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Add upgrade guidance for existing PostgreSQL 18 volumes after PGDATA path change #14561

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mtesauro merged 1 commit into from
Mar 20, 2026
Merged

Add upgrade guidance for existing PostgreSQL 18 volumes after PGDATA path change #14561

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40 changes: 40 additions & 0 deletions docs/content/releases/os_upgrading/2.51.md
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Expand Up @@ -84,6 +84,46 @@ _Note: If you are using a bound volume, the path has changed for Postgres18. It
> This has been fixed in 2.55.4 by explicitly setting `PGDATA: /var/lib/postgresql/data` in `docker-compose.yml`.
>
> If you customise the postgres service in your own `docker-compose.override.yml`, make sure `PGDATA` is set to the path where your volume is mounted.
>
> **Important for existing installations**
>
> If you previously ran DefectDojo with PostgreSQL 18 using the old default `docker‑compose.yml`, your PostgreSQL data may be stored inside a nested directory such as `/var/lib/postgresql/data/18/docker`
> In that case, the root of the volume (`/var/lib/postgresql/data`) is non‑empty but is *not* itself a valid Postgres cluster root. After applying the fix that sets `PGDATA: /var/lib/postgresql/data` PostgreSQL may fail to start with an error like `initdb: error: directory "/var/lib/postgresql/data" exists but is not empty` because the existing cluster files still live under the nested versioned path.
>
> To fix this problem you can migrate the existing cluster files into the volume root:
>
> 1. **Stop the Postgres service**
> ```sh
> docker compose stop postgres
> ```
>
> 2. **Verify where your cluster currently lives**
> ```sh
> docker run --rm -it -v <your_volume_name>:/data alpine sh
> ls -la /data
> ```
> Look for a directory such as `18/docker` that contains `PG_VERSION`, `base/`, etc.
>
> 3. **Move the cluster files into the volume root**
> ```sh
> docker run --rm \
> -v <your_volume_name>:/data alpine \
> sh -c "mv /data/18/docker/* /data/"
> ```
>
> 4. **Clean up empty folders (optional)**
> ```sh
> docker run --rm \
> -v <your_volume_name>:/data alpine \
> sh -c "rm -rf /data/18 /data/data"
> ```
>
> 5. **Start Postgres again**
> ```sh
> docker compose up -d postgres
> ```
>
> After this, the database should start using `PGDATA: /var/lib/postgresql/data`, and your existing data will be preserved.

### 0. Backup

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