diff --git a/internal/consts/consts.go b/internal/consts/consts.go
index 92c574a41..3940c660f 100644
--- a/internal/consts/consts.go
+++ b/internal/consts/consts.go
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 // Don't judge me.
 package consts
 
+import "regexp"
+
 // FlagNames is used for storing the names of the various flags used for
 // initializing and storing urfavecli flag variables.
 type FlagNames struct {
@@ -75,3 +77,6 @@ func GetEnvNames() FlagNames {
 		DbDatabase:      "GTS_DB_DATABASE",
 	}
 }
+
+var IPV4Regex = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)$`)
+var HostnameRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:[a-z0-9]+(?:-[a-z0-9]+)*\.)+[a-z]{2,}$`)
diff --git a/internal/db/const.go b/internal/db/const.go
deleted file mode 100644
index ca4ab3922..000000000
--- a/internal/db/const.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-/*
-   GoToSocial
-   Copyright (C) 2021 GoToSocial Authors admin@gotosocial.org
-
-   This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-   it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
-   the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-   (at your option) any later version.
-
-   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-   GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
-
-   You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
-   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-*/
-
-package db
-
-import "regexp"
-
-const (
-	/*
-	   general db defaults
-	*/
-
-	// default database to use in whatever db implementation we have
-	defaultDatabase string = "gotosocial"
-	// default address should in most cases be overwritten
-	defaultAddress string = "localhost"
-
-	/*
-	   implementation-specific defaults
-	*/
-
-	// widely-recognised default postgres port
-	postgresDefaultPort int = 5432
-	// default user should in most cases be overwritten
-	postgresDefaultUser string = "postgres"
-)
-
-var ipv4Regex = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)$`)
-var hostnameRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:[a-z0-9]+(?:-[a-z0-9]+)*\.)+[a-z]{2,}$`)
diff --git a/internal/db/postgres.go b/internal/db/postgres.go
index 14c8d3d7b..1eb3eb4b9 100644
--- a/internal/db/postgres.go
+++ b/internal/db/postgres.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 
 	"github.com/go-fed/activity/streams/vocab"
 	"github.com/go-pg/pg"
+	"github.com/gotosocial/gotosocial/internal/consts"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
@@ -100,23 +101,22 @@ func derivePGOptions(config *Config) (*pg.Options, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("expected db type of %s but got %s", dbTypePostgres, config.Type)
 	}
 
-	// use sensible default port
-	var port int = config.Port
-	if port == 0 {
-		port = postgresDefaultPort
+	// validate port
+	if config.Port == 0 {
+		return nil, errors.New("no port set")
 	}
 
 	// validate address
 	if config.Address == "" {
-		config.Address = defaultAddress
+		return nil, errors.New("no address set")
 	}
-	if !hostnameRegex.MatchString(config.Address) && !ipv4Regex.MatchString(config.Address) && config.Address != "localhost" {
+	if !consts.HostnameRegex.MatchString(config.Address) && !consts.IPV4Regex.MatchString(config.Address) && config.Address != "localhost" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("address %s was neither an ipv4 address nor a valid hostname", config.Address)
 	}
 
 	// validate username
 	if config.User == "" {
-		config.User = postgresDefaultUser
+		return nil, errors.New("no user set")
 	}
 
 	// validate that there's a password
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ func derivePGOptions(config *Config) (*pg.Options, error) {
 
 	// validate database
 	if config.Database == "" {
-		config.Database = defaultDatabase
+		return nil, errors.New("no database set")
 	}
 
 	// We can rely on the pg library we're using to set