In pg_hba, we already have a way too long "options" column at the end, where we store most of the details about external auth providers. If an editor doesn't add line breaks, a significant part of the configuration is invisible without scrolling right.
But we support backslashes, so there is no need to squash everything onto a single line, e.g.
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 ldap \ ldapserver=localhost \ ldapbinddn="CN=admin,DC=testy,DC=com" \ ldapbindpasswd="mysecretpass" \ ldapbasedn="OU=Users,DC=testy,DC=com" \ ldapsearchfilter="(&(uid=$username)(memberOf=CN=pg_admins,OU=Groups,DC=testy,DC=com))"
All in all, I am super wary of this whole idea. Not that pg_hba is pretty, or intuitive, but I second the motion to see what a converted one would look like. Can the proponents of format X show what our standard default pg_hba.conf would look like in the new format?
