# Common development issues part 1

## Introduction

I usually face specific issues that always come up. I always find myself checking Google for the solution over and over.

I thought that checking on Google over and over was inefficient and to save me and probably others, some time, I will document some of the issues that I face.

For context, I happen to use an M1 Macbook for development.  
You might wanna consider your specific situation.  
Nevertheless, I hope this will be helpful.

## Postgres stopping to work

I am not familiar with how this issue comes up.  
My database of choice is usually Postgres.  
But once in a while, when I am testing a Rails app on the development machine, I get this error;

```bash
connection to server on socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432" 
failed: No such file or directory 
Is the server running locally and accepting connections on that socket?
```

### The solution to this issue

1. Open the file `/opt/homebrew/var/log/postgres.log` to identify the problem. I used homebrew to install `postgres` so this it's location.
    
    ```bash
    27645 2023-06-22 11:54:14.111 EAT [21939] HINT:  Is another postmaster (PID 776) running in data directory "/opt/homebrew/var/postgres"?
    27646 2023-06-22 11:54:24.161 EAT [21946] FATAL:  lock file "postmaster.pid" already exists
    27647 2023-06-22 11:54:24.161 EAT [21946] HINT:  Is another postmaster (PID 776) running in data directory "/opt/homebrew/var/postgres"?
    27648 2023-06-22 11:54:34.206 EAT [21960] FATAL:  lock file "postmaster.pid" already exists
    27649 2023-06-22 11:54:34.206 EAT [21960] HINT:  Is another postmaster (PID 776) running in data directory "/opt/homebrew/var/postgres"?
    27650 2023-06-22 11:54:44.250 EAT [21975] FATAL:  lock file "postmaster.pid" already exists
    ```
    
2. Sure enough, as indicated on lines `27648`, and `2749` the error is clear.
    
3. Deleting the `postmater.pid` file in the `/opt/homebrew/var/postgres` directory should solve this issue.
    
4. Delete the `postmaster.pid` file using: `rm -rf /opt/homebrew/var/postgres/postmaster.pid`
    
5. Restart `postgres` by running: `brew services restart postgresql@14`
    
6. Now everything should work fine.
    

## Conclusion

I hope that this is helpful.  
Take the time to read and understand the problem.