owner is not root … failed! To clarify, my _current_ permission in the new server are: ```plaintext /var/discourse/shared/standalone# ls -alh total 60K drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4.0K Feb 5 15:32 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 .. drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 backups drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:00 letsencrypt drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 log drwxr-xr-x 2 syslog syslog 4.0K Feb 5 01:59 postgres_backup drwx------ 20 syslog syslog 4.0K Feb 5 02:42 postgres_data drwx------ 20 messagebus tss 4.0K Feb 5 15:33 postgres_data_new drwx------ 20 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 postgres_data_older drwxrwxr-x 8 messagebus tss 4.0K Feb 5 02:41 postgres_run drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:05 redis_data drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:05 ssl drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 state drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 tmp drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K Feb 5 02:04 uploads ``` 🤷 I’m assuming some `chown` is going to fix this up for me, but I don’t know what/why/how… --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rebuild-fails-data-directory-shared-postgres-data-must-not-be-owned-by-root/350658)._