Postgresql: How to find pg_hba.conf file using Mac OS X
PostgresqlPostgresql Problem Overview
Hi I am having trouble with postgres. I don't remember my postgres password and don't know how to change the password. I'm guessing I should change the md5 password settings I set a month ago, but I don't know how to find the file and open it using my terminal. Can someone help?
Postgresql Solutions
Solution 1 - Postgresql
Another way I learned recently is to go to the terminal and type:
ps aux | grep postgres
which shows all the postgres processes running on your machine. From the list you should see one with the format ... -D .... E.G:
root 4155 0.0 0.0 2432908 68 ?? S 6May13 0:00.01 sudo su postgres -c /opt/local/lib/postgresql84/bin/postgres -D /opt/local/var/db/postgresql84/defaultdb -p 5432
the -D means directory. In the terminal, do a sudo su and then cd to that directory, and you'll find the pg_hba.conf file.
And one more way:
Go to your terminal and type: locate pg_hba.conf. There should be a few results.
Solution 2 - Postgresql
If you can connect, use SHOW hba_file;.
If you cannot connect, you need to locate the data directory. That'll be shown as the -D argument to the postgres or pg_ctl command that starts PostgreSQL, so you can generally find it with ps -ef | grep postgres.
Solution 3 - Postgresql
For macOS 12, you can open the file using nano in your terminal. Example below is if Postgres 12 is installed.
`nano /Library/PostgreSQL/12/data/pg_hba.conf`