First install postgresql, create a data directory, and create a default database.
# brew update
# brew unlink postgresql
brew install postgresql
export PGDATA=~/db/postgres
initdb -E utf8
createdb
Then each time, run:
export PGDATA=~/db/postgres
postgres
# Use pg_ctl start to run in background
From R,
install.packages("RPostgreSQL")
library(RPostgreSQL)
drv <- dbDriver("PostgreSQL")
con <- dbConnect(drv, dbname = "hadley")
dbListTables(con)