Can't import OSM data to PostGIS, permission denied

Question

I use Postgres 9.1 on Xubuntu 11.10. I've created a db 'aus' and user 'aus', granted ALL on the db to the user. Now I try to import the data, and it outputs this error:

$ osm2pgsql --create --database aus --username aus --prefix planet australia.osm -S /usr/share/osm2pgsql/default.style
osm2pgsql SVN version 0.70.5

Using projection SRS 900913 (Spherical Mercator)
Setting up table: planet_point
NOTICE:  table "planet_point" does not exist, skipping
NOTICE:  table "planet_point_tmp" does not exist, skipping
SELECT AddGeometryColumn('planet_point', 'way', 900913, 'POINT', 2 );
failed: ERROR:  permission denied for relation geometry_columns
CONTEXT:  SQL statement "DELETE FROM geometry_columns WHERE
    f_table_catalog = '' AND f_table_schema = 'public' AND f_table_name = 'planet_point' AND f_geometry_column = 'way'"
PL/pgSQL function "addgeometrycolumn" line 133 at EXECUTE statement
SQL statement "SELECT AddGeometryColumn('','',$1,$2,$3,$4,$5)"
PL/pgSQL function "addgeometrycolumn" line 5 at SQL statement

What's wrong with my database?

edit: the solution:

$ sudo su -l postgres
$ psql -d aus
# grant all on database aus to aus;
# alter database aus owner to aus;
^D
^D
$ osm2pgsql ...
here we go...

Answer 1

Maybe the user aus is not the owner of the database:

first become super user:

$ sudo su

change to postgres user:

$ su postgres

access postgres, and change the owner, also grant permissions

$ psql

ALTER DATABASE aus OWNER TO aus;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE aus TO aus;

then maybe you still need to change the owner of the tables one by one, I only put you the example of geometry_columns, but also change the owner of spatial_ref, etc.

connect to aus and change owner:

\c aus
ALTER TABLE geometry_columns OWNER TO aus;

Answer 2

You may need to edit /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf to add something like:

host all all 128.118.54.0/24 md5

so other machines on your network (128.118.54.*) could log on to the database (and remember to restart postmaster).

I have some notes on setting up PostGis and adding OSM data to it at http://ian01.geog.psu.edu/geoserver_docs/index.html that might contain other helpful hints.