correct way to start/stop postgres database pg_ctl or service postgres

Question

I would like to know correct way of starting/stopping postgres database. There are two ways

1. pg_ctl start/stop
2. service postgresql start/stop

I would like to know how they are different from each other, which one should I use? are their any pros/cons.

I check online but didnt get satisfactory answer.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

If you are using Mac with brew

To start:

brew services start postgresql

To stop:

brew services stop postgresql

Using pg_ctl

To start:

pg_ctl start -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log

To stop:

pg_ctl stop -D /usr/local/var/postgres -m smart

See: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pg-ctl.html

Answer 2

If you view /etc/init.d/postgres${VER} file, you will find out, that when you run service postgresql start/stop it runs pg_ctl $OPTIONS start/stop. The only difference is that service gives you handy way to store environmental variables and enable/disable autostart.

All above can be done manually, using pg_ctl and some scripting.