postgis compilation error

Question

I'm just having a problem compiling postgis on a second machine, I wonder if anyone has any pointers:

./autogen.sh
./configure

gives

  PostGIS is now configured for i686-pc-linux-gnu

 -------------- Compiler Info ------------- 
  C compiler:           gcc -g -O2
  C++ compiler:         g++ -g -O2

 -------------- Dependencies -------------- 
  GEOS config:          /usr/local/bin/geos-config
  GEOS version:         3.3.0
  PostgreSQL config:    /usr/bin/pg_config
  PostgreSQL version:   PostgreSQL 8.4beta2
  PROJ4 version:        47
  Libxml2 config:       /usr/bin/xml2-config
  Libxml2 version:      2.6.26
  PostGIS debug level:  0

and make gives:

make -C liblwgeom 
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/postgis-1.5.3/liblwgeom'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/postgis-1.5.3/liblwgeom'
make -C postgis 
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/postgis-1.5.3/postgis'
Makefile.pgxs:17: warning: overriding commands for target `install'
/usr/lib/pgsql/pgxs/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk:92: warning: ignoring old commands for target `install'
Makefile.pgxs:63: warning: overriding commands for target `installdirs'
/usr/lib/pgsql/pgxs/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk:140: warning: ignoring old commands for target `installdirs'
Makefile.pgxs:82: warning: overriding commands for target `uninstall'
/usr/lib/pgsql/pgxs/src/makefiles/pgxs.mk:164: warning: ignoring old commands for target `uninstall'
gcc -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m32 -march=i386 -mtune=generic -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -I/usr/include/et -Wall -Wmissing-prototypes -Wpointer-arith -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wendif-labels -fno-strict-aliasing -fwrapv -g -fpic -I/usr/local/include  -I/usr/include/libxml2 -I../liblwgeom -I. -I/usr/include/pgsql/server -I/usr/include/pgsql/internal -I/usr/include/et -D_GNU_SOURCE -I/usr/include/libxml2  -I/usr/include  -c -o lwgeom_accum.o lwgeom_accum.c
lwgeom_accum.c: In function ‘pgis_geometry_accum_transfn’:
lwgeom_accum.c:114: error: ‘WindowAggState’ has no member named ‘aggcontext’
lwgeom_accum.c:308:66: error: macro "InitFunctionCallInfoData" passed 6 arguments, but takes just 5
lwgeom_accum.c: In function ‘PGISDirectFunctionCall1’:
lwgeom_accum.c:308: error: ‘InitFunctionCallInfoData’ undeclared (first use in this function)
lwgeom_accum.c:308: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
lwgeom_accum.c:308: error: for each function it appears in.)
make[1]: *** [lwgeom_accum.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/postgis-1.5.3/postgis'
make: *** [postgis] Error 2

Answer 1

Postgis has decided you run a Postgresql version higher then 8.4 and is attempting to use the new API.

It's configure that sets the value of POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION so I think your beta Postgresql version identifies itself as something bigger then 84 (maybe 842) so the wrong Postgresql version is selected.

To set the variable, configure uses the following code:

PGSQL_MAJOR_VERSION=`$PGCONFIG --version | sed 's/[[A-Za-z ]]*//' | cut -d. -f1 | sed 's/[[^0-9]]//g'`
PGSQL_MINOR_VERSION=`$PGCONFIG --version | sed 's/[[A-Za-z ]]*//' | cut -d. -f2 | sed 's/[[^0-9]]//g'`
PGSQL_FULL_VERSION=`$PGCONFIG --version`
POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION="$PGSQL_MAJOR_VERSION$PGSQL_MINOR_VERSION"

The easiest fix is probably to hardcode POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION to "84". I.e. in configure, add

POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION="84"

after the lines above.

The cause of the problem is in lwgeo_accum.c (it does not permit any version like 842, etc):

#if POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION == 84
        else if (fcinfo->context && IsA(fcinfo->context, WindowAggState))
                aggcontext = ((WindowAggState *) fcinfo->context)->wincontext;
#endif
#if POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION > 84
        else if (fcinfo->context && IsA(fcinfo->context, WindowAggState))
                aggcontext = ((WindowAggState *) fcinfo->context)->aggcontext;
#endif