Cannot connect to Postgresql server, locally - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a Rails app that has been using sqlite3 for the DB. Deployed to Heroku. Then find out that Heroku recommends switching to PostgreSQL. So now I'm trying to switch over without any luck. Was trying to use this Railscasts video for help.
I installed Homebrew. Installed PostgreSQL via Homebrew. After installation, there was no mention of creating a username or password for postgres.
I edited my Gemfile to
gem 'pg'
for both production and development and did bundle install.
I edited my database.yml file to this:
development:
adapter: postgresql
database: isement_dev
encoding: unicode
pool: 5
timeout: 5000
test:
adapter: postgresql
database: isement_test
encoding: unicode
pool: 5
timeout: 5000
production:
adapter: postgresql
database: isement_production
encoding: unicode
pool: 5
timeout: 5000
Like Ryan says to do in the video, I try this command:
rake db:create:all
Only to get this error:
could not connect to server: Permission denied
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket "/var/pgsql_socket/.s.PGSQL.5432"?
I do some more searching, and see that some tutorials show username and password included in the database.yml file. I then find out how to setup a user for Postgresql
After entering in the command $ createuser joe, I was never given the options that the docs say you'll be asked. Such as "Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n)" So really not sure if the user was created, but there wasn't any errors either.
So, I'm assuming, after creating the user "joe", I reedited my database.yml file to include the user field I just created:
development:
adapter: postgresql
database: isement_dev
encoding: unicode
pool: 5
timeout: 5000
username: joe
password:
test:
adapter: postgresql
database: isement_test
encoding: unicode
pool: 5
timeout: 5000
Only to still get the same error of not being able to connect.
I've ran the command
pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start
to make sure the server is running as well.
Just in case it's needed, when I run
which psql
I receive this:
/usr/local/bin/psql
Is there something that I'm missing? The "database name" part of the database.yml file. This is supposed to be a database already created somewhere, or does this file create the database when I run the rake db:create:all command? I'm assuming the latter, so the name of the database doesn't matter?

Answer 1

Lazy option: Add host: localhost to your database.yml.
Only slightly less lazy option: Uninstall and reinstall the pg gem.
What's going on here? There are a number of ways for Postgres to already exist on your system, and the pg gem will use their pg_config output and build for their needs if you install the gem before installing your own copy of Postgres.
In your case, it was built for the version included with some releases of Mac OS X, which uses a socket file at /var/pgsql_socket.

Answer 2

when you are installing Postgres via Homebrew it will add your username to postgres with an empty password.
Just open a command prompt and type
whoami
Then change your database.yml to your mac user name (whatever is returned from whoami) with empty password.
Maybe add host: localhost
to you database.yml