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Description of problem:
Sometimes on boot the postgresql service is reported as failed even though it has been properly started. This happens only if the startup of previous services loads the server, expecially the hard disks, so that the postgresql startup becomes pretty slow.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
postgresql-8.0.3-1

How reproducible:
Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
Not easy. You need a series of heavy services starting before postgresql.

Actual Results:  Service reported as failed, but it's started correctly instead.

Expected Results:  Service started and reported as ok.

Additional info:

This is not the same as previous similar bugs already present in the bug database, even though it looks similar. I've checked in the /etc/init.d/postgresql and found the cause of the problem being around these lines:

$SU -l postgres -c "$PGENGINE/postmaster -p '$PGPORT' -D '$PGDATA' ${PGOPTS} &" >> "$PGLOG" 2>&1 < /dev/null
sleep 2
pid=`pidof -s "$PGENGINE/postmaster"`

The fixed sleep isn't enough if the server gets loaded. So I added the following code snippet just after the lines above (original indentation lost, sorry):

while [ "$pid" == "" -a $try -le 10 ]; do
 sleep 2
 pid=`pidof -s "$PGENGINE/postmaster"`
done

This forces the script to wait another 20 seconds, while checking every 2 seconds, if the first try fails. The 2 seconds check avoid waiting too much, thus slowing down the boot process, if the postgresql server starts quickly. Of course it's still just an hack, busy waiting isn't a good solution, but it's better than having an unnecessary fixed long wait.

Hope it helps.