The psql
you're running is the old version bundled by Apple in Mac OS X and added to the default PATH. Use the one from Homebrew, by fixing your path or entering the path specifically.
Alternately, explicitly connect to the server by overriding the default socket directory:
psql -h /tmp
See also:
Update:
In this case it looks like the server is genuinely not starting. Check the permissions on the data directory (apparently /usr/local/pgsql/data
) and check the Console.app logs for relevant messages from launchd.
Update:
You must fix the permissions so the postgres user (or postgres_, depending on how you installed) has ownership. Check the launchd config file to see what user it runs as, and sudo chown -R postgres /usr/local/pgsql/data to change ownership. Replace postgres with postgres_ if that's what your launchd config says