Rakefile to launch/stop postgres process

gistfile1.rb

namespace :database do
  task :start do
    pid_file = File.open("#{Rails.root}/tmp/pids/postgres.pid", 'a+')
    
    pid = pid_file.gets.to_i
    begin
      Process.kill('TERM', pid.to_i) unless pid.nil?
    rescue
    end

    pid_file.truncate(0)

    pid = IO.popen("postgres -D #{Rails.root}/db/postgresql/").pid
    p "Database launched with PID: #{pid}"

    pid_file.puts(pid)
    pid_file.close
  end
  
  task :stop do
    pid_file = File.open("#{Rails.root}/tmp/pids/postgres.pid", 'a+')
    pid = pid_file.gets.to_i
    
    unless pid.nil?
      p "Killing process #{pid}"
      begin
        Process.kill('TERM', pid)
        p "Process killed." 
      rescue
        p "The process couldn't be killed."
      ensure
      end
    end
  end
  
  task :restart => [:stop, :start] do
  end
end