How to fix pg_dump version mismatch errors?

Question

When trying to get local data to Heroku, I am encountering a version mismatch between two different versions of pg_dump.

Specifically, I am getting this message:

pg_dump: server version: 9.2.2; pg_dump version: 9.1.4
pg_dump: aborting because of server version mismatch

I have found others with this problem, but do not know enough to implement the proposed solutions. (I am new to Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Heroku, and the Mac! Very much at the stage of playing around the picking things up as I go.)

I was thinking I might simplify my life if I uninstalled all PostgreSQL on my local machine and started again with a clean install of PostgreSQL 9.2.2 from http://postgresapp.com/, but I don't know how to go about doing the uninstall.

I'm running Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2.

Answer 1

OS X 10.8 comes with pg_dump version 9.1.4 in the /usr/bin directory, along with psql and other programs that are client-side PostgreSQL tools. It does not mean that PostgreSQL as a server is installed (unless you have OS X Server Edition). So you don't have to uninstall PostgreSQL because it's not installed and it's better not to remove these postgres client tools in /usr/bin because they belong to the system as shipped by Apple. They just need to be side-stepped.

The package provided by postgres.app comprises both the PostgreSQL server and the client-side tools of the same version as this server. These tools get installed in /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/MacOS/bin

To use these instead of the 9.1 ones from Apple when you work in a Terminal, postgres.app documentation says to do:

PATH="/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/MacOS/bin:$PATH"

and put it in your .profile file.

Once you have done that and you run pg_dump, you should no longer get the error that's it's the wrong version, because it would be the one that ships with postgres.app (currently 9.2.2).

I have this setup and it works OK for me.

Answer 2

In my case I have postgresql installed via homebrew and the executables are here: /usr/local/opt/postgresql@9.6/bin

Or you copy the dump and restore executions to the /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/SharedSupport folder

or in PdAgmin you point the PG bin Path (in properties -> binary Path) to the path of the executables of your postgre

Answer 3

Yep, sometimes if you run Postgres.app this may happen after upgrade. Make sure you restart your Postgres.app - it will update your PATH.

Answer 4

I'm running Mountain Lion Server. My PostgeSQL server is at version 9.2.1 and the default tools are at 9.1.5.

I had to use:

PATH="/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/bin:$PATH"

to make it work.

Answer 5

If you're using postgresapp 9.3.x, the path is different. The following worked for me (courtesy of http://sigmyers.com/blog/2013/3/12/postgres-pgdump-version-mismatch-error-postgresapp-postgresappcom)

export PG_BIN_PATH="/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/9.3/bin/"
PATH=$PG_BIN_PATH:$PATH

Check here for the latest path: http://postgresapp.com/documentation/cli-tools.html

Answer 6

If you only need to upgrade your pg_dump to the latest version and you have homebrew and mac, if the app has the latest version and your local pg doesn't:

brew upgrade postgresql