$ brew install postgresql ==> Downloading http://ftp2.uk.postgresql.org/sites/ftp.postgresql.org/source/v8.4.2/postgresql-8.4.2.tar.bz2 ######################################################################## 100.0% ==> ./configure --enable-thread-safety --with-bonjour --with-python --with-perl --with-gssapi --with-krb5 --with-openssl --with-libxml --with-libxsl ==> make install ==> Caveats If this is your first install, create a database with: initdb /usr/local/var/postgres Automatically load on login with: launchctl load -w /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/8.4.2/org.postgresql.postgres.plist Or start manually with: pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start And stop with: pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop -s -m fast If you want to install the postgres gem, including ARCHFLAGS is recommended: env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install postgres