TL;DR
Exemple about getting back to 9.6.6 from 9.6.7
brew services stop postgresql
brew services stop postgresql@9.6
brew uninstall postgresql
brew uninstall postgresql@9.6
rm -rf /usr/local/var/postgres .psql_history .psqlrc .psql.local .pgpass .psqlrc.local
Select the Postgres.app release having the desired version here. Install it, "Initialize" the server then run:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d && echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/9.6/bin | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/postgresapp
Reboot the shell.
Details
The PostgreSQL version of the project I'm working on at work is 9.6.6. The problem is that my machine uses a later version. It results in conflicts with the db/structure file each time I run a db:migrate.
Like most dev running on macOS, I usually use Homebrew. It allows to easily switch to another installed version of a formula by running brew switch formula@version. As you guess I tried, but the problem is that Homebrew only handles major versions of each release and I need a specific minor version.
Because I also need to switch between old and recent Rails projects, I often have to change the running PostgreSQL version. My current solution is to use the Postgres.app.
If you already have PostgreSQL installed on your system via Homebrew but want to use a specific version (like a previous one) with Postgres.app, just follow these steps:
1. Remove all PostgreSQL version installed
Check running version
brew services listthen stop thembrew services stop postgresql.Delete all installed formulas with
brew uninstall postgresqlandbrew uninstall postgresql@versionper installed version.Then delete the related files
rm -rf /usr/local/var postgres .psql_history .psqlrc .psql.local .pgpass .psqlrc.local.
2. Install Postgres.app
Download the release having the desired version.
Install it and create a new server:
- Initialize it.
3. Make PostgreSQL related tools usable with the terminal
This last step allows you to use tools like pg_dump etc. Just run:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d &&
echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/9.6/bin | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/postgresapp`
```
(Don't forget to replace 9.6 with your version).
Relaunch your shell. Welcome back to the past!
If you have better solution to switch between specific versions of PostgreSQL without external app like I did, don't hesitate to share it! :)
Top comments (5)
Have you tried to investigate what's the difference between 9.6.6 and 9.6.7 ? It's weird that two minor versions are incompatible like that.
Can you elaborate?
Maybe we can sort this out :-) I would understand it for major versions but this is a patch of the same version :D
It's not really breaking changes. It changes the file like adding "public" to each table name, updating the header like "Dumped by pg_dump x.x.x" etc.
Ah ok! :-)
These are the worst possible instructions for downgrading postgresql.
rm -rf /usr/local/var/postgreswill delete ALL of your local databases.It's about local development environment and usually you don't care about these data. But it's true I should warn people.
Feel free to share the good instructions. 🙂