Prevent Postgresql from running at startup

Question

At some point in the past, I had installed posgresql and I can't get rid of it:

$ ps -A|egrep postg   232 ??        
287 ??         0:00.02 postgres: logger process                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
328 ??         0:00.09 postgres: writer process                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
335 ??         0:00.06 postgres: wal writer process                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
336 ??         0:00.03 postgres: autovacuum launcher process                                                                                                                                                                                                          
342 ??         0:00.01 postgres: stats collector process 

I'd like to stop it from starting up every time I boot, since fs_usage shows it keeps my disk occupied.

I've already tried adding POSTGRES=-NO- in /etc/hostconfig, but the processes keep spawing.

Also I've tried something I found on another post, with no luck:

$: locate postg|egrep plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.edb.launchd.postgresql-8.4.plist
/Library/PostgreSQL/8.3/uninstall-postgresql.app/Contents/Info.plist
/Library/PostgreSQL/8.4/uninstall-postgresql.app/Contents/Info.plist
/Library/StartupItems/postgresql-8.3/StartupParameters.plist

$: sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.edb.launchd.postgresql-8.4.plist

(restart)

But still postgresql processes show up :(

Answer 1

Found this:

In Mac OSX: (Assuming Default Locations)

Via uninstaller:

1) In the installation directory, there will be a uninstall-postgresql.app file will be there, executing (double clicking) that will uninstall the postgresql installation.

Manual Uninstallation:

1) Stop the server

sudo /sbin/SystemStarter stop postgresql-8.3

2) Remove menu shortcuts:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/PostgreSQL 8.3

3) Remove the ini file

sudo rm -rf /etc/postgres-reg.ini

4) Removing Startup Items

sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/postgresql-8.3

5) Remove the data and installed files

sudo rm -rf /Library/PostgreSQL/8.3

6) Delete the user postgres

sudo dscl . delete /users/postgres

Answer 2

Note that with PostgreSQL 9.0 (and probably newer) on Mac OS 10.6.8 (and probably older), in order to prevent the PostgreSQL server from auto-starting, you have to:

1. Go to /Library/LaunchDaemons/
2. Open com.edb.launchd.postgresql-9.0.plist in an editor as root (replace 9.0 with your correct version number), e.g. sudo vim com.edb.launchd.postgresql-9.0.plist.
3. Locate the line <key>RunAtLoad</key>
4. Change the next line from <true/> to <false/>
5. Save and exit.

That should do it. Also, if you want to stop the server immediately, without restarting, su to postgres and run /Library/PostgreSQL/9.0/bin/pg_ctl stop -D<your data dir>. You can find out which is your current data dir with ps aux|grep postgre.

Source: http://forums.enterprisedb.com/posts/list/2240.page#8321