Unable to install PostgreSQL

Question

I am trying to install postgresql on Ubuntu. I tried installing it using the following command:

apt-get install postgresql

Which results in

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed: postgresql  
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 48 not upgraded.  
Need to get 0B/23.2kB of archives.  
After this operation, 57.3kB of additional disk space will be used.    
debconf: delaying package configuration, since apt-utils is not installed  
Selecting previously deselected package postgresql.  
(Reading database ... 42866 files and directories currently installed.)  
Unpacking postgresql (from .../postgresql_8.4.9-0ubuntu0.10.04_all.deb) ...
Setting up postgresql (8.4.9-0ubuntu0.10.04) ...

But postgresql is not installed properly. I tried purging and reinstalling it. But I am not able to find a solution. I am not able to find postgres under /etc/init.d.

Answer 1

The postgresql package is just a tiny transitional package which has a Depend set on the real package.

postgresql-8.4 is the real package, is that installed? (it should be, since the one you installed depends on it).

Also, it looks like postgresql simply doesn't have an init.d script. Try:

service postgresql start

Answer 2

There is a line

debconf: delaying package configuration, since apt-utils is not installed

This may block the complete configuration of PostgreSQL and other packages, so you should install it, too: apt-utils