I got the same symptoms as described in the original report.
I found that /etc/postgresql/8.4 was missing, but the script silently exists with status 0 if that directory is missing.
The fix was to create the "main" cluster:
pg_createcluster 8.4 main
I suggest to either change the startup script such that a helpful message is shown if that directory is missing, or to include the createcluster call to the installation script.
I got the same symptoms as described in the original report.
I found that /etc/postgresql/8.4 was missing, but the script silently exists with status 0 if that directory is missing.
The fix was to create the "main" cluster:
pg_createcluster 8.4 main
I suggest to either change the startup script such that a helpful message is shown if that directory is missing, or to include the createcluster call to the installation script.