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I was recently introduced to LifeRay and determined that I would setup a Virtual Machine & configure it to run LifeRay on TomCat 6.0 with a Postgres database.
I have a preference toward Debian and since I had a base install on a Virtual Machine, I began by duplicating it and updating it to Sid.  (I later installed on a testing version as well following the same procedures outlined below.)
After some light reading on the Liferay site I realized that they didn't have complete documentation for a PostgreSQL installation for the 5.x versions.   It appears that there have been extensive changes since these most recent releases._____________________________________
To begin I downloaded the LifeRay Portal bundle with TomCat 6.0 :
cd /usr/local/src/
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/lportal/files/Liferay%20Portal/liferay-portal-tomcat-6.0-5.2.3.zip
cd /usr/local
unzip liferay-portal-tomcat-6.0-5.2.3.zip
Make the shell scripts executable.
cd /usr/local/liferay-portal-5.2.3/tomcat-6.0.18/bin/
chmod +x *.sh
Obtain the following package: 
Note:  You must have the option of "non-free" in your apt sources list.
apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
Check the java version
java -version
Update ./home/user/.bashrc and add the following line.
# JAVA6export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

Note: DEBIAN Users must modify the setenv.sh file for TomCat and add the following variable if using a testing version Debian or have upgraded from a testing version of Debian. (Thanks to Mr. LBR for pointing this out) You may reference this issue at the following website http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=572048
Add the following to JAVA_OPTS line

-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true
OPTIONAL:  If desired, you can simply start TomCat and allow LifeRay to use it's built in database HyperSQL.  I initially installed LifeRay with its default configuration so I could verify that I had a working installation prior to moving to PostgreSQL.
/usr/local/liferay-portal-5.2.3/tomcat-6.0.18/bin/start.sh
The default configuration starts TomCat on port 8080.
The log file is located at:
/usr/local/liferay-portal-5.2.3/tomcat-6.0.18/logs/
Tail the log file.
tail -f catalina.out
Once you see a line similar to the following, you may access your portal.
INFO:  Server startup in 62000 ms
Continuing on with a PostgreSQL database installation, you will need to stop TomCat by running the "Shutdown.sh" script found in the same location as the "start.sh" script.
 Obtain Postgres.  I also installed "-doc" package but didn't note it here.
 apt-get install postgresql 
 Start Postgres, setup a user for postgres, create a new database.
/etc/init.d/postgresql start
adduser newuser
Become a superuser
su postgres
Connect to the Database server.
psql template1  template1=# CREATE USER newuser WITH PASSWORD 'newuserpassword'; template1=# CREATE DATABASE liferay;template1=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE liferay to newuser;
template1=# \q
Configure Liferay to use the PostgreSQL Database.
I found that the version or package that I downloaded did not actually have the following file.  I had to create this file.  If your version has this file please modify it with the following.
cd /usr/local/liferay-portal-5.2.3/tomcat-6.0.18/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/classes
vi portal-ext.properties
Insert the following lines with modifications to the database name, username & password to match your configuration.
jdbc.default.driverClassName=org.postgresql.Driverjdbc.default.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/liferayjdbc.default.username=newuser
jdbc.default.password=newuserpassword
Start TomCat and tail the log file.
/usr/local/liferay-portal-5.2.3/tomcat-6.0.18/bin/start.sh
The default configuration starts TomCat on port 8080.
The log file is located at:
/usr/local/liferay-portal-5.2.3/tomcat-6.0.18/logs/
Tail the log file.
tail -f catalina.out
Once you see a line similar to the following, you may access your portal.
INFO: Server startup in 62332 ms
Login at:  http://localhost:8080
Admin access can be obtained by logging in with the following credentials (as per LifeRay.com)Username: bruno@7cogs.comPassword: bruno
Overview:  Overall this was not a difficult process.  There were a few hurdles along the way getting the postgres database configured as I wanted with a different user than "postgres".  These were very minor and were primarily resolved once I found the proper location for the portal-ext.properties file.
Reference  & Info Links: 
LifeRay - LifeRay - website, documentation and wiki.PostgreSQL - Postgresql - website & database commands. YouTube - Howto change the default Logo on Liferay.  Saved me hunting around in the "control panel".

UPDATE 8/3/2010 - Tested ver. 6.0.4 GA2
Found documentation still applicable.   Removed "SevenCogs" data in WEBAPPS folder prior to start up so no "example" data was deployed.  This required using the default username of test@liferay.com and password of "test" to access the admin console. UPDATE 1/15/2011 - Tested ver. 6.0.5 GA3Debian (testing) users will need to download and install (apt-get) default-java instead of sun-java6-jdk. All other steps worked as documented