Thread: Loading a database, why do I need superuser?

I'm in the process of loading a database on a virtual server.
Because I do not have root privileges (technically it is a shared machine),
I am encountering all sorts of hiccups.  Trying the copy command to
load the database with comma delimited data, I encounter this complaint:

    ERROR:  You must have Postgres superuser privilege to do a COPY
    directly to or from a file.  Anyone can COPY to stdout or from stdin

There is NO mention of this in the man page or documentation that I have
perused.  Perhaps I have a privilege problem?

Charles Gilley

On Fri, 20 Nov 1998, Gilley, Charles H. wrote:

> I'm in the process of loading a database on a virtual server.
> Because I do not have root privileges (technically it is a shared machine),
> I am encountering all sorts of hiccups.  Trying the copy command to
> load the database with comma delimited data, I encounter this complaint:
>
>     ERROR:  You must have Postgres superuser privilege to do a COPY
>     directly to or from a file.  Anyone can COPY to stdout or from stdin
>
> There is NO mention of this in the man page or documentation that I have
> perused.  Perhaps I have a privilege problem?
>
> Charles Gilley
>


In psql you can use the \copy command to perform the same function:

\copy <table> to|from <file>

Any user can do this.

Simon.


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