Rails: FATAL - Peer authentication failed for user (PG::Error)

Question

I am running my development on Ubuntu 11.10, and RubyMine

Here is my development settings for the database.yml: which RubyMine created for me

development:
  adapter: postgresql
  encoding: unicode
  database: mydb_development
  pool: 5
  username: myuser
  password:

when I try to run the app, I get this error below, it seems that I didn't create a 'project' user yet, but, how can I create a user and grant it a database in postgres ? if this is the problem, then, what is the recommended tool to use in Ubuntu for this task ? if this is not the problem, then, please advice.

Exiting
/home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1194:in `initialize': FATAL:  Peer authentication failed for user "project" (PG::Error)
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1194:in `new'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1194:in `connect'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:329:in `initialize'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:28:in `new'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:28:in `postgresql_connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:303:in `new_connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:313:in `checkout_new_connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:237:in `block (2 levels) in checkout'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:232:in `loop'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:232:in `block in checkout'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.3-p0/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:229:in `checkout'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:95:in `connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:398:in `retrieve_connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:168:in `retrieve_connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:142:in `connection'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/model_schema.rb:308:in `clear_cache!'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activerecord-3.2.3/lib/active_record/railtie.rb:91:in `block (2 levels) in <class:Railtie>'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:418:in `_run__757346023__prepare__404863399__callbacks'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:405:in `__run_callback'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:385:in `_run_prepare_callbacks'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:81:in `run_callbacks'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/actionpack-3.2.3/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/reloader.rb:74:in `prepare!'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/actionpack-3.2.3/lib/action_dispatch/middleware/reloader.rb:48:in `prepare!'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb:47:in `block in <module:Finisher>'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `instance_exec'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `run'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `block in run_initializers'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `each'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/application.rb:136:in `initialize!'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/railtie/configurable.rb:30:in `method_missing'
    from /home/sam/RubymineProjects/project/config/environment.rb:5:in `<top (required)>'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `require'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `block in require'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:236:in `load_dependency'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/activesupport-3.2.3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `require'
    from /home/sam/RubymineProjects/project/config.ru:4:in `block in <main>'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `instance_eval'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `initialize'
    from /home/sam/RubymineProjects/project/config.ru:1:in `new'
    from /home/sam/RubymineProjects/project/config.ru:1:in `<main>'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/builder.rb:40:in `eval'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/builder.rb:40:in `parse_file'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/server.rb:200:in `app'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/commands/server.rb:46:in `app'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/server.rb:301:in `wrapped_app'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/rack-1.4.1/lib/rack/server.rb:252:in `start'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/commands/server.rb:70:in `start'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:55:in `block in <top (required)>'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:50:in `tap'
    from /home/sam/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p0@project/gems/railties-3.2.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:50:in `<top (required)>'
    from /home/sam/RubymineProjects/project/script/rails:6:in `require'
    from /home/sam/RubymineProjects/project/script/rails:6:in `<top (required)>'
    from -e:1:in `load'
    from -e:1:in `<main>'

Process finished with exit code 1

Answer 1

If you installed postresql on your server then just host: localhost to database.yml, I usually throw it in around where it says pool: 5. Otherwise if it's not localhost definitely tell that app where to find its database.

development:
  adapter: postgresql
  encoding: unicode
  database: kickrstack_development
  host: localhost
  pool: 5
  username: kickrstack
  password: secret

Make sure your user credentials are set correctly by creating a database and assigning ownership to your app's user to establish the connection. To create a new user in postgresql 9 run:

sudo -u postgres psql

set the postgresql user password if you haven't, it's just backslash password.

postgres=# \password

Create a new user and password and the user's new database:

postgres=# create user "guy_on_stackoverflow" with password 'keepitonthedl';
postgres=# create database "dcaclab_development" owner "guy_on_stackoverflow"; 

Now update your database.yml file after you've confirmed creating the database, user, password and set these privileges. Don't forget host: localhost.