I’ve long had issues with PostgreSQL 8.3 and now 8.4 refusing to start on my laptop which is really a pain for live demonstrations of ERDAS Apollo. I’m not sure if anyone else has similar problems, but I believe (or rather have a hunch) that it is something to do with “ungraceful” shutdowns of the db when you may lose power or consistently go to sleep. Its only ever occured on my laptop, so luckily postgres on a server is still stable as hell.

If you are getting something like the following in postgresql.log on Windows or are just tearing your hair out wondering why the service that was working before is no longer starting …

2009-12-04 09:05:37 WSTLOG:  database system is ready to accept connections
FATAL:  could not reattach to shared memory (key=240, addr=02690000): 487
2009-12-04 09:05:38 WSTLOG:  autovacuum launcher started
2009-12-04 09:05:38 WSTLOG:  background writer process (PID 9712) exited with exit code 1
2009-12-04 09:05:38 WSTLOG:  terminating any other active server processes
2009-12-04 09:05:38 WSTLOG:  all server processes terminated; reinitializing
2009-12-04 09:05:48 WSTFATAL:  pre-existing shared memory block is still in use
2009-12-04 09:05:48 WSTHINT:  Check if there are any old server processes still running, and terminate them.

To reliably fix things for me anyway,

1. Delete postmaster.opts or postmaster.pid (if they exist) in your postgres data dir
2. Kill the pg_ctl.exe process (if running)
3. Start the postgres service

Success!

Seems as though a lot of people missed this release last week.

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the pilot application awarded the development contract for the gvSIG Mobile application by the Regional Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is available. gvSIG Mobile is a smaller version of gvSIG which has been adapted for use in mobile devices. It supports shapefiles, ECW, WMS and images and is able to make use of GPS systems. Currently, only the visualization of layers and the generation of GPS tracklogs/waypoints are supported.

gvSIG Mobile … available at gvSIG website http://www.gvsig.gva.es

I must thank the gvSIG guys for helping me out with my WALIS Forum presentation by supplying me with a pre-release copy. Implemented a work around in 5mins and had it talking to our SDI straight away. Anyone with a Windows Mobile device, its definately worth checking out and things will become more interesting pending the gvSig and OSGEO talks.

In other news, i am officially slack. But the good news is that i have been harassed by that many people at events and on email that i will begin making a concerted effort posting more regularly now. SO LAY OFF!

WALIS Forum has been and gone for another 18 months. Attendance was the biggest yet, with 820 through the doors. Highlights for me (in no particular order)..

• Tim trying to do updates throughout the conf but stopping after the first post. Hey, i never said i was going to!
• Harvey from Microsoft failing miserably trying to demo photosynth live. I feel ya pain buddy, i really do, but we had seen it all before anyway
• Mr Parsons with the usual tidbits of humour. My only feedback would have been tailoring another presentation addressing the “short tail” as 95% of the attendees were the custodians and advanced spatial users. Certainly from my point of view, addressing how Google is tackling this area would have been far more interesting from a GeoWeb perspective! Next time.
• Leaving a room of 100 people stunned after a presentation but then all saying what a great presentation it was. Hmmmm?
• Cameron not taking a breath, ever, throughout the 2 day conference. That man can talk.