Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:48:51 +0100
From: Matthias Apitz <guru@unixarea.de>
To: pgsql-general@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: malformated LSB header in postgres: missing LSB end marker, aborting
Message-ID: <acO9k1XLTEmCo+sj@pureos>
Reply-To: Matthias Apitz <guru@unixarea.de>
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Hello,

We use the following script as /etc/init.d/postgres on
SuSE Linux Enterprise, SLES 15 SP7, to start PostgreSQL 16.5 server:

$ tar tzf postgresql-16.5.tar.gz | grep start-scripts/linux
postgresql-16.5/contrib/start-scripts/linux

# cp postgresql-16.5/contrib/start-scripts/linux /etc/init.d/postgres

# head -10 /etc/init.d/postgres
#! /bin/sh

# chkconfig: 2345 98 02
# description: PostgreSQL RDBMS

# This is an example of a start/stop script for SysV-style init, such
# as is used on Linux systems.  You should edit some of the variables
# and maybe the 'echo' commands.
#
# Place this file at /etc/init.d/postgresql (or
# ...

Together with systemd services this gives the following error:

# systemctl enable postgres.service
Synchronizing state of postgres.service with SysV service script with /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable postgres
error: malformated LSB header in postgres: missing LSB end marker, aborting.

The service file contains:

# cat /etc/systemd/system/postgres.service
[Unit]
Description=SunRise PostgreSQL server
After=systemd-user-sessions.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/etc/init.d/postgres start
ExecStop=/etc/init.d/postgres stop
TimeoutStartSec=infinity
RemainAfterExit=yes


[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

When I enhance the script with this section between BEGIN / END

# cat /etc/init.d/postgres
#! /bin/sh
# chkconfig: 2345 98 02
# description: PostgreSQL RDBMS
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:       postgresql
# Required-Start: $network $named
# Required-Stop:
# Default-Start:  3 5
# Default-Stop:
# Description:
### END INIT INFO
...

The error goes away:

# systemctl enable postgres.service
Synchronizing state of postgres.service with SysV service script with /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable postgres
ln -sf ../postgres /etc/init.d/rc3.d/S50postgres
ln -sf ../postgres /etc/init.d/rc5.d/S50postgres

Any comments on this?

Thanks

	matthias


-- 
Matthias Apitz, ✉ guru@unixarea.de, http://www.unixarea.de/ +49-176-38902045
Public GnuPG key: http://www.unixarea.de/key.pub

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I, Matthias, I am not at war with Russia.
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