Re: newbie question: howto start using glom ?

[nwm csur ca]

Hi Murray!

[Norman]
> > I think it might be due <some erroneous bla-bla here>

[Murray]
> I don't think so. But you could test your theory by stopping the main
> postgres server before starting glom. In Ubuntu you can do that with the
> Services control panel.

I did and you're quite right: it wasn't so.  Thanks!  :)
But then, I did something a bit better:
I started glom from an xterm console and recorded its output
while I tried creating a new database from an example (yes,
it failed the same way at the same point: when creating the
first user).

Here is what I recorded (note that I do run programs as root by
long habit, as I've always done so on Unix and consorts since 1982
when I moved from DEC operating systems to the original BSD Unix).

--- start of listing ---

root csur-admin:~# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:/usr/lib/postgresql/8.2/bin
root csur-admin:~# glom

** (glom:20511): WARNING **:
App_WithDoc_Gtk::init_menus_file_recentfiles(): MIME-type
application/x-glom is not known to gnome-vfs
debug: ConnectionPool::set_user(): user is empty.

debug: command_line: /usr/lib/postgresql/8.2/bin/initdb -D
"/root/TestingToo/glom_postgres_data/data" -U MyOwn
--pwfile="/tmp/glom_initdb_pwfile"

  debug: thread start
initdb: cannot be run as root
Please log in (using, e.g., "su") as the (unprivileged) user that will
own the server process.
  debug: in thread: signalling condition
Error while attempting to create self-hosting database.
debug: calling stop_self_hosting_of_document_database()

Glom: trying to connect on port=5432
ConnectionPool::connect() Attempt to connect to database failed on
port=5432, database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114
  ConnectionPool::connect() Attempting to connect without specifying the
database.
Glom: connecting.
    ConnectionPool::connect() connection also failed when not specifying
database.
  (Could not connect even to the default database on port=5432,
database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114

Glom: trying to connect on port=5433
ConnectionPool::connect() Attempt to connect to database failed on
port=5433, database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114
  ConnectionPool::connect() Attempting to connect without specifying the
database.
Glom: connecting.
    ConnectionPool::connect() connection also failed when not specifying
database.
  (Could not connect even to the default database on port=5433,
database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114

Glom: trying to connect on port=5434
ConnectionPool::connect() Attempt to connect to database failed on
port=5434, database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114
  ConnectionPool::connect() Attempting to connect without specifying the
database.
Glom: connecting.
    ConnectionPool::connect() connection also failed when not specifying
database.
  (Could not connect even to the default database on port=5434,
database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114

Glom: trying to connect on port=5435
ConnectionPool::connect() Attempt to connect to database failed on
port=5435, database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114
  ConnectionPool::connect() Attempting to connect without specifying the
database.
Glom: connecting.
    ConnectionPool::connect() connection also failed when not specifying
database.
  (Could not connect even to the default database on port=5435,
database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114

Glom: trying to connect on port=5436
ConnectionPool::connect() Attempt to connect to database failed on
port=5436, database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114
  ConnectionPool::connect() Attempting to connect without specifying the
database.
Glom: connecting.
    ConnectionPool::connect() connection also failed when not specifying
database.
  (Could not connect even to the default database on port=5436,
database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114

** (glom:20511): WARNING **: ConnectionPool::connect() throwing exception.
  (Could not connect even to the default database on any port.
database=glom_example_smallbusiness_v114
Glom: exception:
  Glom database connection failed.
root csur-admin:~#

--- end of listing ---

So, I think the problem comes from running initdb/postgres as root.
As I'm running xorg as root, I can't just su to some other user
before calling glom as glom wouldn't be able to connect to the X
server...  And switching from running as root to running as some
unpriviledged user means re-writing tons of for-root-only code and
lots of config files on top of throwing away 25 years of imprinting...
Not nice.  :(

Anyway, it's clear that the problem was not a bug but a feature. :(
A slightly annoying feature, till I can find my way around it.
In the mean time, I'll use the postgresql server as you suggested.

Thanks a lot for your kind help, Murray!
It's really appreciated!  :)

Norman.