Re: pg_upgrade using appname to lock out otherusers - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

Andrew Dunstan wrote:
>
>
> On 06/17/2011 06:59 PM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> >
> > (FYI, I think we would need to use PGPASSWORD for the password file
> > option, and we don't recommend PGPASSWORD use in our docs.)
> >
>
> er what?
>
> did you mean PGPASSFILE?

I meant the PGPASSWORD environment variable:

      <indexterm>
       <primary><envar>PGPASSWORD</envar></primary>
      </indexterm>
      <envar>PGPASSWORD</envar> behaves the same as the <xref
      linkend="libpq-connect-password"> connection parameter.
      Use of this environment variable
      is not recommended for security reasons, as some operating systems
      allow non-root users to see process environment variables via
      <application>ps</>; instead consider using the
      <filename>~/.pgpass</> file (see <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass">).

The only other way to do this is to pass it on the command line, but
some options don't allow that (pg_ctl), and PGPASSFILE is going to
require me to create a dummy .pgpass password file in a valid format and
use that.

--
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com

  + It's impossible for everything to be true. +