rake db:create throws "database does not exist" error with postgresql

Rails 4.1 ships with spring preloader, and

New Rails 4.1 applications will ship with "springified" binstubs. This means that bin/rails and bin/rake will automatically take advantage of preloaded spring environments.

which means that the "springified" bin/rake will attempt to preload the app, which in turn will attempt to run the initilizers resulting in the problem you're seeing.

To fix / work around this you want to run the initial setup rake tasks without spring. One way to achieve that is to run it with bundler instead:

bundle exec rake db:create

I found the issue ...

It has to do with Rails initializers: Rails seems to load all the initializers before executing bin/rake db:create.

And, in this particular application, there are a few custom initializers which depend on an ActiveRecord model (which, in turn, depends on the database being created, available and with the corresponding table).

Therefore rake never gets to actually execute the task, it fails when executing the initializers. I should have known if I had carefully read the full error message log. This is the full log (see below, in bold, the offending lines):

/home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:898:in `rescue in connect': FATAL:  database "ds-dev" does not exist
Run `$ bin/rake db:create db:migrate` to create your database (ActiveRecord::NoDatabaseError)
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:888:in `connect'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:568:in `initialize'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:41:in `new'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:41:in `postgresql_connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:435:in `new_connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:445:in `checkout_new_connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:416:in `acquire_connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:351:in `block in checkout'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:350:in `checkout'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:265:in `block in connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:264:in `connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:541:in `retrieve_connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_handling.rb:113:in `retrieve_connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_handling.rb:87:in `connection'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/model_schema.rb:209:in `table_exists?'
from /home/rs/pr/ds/app/models/property.rb:32:in `get'
from /home/rs/pr/ds/config/initializers/custom/setup_mail.rb:3:in `'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:241:in `load'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:241:in `block in load'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:232:in `load_dependency'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:241:in `load'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/engine.rb:648:in `block in load_config_initializer'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/notifications.rb:161:in `instrument'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/engine.rb:647:in `load_config_initializer'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/engine.rb:612:in `block (2 levels) in '
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/engine.rb:611:in `each'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/engine.rb:611:in `block in '
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `instance_exec'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `run'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `block in run_initializers'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:226:in `block in tsort_each'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:348:in `block (2 levels) in each_strongly_connected_component'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:418:in `block (2 levels) in each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:427:in `each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:417:in `block in each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/initializable.rb:44:in `each'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/initializable.rb:44:in `tsort_each_child'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:411:in `call'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:411:in `each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:347:in `block in each_strongly_connected_component'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:345:in `each'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:345:in `call'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:345:in `each_strongly_connected_component'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:224:in `tsort_each'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/tsort.rb:205:in `tsort_each'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/application.rb:300:in `initialize!'
from /home/rs/pr/ds/config/environment.rb:5:in `'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:247:in `require'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:247:in `block in require'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:232:in `load_dependency'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:247:in `require'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/spring-1.1.3/lib/spring/application.rb:92:in `preload'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/spring-1.1.3/lib/spring/application.rb:140:in `serve'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/spring-1.1.3/lib/spring/application.rb:128:in `block in run'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/spring-1.1.3/lib/spring/application.rb:122:in `loop'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/spring-1.1.3/lib/spring/application.rb:122:in `run'
from /home/rs/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/spring-1.1.3/lib/spring/application/boot.rb:18:in `'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from /home/rs/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
from -e:1:in `'

I will work on refactoring the code, in order to get rid of any model dependencies in the initializers (which I'm pretty sure it must be a very bad practice).

You might try running this command-

bin/rake db:create RAILS_ENV=development

Or this command-

bin/rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=development

Had the same issue today (in OS X).

Solved with:

psql -U postgres
CREATE ROLE rolename WITH CREATEDB LOGIN;

Use \du to check if it's created.

Use \password rolename to create a password for that user/role.

Then you can setup DB with bundle exec rake db:migrate

None of the solutions worked for me, but this worked for me.

$ brew services list
$ brew services restart postgresql

None of the solutions worked for me, but then I saw that some answers mentioned preloading as part of the problem. I realized I had config.eager_load = true in config/environments/development.rb. I changed it to false and it solved the problem.

I see two issues, as is04 pointed out you probably need at least a username value in your database.yml.

You also need to create the postgres role:

su - postgres
create role direct-dev with createdb login password 'password1'

I had the same problem and in my case, I had used Answer.column_name in a validation in the Answer model itself. Because test database was already created on my local so RAILS_ENV=test rails db:create was working fine on local, but giving the same error in CI/CD pipeline

It was due to the reason that Rails load all the files inside app/ directory before running db:create command, and at that time as no database is there Answer.column_names failed.

I used something like this:

  validates_uniqueness_of :content, scope: (Answer.column_names - %w[id created_at updated_at]).map(&:to_sym), message: 'Duplicate answer'

which is wrong. Then I changed to:

DUPLICATE_ANSWER_SCOPE = %i[content question_id session_id]
validates_uniqueness_of :content, scope: DUPLICATE_ANSWER_SCOPE, message: 'Duplicate answer'

I have had a similar issue with my setup on a fresh PC and the problem was the user I have had specified in database.yml didn't have access to the database, I have raised the access with:

GRANT pg_read_all_data TO <my_username>;
GRANT pg_write_all_data TO <my_username>;

And it started working, the database.yml for reference:

development:
  <<: *default
  database: <your_db>
  port: 5432
  host: localhost
  username: <your_username>
  password: <your_password>

For me the error is kind of throwing off as it says that the DB does not exists but it's in fact permissions issue(or at least it was for me).

Here is my Dockerfile for the rails project. Take a look at this part:

CMD mkdir -p tmp/pids && \
    bundle exec rake db:create && \
    bundle exec rails db:migrate && \
    bundle exec rake db:seed && \
    bundle exec puma -C config/puma.rb

Bundler 2.1.4, ruby 2.7.2, rails 6.0.3 compatible. Docker compose part:

server:
    container_name: server
    build:
      context: Server
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
      args:
        ENV: 'development'
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - db
    env_file:
      - ./Server/.env
    ports:
      - '9090:3000'
    volumes:
      - ./Server:/app
      - ./Server/Docker/usr/.gemrc:/root/.gemrc
    networks:
      - app-network

FROM ruby:2.7.2-alpine3.12

# env and arg variables setup
ARG APP_HOME='/app'
ARG ENV
ENV RAILS_ENV=$ENV \
    RACK_ENV=$ENV \
    RAILS_ROOT=$APP_HOME

# timezone setup
RUN apk add --update tzdata && \
    cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime && \
    echo "Europe/London" > /etc/timezone

# building in tmp dir
WORKDIR /tmp
ADD Gemfile ./

#install dependencies (bundler 2.1.4, ruby 2.7.2, rails 6.0.3 compatible) 
RUN apk add --update --virtual runtime-deps postgresql-client nodejs libffi-dev readline sqlite xz && \
    apk add --virtual build-deps build-base openssl postgresql-dev libc-dev linux-headers libxml2-dev libxslt-dev readline-dev && \
    gem install bundler -v 2.1.4 && \
    bundle install --jobs=4 && \
    apk del build-deps

# /app
WORKDIR $APP_HOME

# create dbs if no such, migrate, seed, start
CMD mkdir -p tmp/pids && \
    bundle exec rake db:create && \
    bundle exec rails db:migrate && \
    bundle exec rake db:seed && \
    bundle exec puma -C config/puma.rb