Re: PLUGINS Functionlity in Win32 build scripts - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Tom Lane
Subject Re: PLUGINS Functionlity in Win32 build scripts
Date
Msg-id 24837.1229630630@sss.pgh.pa.us
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: PLUGINS Functionlity in Win32 build scripts  (MUHAMMAD ASIF <anaeem.it@hotmail.com>)
Responses Re: PLUGINS Functionlity in Win32 build scripts  (Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>)
Re: PLUGINS Functionlity in Win32 build scripts  (Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net>)
List pgsql-hackers
MUHAMMAD ASIF <anaeem.it@hotmail.com> writes:
> Purpose of this Plugins change is to add support in postgresql source
> to build plugin and install in (install dir)/lib/plugins. We made
> these changes for a plugin module i.e. pldebugger and we found this a
> useful feature that can help postgresql in adding plugins easily.

AFAICT, the idea of this patch is to make shared libraries that
automatically install in $libdir/plugins/ rather than $libdir/.

This is actually in direct contradiction to the original intent of the
plugins/ subdirectory, which was that it only contain libraries that the
local administrator had decided to consider safe and put there manually.
Since the normal superuser-only restrictions for library loading are
bypassed for stuff in plugins/, there's a nontrivial risk of security
problems if stuff just gets put there willy-nilly.

If we want to change this security policy, let's have a discussion about
it in those terms.  It's a policy, not a bug to be patched around.
        regards, tom lane


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