A simple script packaged into a Docker container that idempotent-ly creates
a Postgres user and database on a given host specified in environment variables.
Realtalk:tm:: this project is a 2 line script that runs CREATE USER and
CREATE DATABASE.
Note: The user that is created has restricted permissions (only has access to the created database). It also does not have a password.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| POSTGRES_URL | (connection option) Connection string for the Postgres server. This should be an admin user. |
| USERNAME | Username for the user to be created |
| DBNAME | Name for the database to be created (owner is set to the created user) |
pg_initializer will only exit with an error code (exit code != 0) when psql
has issues connecting to the database. psql does not error when SQL errors are
encountered, helping make the containerized utility idempotent.
Usage as an Init Container
MongoDB allows applications to upsert databases(!) by simply connecting and writing. If no existing database exists at that path then a new database is created and the data is written there.
Postgres does not work this way.
Instead, a superuser (or other user with proper permissions) needs to explicitly
create a database. pg_initializer does this after first creating a user with
restricted permissions and then creates a database with that user as the owner.
Because duplicate user/database errors do not produce error codes on exit, this
utility is suitable for usage as an init container - exit 0'ing when both the
user and database exist.
Additionally, because connection failures will result in an error code, this init container will prevent apps that depend on Postgres from starting when the database server is down.
This was created to be used as an Init Container in HackGT/biodomes for applications that use Postgres as a datastore. This image allows biodomes to create a new user and database for each deployment of each application that uses Postgres (each PR will have a separate db and all isolated from each other - and production).
See HackGT/biodomes#16 for more context.