Easily start a local Postgres instance for your development environment using docker

Makefile

DATA_DIR="__data"
POSTGRES_VERSION=9.3
PORT=5432

.PHONY: docker-check postgres

docker-check:
	@command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
		{ echo >&2 "Docker needs to be installed and on your PATH.  Aborting."; exit 1; }

postgres: docker-check
	@if nmap -PS localhost | grep -q $(PORT); then \
		echo "ERROR: Port $(PORT) is already in use..."; \
		echo "Maybe Postgres is already running?!"; \
		exit 1; \
	fi
	@if [ ! -d $(DATA_DIR)/postgresql ]; then \
		echo 'Preparing Postgres persistent data storage...'; \
		mkdir -p $(DATA_DIR); \
		docker run -v $$PWD/$(DATA_DIR):/tmp/$(DATA_DIR) -i -t \
			denibertovic/postgres:$(POSTGRES_VERSION)\
			/bin/bash -c "cp -rp var/lib/postgresql /tmp/$(DATA_DIR)"; \
	fi
	@echo "Persistent data storage found.";
	@echo "Starting postgres...";
	@docker run -v $$PWD/$(DATA_DIR)/postgresql:/var/lib/postgresql -d -p $(PORT):$(PORT) \
		denibertovic/postgres:$(POSTGRES_VERSION);