1 Grab the source code and install the latest version of Postgres --- No Brainer (Remember to check /etc/ld-elf.so.conf to make sure that the psql library is included) 2 Recover the database files from the previous version - In an ideal world you should have backups for old databases. If not, reinstall the old postgres, pg_dump all the databases you care about and remember the location you parked them. - Start the new postgres, run ./psql -d template1 -f DUMPFILES/OF/OLD/DATABASES Now, if you go into template1 and \d, you should see tables that were in the old database - ./creatdb NAME/OF/NEW/DATABASE - it's basically a copy of template1, so remember to drop tables that belong to other old databases before you create new databases 3 Start Postgres at bootup - Find a Postgres startup script and put it /usr/local/etc/rc.d