# Installation with PostgreSQL

These instructions provide additional steps for setting up Pootle with PostgreSQL.

You should read the full installation instructions in order to install Pootle.

Pootle supports the versions of PostgreSQL supported by Django, make sure that your installed version is supported.

## Setting up the database

As the `postgres` user you must create a database and database user:

    $ sudo su postgres  # On Ubuntu, may be different on your system
    postgres@ $ createuser -P pootle  # This will ask you to define the users password.
    postgres@ $ createdb --encoding='utf8' --locale=en_US.utf8 --template=template0 --owner=pootle pootledb

## System software requirements

In addition to the system packages set out in the general installation requirements you will also require the PostgreSQL client development headers in order to build the Python bindings, e.g. on Debian Jessie:

    $ sudo apt-get install postgresql-server-dev-9.4

## Installing PostgreSQL Python bindings

Once you have set up and activated your virtual environment, you will need to install the PostgreSQL bindings.

You can do so as follows:

    (env) $ pip install Pootle[postgresql]

## Initializing the Configuration

When initializing your configuration you can specify params to set up your database, e.g.:

    (env) $ pootle init --db postgresql --db-name pootledb --db-user pootle

This will create a configuration file to connect to a PostgreSQL database named `pootledb` hosted on localhost as the user `pootle`. Please see the `init` command for all of the available options.

You will most likely want to edit your Pootle configuration (default location: `~/.pootle/pootle.conf`) to set your password.

## Database backend

### A Note on Persistent Connections

The default value for `CONN_MAX_AGE` is `0`. It means that Django creates a connection before every request and closes it at the end. PostgreSQL supports persistent connections, and it will be fine to set `CONN_MAX_AGE` to `None`.

To learn more please check Django’s docs on persistent connections and connection management.

    DATABASES = {
        'default': {
            ...
            'CONN_MAX_AGE': None,
            ...
        }
    }