pg_passwd - Manipulate a text password file
SYNOPSIS
pg_passwd filename
DESCRIPTION
pg_passwd is a tool to manipulate a flat text password
file for the purpose of using that file to control client
authentication of the PostgreSQL server. More information
about setting up this authentication mechanism can be
found in the Administrator's Guide.
The form of a text password file is one entry per line;
the fields of each entry are separated by colons. The
first field is the user name, the second field is the
encrypted password. Other fields are ignored (to allow
password files to be shared between applications that use
similar formats). The functionality of the pg_passwd util
ity is to enable a user to interactively add entries to
such a file, to alter passwords of existing entries, and
to take care of encrypting the passwords.
Supply the name of the password file as argument to the
pg_passwd command. To be of use for client authentication
the file needs to be located in the server's data direc
tory, and the base name of the file needs to be specified
in the pg_hba.conf access control file.
$ pg_passwd /usr/local/pgsql/data/passwords
File "/usr/local/pgsql/data/passwords" does not exist. Create? (y/n): y
Username: guest
Password:
Re-enter password:
where the Password: and Re-enter password: prompts require
the same password input which is not displayed on the ter
minal. Note that the password is limited to eight useful
characters by restrictions of the standard crypt(3)
library routine.
The original password file is renamed to passwords.bk.
To make use of this password file, put a line like the
following in pg_hba.conf:
host mydb 133.65.96.250 255.255.255.255 password passwords
which would allow access to database mydb from host
133.65.96.250 using the passwords listed in the passwords
file (and only to the users listed in that file).
Note: It is also useful to have entries in a pass
word file with an empty password field. (This is
cannot be managed by pg_passwd, but it is always
possible to edit password files manually.
SEE ALSO
PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide
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