Installation Notes - Linux and Mac

Postgres Location

If your machine has multiple Postgres installations, specify the path to pg_config with:

export PG_CONFIG=/Library/PostgreSQL/18/bin/pg_config

Then re-run the installation instructions (run make clean before make if needed). If sudo is needed for make install, use:

sudo --preserve-env=PG_CONFIG make install

A few common paths on Mac are:

• EDB installer - /Library/PostgreSQL/18/bin/pg_config
• Homebrew (arm64) - /opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql@18/bin/pg_config
• Homebrew (x86-64) - /usr/local/opt/postgresql@18/bin/pg_config

Note: Replace 18 with your Postgres server version

Missing Header

If compilation fails with fatal error: postgres.h: No such file or directory, make sure Postgres development files are installed on the server.

For Ubuntu and Debian, use:

sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-18

Note: Replace 18 with your Postgres server version

Missing SDK

If compilation fails and the output includes warning: no such sysroot directory on Mac, your Postgres installation points to a path that no longer exists.

pg_config --cppflags

Reinstall Postgres to fix this.

Portability

By default, pgvector compiles with -march=native on some platforms for best performance. However, this can lead to Illegal instruction errors if trying to run the compiled extension on a different machine.

To compile for portability, use:

make OPTFLAGS=""