The new btcpayserver and nbxplorer break postgresql on nixos-unstable (25.11.20250704.5c724ed)

[naturallaw777]

After updating my machine (and to the new nix-bitcoin) postgresql does not start.

× postgresql.service - PostgreSQL Server
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/postgresql.service; linked; preset: ignored)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2025-07-06 08:01:10 CDT; 10s ago
   Duration: 10h 33min 16.423s
 Invocation: 971180248d404d7abdb4b46778c89d47
    Process: 786796 ExecStartPre=/nix/store/7cywp67dmjkmpm0xj71a0kc0drrkp52i-unit-script-postgresql-pre-start/bin/postgresql-pre-start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 786860 ExecStart=/nix/store/ksq912f8yf6px5jz00d0sjfmvk3mw0az-postgresql-and-plugins-14.18/bin/postgres (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 786928 ExecStartPost=/nix/store/dc2a4d20imwb80dmnmxch42baphr18ww-unit-script-postgresql-post-start/bin/postgresql-post-start (code=exited, status=127)
   Main PID: 786860 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
         IP: 385B in, 385B out
         IO: 124K read, 32K written
   Mem peak: 13.6M
        CPU: 199ms

Jul 06 08:01:09 nixos postgresql-post-start[787028]: /nix/store/dc2a4d20imwb80dmnmxch42baphr18ww-unit-script-postgresql-post-start/bin/postgresql-post-start: line 4: -tAc: command not found
Jul 06 08:01:09 nixos systemd[1]: postgresql.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=127/n/a
Jul 06 08:01:09 nixos postgres[786860]: [786860] LOG:  received fast shutdown request
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos postgres[786860]: [786860] LOG:  aborting any active transactions
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos postgres[786860]: [786860] LOG:  background worker "logical replication launcher" (PID 786922) exited with exit code 1
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos postgres[786915]: [786915] LOG:  shutting down
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos postgres[786860]: [786860] LOG:  database system is shut down
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos systemd[1]: postgresql.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos systemd[1]: Failed to start PostgreSQL Server.
Jul 06 08:01:10 nixos systemd[1]: postgresql.service: Consumed 199ms CPU time, 13.6M memory peak, 124K read from disk, 32K written to disk, 385B incoming IP traffic, 385B outgoing IP traffic.
Command 'systemd-run -E LOCALE_ARCHIVE -E NIXOS_INSTALL_BOOTLOADER --collect --no-ask-password --pipe --quiet --service-type=exec --unit=nixos-rebuild-switch-to-configuration /nix/store/c53sgimpsrkczhb6hk3n7pq4ry4pbdsa-nixos-system-nixos-25.11.20250704.5c724ed/bin/switch-to-configuration switch' returned non-zero exit status 4.

Looking further into it, here is the output of the error in the nix store /nix/store/dc2a4d20imwb80dmnmxch42baphr18ww-unit-script-postgresql-post-start/bin/postgresql-post-start

#!/nix/store/00zrahbb32nzawrmv9sjxn36h7qk9vrs-bash-5.2p37/bin/bash
set -e

$PSQL -tAc '
  ALTER DATABASE "btcpaydb" OWNER TO "btcpayserver";
  ALTER DATABASE "nbxplorer" OWNER TO "nbxplorer";
'

It seems this script needs to be updated as per this issue NixOS/nixpkgs#422835 ?

Thank you so much!

[naturallaw777]

@erikarvstedt @jonasnick are there any thoughts on how this script could be updated? Thanks so much!

[naturallaw777]

The issue is this from the btcpayserver.nix module from nix-bitcoin

nix-bitcoin/modules/btcpayserver.nix

Lines 144 to 147 in e2ca2e4

	systemd.services.postgresql.postStart = lib.mkAfter ''
	$PSQL -tAc '
	ALTER DATABASE "btcpaydb" OWNER TO "${cfg.btcpayserver.user}";
	ALTER DATABASE "nbxplorer" OWNER TO "${cfg.nbxplorer.user}";

Hard core temp fix... setup up a new nix file called postgresql_fix.nix and put this into it...

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:
    
{    
	
	systemd.services.postgresql.postStart = lib.mkForce '''';
	

}

Then, nixos-rebuild swith --impure ( I need --impure on my machine) and everything works.

Also, it seems the new way of setting up the post script is here: NixOS/nixpkgs#422835 (comment)

which could look something like this ?

	systemd.services.postgresql-setup.postStart = lib.mkAfter ''
		psql service1 -c 'ALTER DATABASE "btcpaydb" OWNER TO "btcpayserver";
		psql service1 -c 'ALTER DATABASE "nbxplorer" OWNER TO "nbxplorer";
    	'';