Chado needs to connect to a database to load or upgrade its schema. It loads its configuration from /etc/gmod/gmod-chado.conf. This file is protected as it contains db password. If file is not present, or configuration is not correct (db user not created ...), package will continue its install, with a warning message containing instructions for a manual schema installation. Instructions to create user and database: ********************** Connect with user postgres postgres@debiansid:~$ createuser --createdb -P chado Enter password for new role: Enter it again: Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n root@debiansid:/usr/share/gmod/chado# psql -U chado -W -h localhost template1 Password for user chado: psql (9.1.1) SSL connection (cipher: DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, bits: 256) Type "help" for help. template1=> CREATE DATABASE "gmod-chado" *********************** Additional instructions for database tuning are available in /usr/share/doc/chado/INSTALL.Chado In case of db access failure during installation, after setting the configuration one should execute: cd /usr/share/gmod/chado/ export GMOD_ROOT=/usr/share/gmod/chado export PGPASSFILE=/usr/share/gmod/chado/pgpass For a new installation: make load_schema make prepdb OR make update to upgrade the schema from a previous install