Installing postgresql, problems with non-existant user...

[Neil Woolford]

Hi,

I've just installed the postgresql and postgresql-client packages using
Synaptic.

When I try to create a database I get the following error;

createdb: could not connect to database template1: FATAL:  user "neil"
does not exist

Similar errors occur if I try to create a user.  

If I explicitly try to run a command as user 'postgres' I get;

createdb: could not connect to database template1: FATAL:  IDENT
authentication failed for user "postgres"

My reading of the manual so far is that the default setup should be that
all local users are automatically allowed to create databases.

What should I be setting up?  What have I missed?

Neil