Thread: Config file for psql
Hi, A little while ago there was someone asking for tools to make it easier to connect to multiple servers. It occured to me that it might be useful to have a config file the way ssh does it: Host production ServerName db1 DBName main Username blah Password blah UseSSL yes Host test ServerName db2 ServerPort 5434 DBName main Username blah Password blah Host * Username default So when you type "psql test" it fills in the server name, port, database, username and password for you. For hosts not listed, it gives a default username "default". It's really just a variation on the .netrc file. Thoughts? -- Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org> http://svana.org/kleptog/ > Patent. n. Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a > tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone > else to do the other 95% so you can sue them.
Martijn van Oosterhout wrote: > A little while ago there was someone asking for tools to make it > easier to connect to multiple servers. It occured to me that it might > be useful to have a config file the way ssh does it: That looks suspiciously like the service facility that we already have. -- Peter Eisentraut http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/
On Sat, Feb 18, 2006 at 07:52:22PM +0100, Martijn van Oosterhout wrote: > A little while ago there was someone asking for tools to make it easier > to connect to multiple servers. It occured to me that it might be > useful to have a config file the way ssh does it: Something like pg_service.conf? Hardly anybody ever mentions it even though the libpq documentation refers to it; I wonder how many people even know it exists. http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/libpq.html#LIBPQ-CONNECT http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/libpq-envars.html -- Michael Fuhr
Michael Fuhr wrote: >On Sat, Feb 18, 2006 at 07:52:22PM +0100, Martijn van Oosterhout wrote: > > >>A little while ago there was someone asking for tools to make it easier >>to connect to multiple servers. It occured to me that it might be >>useful to have a config file the way ssh does it: >> >> > >Something like pg_service.conf? Hardly anybody ever mentions it >even though the libpq documentation refers to it; I wonder how many >people even know it exists. > >http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/libpq.html#LIBPQ-CONNECT >http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/libpq-envars.html > > > This needs a LOT more prominence. We probably need to refer to these things on the manual pages for each of the libpq clients we have. Haven't we learned that lesson from .pgpass ? The number of people who read the libpq docs is probably vanishingly small. cheers andrew
Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> writes:
> This needs a LOT more prominence. We probably need to refer to these
> things on the manual pages for each of the libpq clients we have.
> Haven't we learned that lesson from .pgpass ? The number of people who
> read the libpq docs is probably vanishingly small.
Perhaps we should make a concerted effort to split the libpq docs into a
section "for programmers" vs one "for users", the latter part covering
the libpq behavior that is interesting to users of a libpq-based app.
.pgpass, pg_service, the environment vars, SSL behavior, maybe some
other things belong in the "for users" part.
I think only the environment-vars page is currently linked from the
client-apps reference pages, but if we did this we could link to the
entire for-users section and be done with it.
regards, tom lane
On Sat, Feb 18, 2006 at 12:19:39PM -0700, Michael Fuhr wrote: > On Sat, Feb 18, 2006 at 07:52:22PM +0100, Martijn van Oosterhout wrote: > > A little while ago there was someone asking for tools to make it easier > > to connect to multiple servers. It occured to me that it might be > > useful to have a config file the way ssh does it: > > Something like pg_service.conf? Hardly anybody ever mentions it > even though the libpq documentation refers to it; I wonder how many > people even know it exists. I'd say not many? If you search the mail archives for "pg_service.conf" in the last two years, there's only 15 matches and even then it's only ever mentioned on -hackers or -patches. For example, nobody brought it up that last thread about connecting to multiple servers, even though it would have been the perfect solution. I certainly never heard of it and I've been using postgres and been on -general for several years. Have a nice day, -- Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org> http://svana.org/kleptog/ > Patent. n. Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a > tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone > else to do the other 95% so you can sue them.
On Sat, Feb 18, 2006 at 02:49:08PM -0500, Tom Lane wrote: > Perhaps we should make a concerted effort to split the libpq docs into a > section "for programmers" vs one "for users", the latter part covering > the libpq behavior that is interesting to users of a libpq-based app. > .pgpass, pg_service, the environment vars, SSL behavior, maybe some > other things belong in the "for users" part. +1. Is there a docs TODO? -- Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant jnasby@pervasive.com Pervasive Software http://pervasive.com work: 512-231-6117 vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf cell: 512-569-9461
Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 18, 2006 at 02:49:08PM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> > Perhaps we should make a concerted effort to split the libpq docs into a
> > section "for programmers" vs one "for users", the latter part covering
> > the libpq behavior that is interesting to users of a libpq-based app.
> > .pgpass, pg_service, the environment vars, SSL behavior, maybe some
> > other things belong in the "for users" part.
>
> +1. Is there a docs TODO?
Added to TODO:
* Split out libpq pgpass and environment documentation sections
to make it easier for non-developers to find
Looking at the existing manual, how do we do this? Do we make separate
libpq-programming and a libpq-runtime sections?
--
Bruce Momjian http://candle.pha.pa.us
SRA OSS, Inc. http://www.sraoss.com
+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +