This question already has answers here:
Postgres ERROR: could not open file for reading: Permission denied
(17 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
How do you copy data from a file to a table in SQL? I'm using pgAdmin3 on a Macbook.
The table name is tutor, and the name of the file is tutor.rtf.
I use the following query:
COPY tutor
FROM /Users/.../tutor.rtf
WITH DELIMITER ',';
but got the error "permission denied'.
The file is not locked. So how do you solve this problem? Or is there any other quicker way to copy data from file to table except for INSERT INTO ... VALUE(); ?
COPY opens the file using the PostgreSQL server backend, so it requires that the user postgresql runs as have read permission (for COPY FROM) for the file in question. It also requires the same SQL-level access rights to the table as INSERT, but I suspect it's file permissions that're getting you here.
Most likely the postgres or postgres_ (depending on how you installed PostgreSQL) user doesn't have read access to /Users/somepath/tutor.rtf or some parent directory of that file.
The easiest solution is to use psql's \copy command, which reads the file using the client permissions, rather than those of the server, and uses a path relative to the client's current working directory. This command is not available in PgAdmin-III.
Newer PgAdmin-III versions have the Import command in the table context menu. See importing tables from file in the PgAdmin-III docs. This does the equivalent of psql's \copy command, reading the file with the access rights of the PgAdmin-III application.
Alternately you can use the server-side COPY command by making sure every directory from /Users up somepath has world-execute rights - meaning users can traverse it, cd into it, etc, but can't list its contents without r rights too. Then either set the file to group postgres and make sure it has group read rights, or make it world-readable.
Related
I am running postgresql with pgAdmin4 on windows x64. I just created a database, then a table and now I want to add data to the table from an excel sheet using
copy table from 'C:\Users\username\Desktop\copy.csv' delimiter ',' csv header;
I get this error message:
ERROR: could not open file "C:\Users\username\Desktop\copy.csv" for
reading: Permission denied HINT: COPY FROM instructs the PostgreSQL
server process to read a file. You may want a client-side facility
such as psql's \copy. SQL state: 42501
I tried running it as admin but it didn't help.
Side note: pgadmin 4 opens on my Firefox browser with high privacy settings in case it has anything to do with it.
For people who are still having this issue, one of the fastest workarounds I found (that sidesteps permission changes) is to use the "Users\Public" folder when reading or writing files.
E.g if you want to read in "copy.csv", moving the file's location to "Users\Public\copy.csv" should allow you to read it without explicitly setting permissions for postgres/pgadmin
My goal is to import csv file to postgresql database.
my file is located in network shared folder and I do not have no option to make it in a local folder.
My Folder located in :
"smb://file-srv/doc/myfile.csv"
When I run my this PostgreSQL script:
COPY tbl_data
FROM 'smb://file-srv/doc/myfile.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV;
I would get this error :
ERROR: could not open file "smb://file-srv/doc/myfile.csv" for reading: No such file or directory
SQL state: 58P01
I have no problem to access the file and open it.
I am using PostgreSQL 9.6 under Ubuntu 16.04.
Please Advice how to fix this problem.
Update
When I try to access the file with postgres user I would have same error:
postgres#file-srv:~$$ cat smb://file-srv/doc/myfile.csv
cat: 'smb://file-srv/doc/myfile.csv' : No such file or directory
As I mention when I user mounted folder I created I can access the file.
it is about permission. you have to check read access on file and folders.
also, logging with superuser access may solve your problem.
In short, this is a permissions issue: Your network share is likely locally mounted to your user's UID, while the PostgreSQL server is running as the postgres user.
Second, when you log into your database, there is not an overlap between the database's users and the system's users, even if you have the same username. This means that when you request a file from your network share, the DB user, in this case postgres, does not have the necessary permissions.
To see this, and assuming you have root access on the box in question, you might try to become the postgres user and see that you cannot access the file:
$ sudo su - postgres
$ cat /run/user/.../smb.../yourfile.csv
Permission denied
The fix to your issue will involve -- somehow -- making the file or share accessible to the postgres user. Copying is certainly the quickest way. But that's off the table. You could mount the share (perhaps as read only) as the postgres user. You might do this in fstab.
However, unless this is going to be an automated detail that happens regularly, this seems like heroics. Without more information as to why you can't copy locally, I suggest copying the file locally.
I am trying to export my Postgres table to a csv on my desktop and I get this error:
ERROR: could not open file "C:\Users\blah\Desktop\countyreport.csv" for writing: Permission denied
SQL state: 42501
This is my query which I believe is the correct syntax
COPY countyreport TO 'C:\\Users\\blah\\Desktop\\countyreport.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV HEADER;
According to the user manual:
Files named in a COPY command are read or written directly by the
server, not by the client application.
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-copy.html
The common mistake is to believe that the filesystem access will be that of the (client) user, but it's not. It's normal to run the postgresql server as its own user. Therefore action carried out by the server will be done as a different OS user to the client. The server is usually run as an OS user postgres.
Assuming that you are running the server on your local machine then the simplest way to fix it would be to give postgres access to your home directory or desktop. This can be done by changing the windows security settings on your home directory.
Before you do this.... Stop and think. Is this what you are looking for? If the server is in development then will it always run on the user's machine. If not then you may need to use COPY to write to the stdout. See the manual for information on this.
I am using PostgreSQL and Centos
While in the the task database I am trying to do this
COPY CUSTOMERS TO '/home/cjones/cfolder/customers.txt' (DELIMITER '|');
I am getting the
Error: could not open file "/home/cjones/customers.txt" for writing: Permission denied
I have done ls -al and chmod the customers.txt to 777 and still getting this error. Any ideas?
Are you aware of all requirements? Per documentation:
1.
You must have select privilege on the table whose values are read by
COPY TO
2.
COPY naming a file or command is only allowed to database superusers,
since it allows reading or writing any file that the server has
privileges to access.
Plus, for the file to be accessible by the server it must lie on the same machine of course. And the directory must be accessible to the user the postgres server runs as, typically postgres (not only the file).
An alternative would be to use the \copy meta-command of psql.
I know this issue has already been raised by others, but even trying previous suggestions I still get this error...
When I try to populate a table copying from a csv file, I get a permission error.
COPY Eurasia FROM '/Users/Oritteropus/Desktop/eurasia1.csv' CSV HEADER;
ERROR: could not open file "/Users/Oritteropus/Desktop/eurasia1.csv" for reading: Permission denied
SQL state: 42501
As previously suggested in these cases, I changed the permission of the file (chmod 711 eurasia1.csv or chmod a+r eurasia1.csv) and I also changed the user rights with:
ALTER USER postgres WITH SUPERUSER; #where postgres is my user
However, I still get the same error.
I also tried to manually change the privileges from pgAdmin but seems avery privilege is already given.
I'm working on a Mac Os and I'm using PostGreSQL 9.2.4.
Any suggestion? Thanks
The best option is to change and use COPY FROM STDIN as that avoids quite a number of permissions issues.
Alternatively you can make sure that the postgres user can access the file. This rarely better than COPY FROM STDIN however for a couple reasons.
COPY TO STDOUT can conceivably corrupt your data. Because this involves file I/O by PostgreSQL if bugs exist in COPY FROM STDIN that could be a problem too.
If you are doing it on the server side because of automation/stored proc concerns, this is rarely a win, as you are combining transactional and non-transactional effects. COPY TO STDOUT and COPY FROM STDIN do not have these issues. (For example, you don't have to wonder whether the atime of the inode actually means the file was properly processed).