i am facing the problem in starting the postgreSQL DB server . please help .. i am getting the following error or something . I guess the server has been started , but it shows this error . what should i do ? where's the problem !

abhishek@ubuntu:/host/driveD/manualInstalls/SpatialDatabase/PostgreSQL_postGIS/installPostgreSQL/n$ ./pg_ctl -D UserData -l logfile start
server starting
abhishek@ubuntu:/host/driveD/manualInstalls/SpatialDatabase/PostgreSQL_postGIS/installPostgreSQL/n$ createdb myspatdb;
createdb: could not connect to database postgres: could not connect to server: No such file or dictory
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

What does the pgstartup log say?

where is this log located ?

I believe it would locate default in install root.
Mine is in /var/lib/pgsql

i have installed in non-standard location .

Anyways ..

Log says :

FATAL: data directory "/host/driveD/manualInstalls/SpatialDatabase/PostgreSQL_postGIS/installPostgreSQL/bin/./UserData" has wrong ownership
HINT: The server must be started by the user that owns the data directory.

I dont know , how can i change the ownership . I am the only UNIX user , as well as the only Postgres User .

I'm unsure, but you could try chown the folders (recursive) to postgres
chown - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Or like the hint says start the db with user that owns the folders.