How to create a database with flyway?

Question

Question: Is it possible to create a new DB in a migration script and then connect to it? How?

My Scenario: I'm trying to use flyway in my Java project (RESTful application using Jersey2.4 + tomcat 7 + PostgreSQL 9.3.1 + EclipseLink) for managing the changes between different developers which are using git. I wrote my init script and ran it with:

PGPASSWORD='123456' psql -U postgres -f migration/V1__initDB.sql

and it worked fine. The problem is that I can't create new DB with my scripts. when I include the following line in my script:

CREATE DATABASE my_database OWNER postgres ENCODING 'UTF8';

I get this error:

org.postgresql.util.PSQLException: ERROR: CREATE DATABASE cannot run inside a transaction block
    at org.postgresql.core.v3.QueryExecutorImpl.receiveErrorResponse(QueryExecutorImpl.java:2157)
    at org.postgresql.core.v3.QueryExecutorImpl.processResults(QueryExecutorImpl.java:1886)
    at org.postgresql.core.v3.QueryExecutorImpl.execute(QueryExecutorImpl.java:255)
    at org.postgresql.jdbc2.AbstractJdbc2Statement.execute(AbstractJdbc2Statement.java:555)
    at org.postgresql.jdbc2.AbstractJdbc2Statement.executeWithFlags(AbstractJdbc2Statement.java:403)
    at org.postgresql.jdbc2.AbstractJdbc2Statement.execute(AbstractJdbc2Statement.java:395)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.dbsupport.JdbcTemplate.executeStatement(JdbcTemplate.java:230)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.dbsupport.SqlScript.execute(SqlScript.java:89)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.resolver.sql.SqlMigrationExecutor.execute(SqlMigrationExecutor.java:72)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate$2.doInTransaction(DbMigrate.java:252)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate$2.doInTransaction(DbMigrate.java:250)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.util.jdbc.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:56)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate.applyMigration(DbMigrate.java:250)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate.access$700(DbMigrate.java:47)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate$1.doInTransaction(DbMigrate.java:189)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate$1.doInTransaction(DbMigrate.java:138)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.util.jdbc.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:56)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.command.DbMigrate.migrate(DbMigrate.java:137)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.Flyway$1.execute(Flyway.java:872)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.Flyway$1.execute(Flyway.java:819)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.Flyway.execute(Flyway.java:1200)
    at com.googlecode.flyway.core.Flyway.migrate(Flyway.java:819)
    at ir.chom.MyApp.<init>(MyApp.java:28)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:526)
    at org.glassfish.hk2.utilities.reflection.ReflectionHelper.makeMe(ReflectionHelper.java:1117)
    at org.jvnet.hk2.internal.Utilities.justCreate(Utilities.java:867)
    at org.jvnet.hk2.internal.ServiceLocatorImpl.create(ServiceLocatorImpl.java:814)
    at org.jvnet.hk2.internal.ServiceLocatorImpl.createAndInitialize(ServiceLocatorImpl.java:906)
    at org.jvnet.hk2.internal.ServiceLocatorImpl.createAndInitialize(ServiceLocatorImpl.java:898)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ApplicationHandler.createApplication(ApplicationHandler.java:300)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ApplicationHandler.<init>(ApplicationHandler.java:279)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.WebComponent.<init>(WebComponent.java:302)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.init(ServletContainer.java:167)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.init(ServletContainer.java:349)
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:160)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.initServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1280)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:1091)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:5176)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5460)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.reload(StandardContext.java:3954)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappLoader.backgroundProcess(WebappLoader.java:426)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.backgroundProcess(ContainerBase.java:1345)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1530)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1540)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1540)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.run(ContainerBase.java:1519)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724)

It seems that this is a problem with JDBC that uses autocommit option. This option can be disabled with something like this:

Connection connection = dataSource.getConnection();
Connection.setAutoCommit(false);        // Disables auto-commit.

but I don't know how to pass this option to flyway connection. Also if I solve this I think I will have problem with passing password to \c command.

Answer 1

Flyway always operates within the database used in the jdbc connection string.

Once connected, all scripts run within a transaction. As CREATE DATABASE is not supported within transactions, you will not be able to accomplish what you want.

What you can do however, is create a schema instead. Flyway will even do this for you, if you point it at a non-existing one.