But... looking more carefully at the examples, I see that one must attach to the postgres db when you want pg_restore to create the database. (That should be made clear in the --create section of the manual.)
" --create
When this option is used, the database named with
-d
is used only to issue the initial DROP DATABASE
and CREATE DATABASE
commands. All data is restored into the database name that appears in the archive. "You have to connect to a database in order to perform work in the cluster as a whole - which includes creating new databases. The postgres database, being created by default, usually suffices but isn't mandatory.
For me the manual is clear but you can propose wording or even submit a patch if you feel it can be improved.
David J.