fix: ensure embedded-postgres state is wiped between retries

zedkipp · zedkipp · commit 44948bcb8c42 · 2025-11-20T16:53:58.000-07:00
Retries were previously added when starting embedded postgres to mitigate port
allocation conflicts (we can't use an ephemeral port). Retries alone seemingly
did not fix the test flakes. A new failure mode appeared on the retries: timing
out connecting to the database.

When a port discovery error occurrs, embedded-postgres does not create the
database. If the data directory exists on the next attempt, embedded-postgres
will assume the database has already been created. This seems to cause the
timeout error. Wipe all state between retries to ensure attempts execute the
same logic that creates the database.
diff --git a/cli/server.go b/cli/server.go
@@ -2143,21 +2143,33 @@ func startBuiltinPostgres(ctx context.Context, cfg config.Root, logger slog.Logg
 	}
 	stdlibLogger := slog.Stdlib(ctx, logger.Named("postgres"), slog.LevelDebug)
 
-	// If the port is not defined, an available port will be found dynamically.
+	// If the port is not defined, an available port will be found dynamically. This has
+	// implications in CI because here is no way to tell Postgres to use an ephemeral
+	// port, so to avoid flaky tests in CI we need to retry EmbeddedPostgres.Start in
+	// case of a race condition where the port we quickly listen on and close in
+	// embeddedPostgresURL() is not free by the time the embedded postgres starts up.
+	// The maximum retry attempts _should_ cover most cases where port conflicts occur
+	// in CI and cause flaky tests.
 	maxAttempts := 1
 	_, err = cfg.PostgresPort().Read()
+	// Important: if retryPortDiscovery is changed to not include testing.Testing(),
+	// the retry logic below also needs to be updated to ensure we don't delete an
+	// existing database
 	retryPortDiscovery := errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) && testing.Testing()
 	if retryPortDiscovery {
-		// There is no way to tell Postgres to use an ephemeral port, so in order to avoid
-		// flaky tests in CI we need to retry EmbeddedPostgres.Start in case of a race
-		// condition where the port we quickly listen on and close in embeddedPostgresURL()
-		// is not free by the time the embedded postgres starts up. This maximum_should
-		// cover most cases where port conflicts occur in CI and cause flaky tests.
 		maxAttempts = 3
 	}
 
 	var startErr error
 	for attempt := 0; attempt < maxAttempts; attempt++ {
+		if retryPortDiscovery && attempt > 0 {
+			// Clean up the data and runtime directories and the port file from the
+			// previous failed attempt to ensure a clean slate for the next attempt.
+			_ = os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(cfg.PostgresPath(), "data"))
+			_ = os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(cfg.PostgresPath(), "runtime"))
+			_ = cfg.PostgresPort().Delete()
+		}
+
 		// Ensure a password and port have been generated.
 		connectionURL, err := embeddedPostgresURL(cfg)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -2204,11 +2216,6 @@ func startBuiltinPostgres(ctx context.Context, cfg config.Root, logger slog.Logg
 			slog.F("port", pgPort),
 			slog.Error(startErr),
 		)
-
-		if retryPortDiscovery {
-			// Since a retry is needed, we wipe the port stored here at the beginning of the loop.
-			_ = cfg.PostgresPort().Delete()
-		}
 	}
 
 	return "", nil, xerrors.Errorf("failed to start built-in PostgreSQL after %d attempts. "+
