<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>Role Attributes</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK
REV="MADE"
HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="PostgreSQL 8.4.20 Documentation"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="Database Roles and Privileges"
HREF="user-manag.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="Database Roles"
HREF="database-roles.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Privileges"
HREF="privileges.html"><LINK
REL="STYLESHEET"
TYPE="text/css"
HREF="stylesheet.css"><META
HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"
CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><META
NAME="creation"
CONTENT="2014-02-17T20:05:31"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="SECT1"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="5"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>PostgreSQL 8.4.20 Documentation</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="database-roles.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="user-manag.html"
>Fast Backward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="60%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>Chapter 20. Database Roles and Privileges</TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="user-manag.html"
>Fast Forward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="privileges.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT1"
><H1
CLASS="SECT1"
><A
NAME="ROLE-ATTRIBUTES"
>20.2. Role Attributes</A
></H1
><P
> A database role can have a number of attributes that define its
privileges and interact with the client authentication system.
<P
></P
></P><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
>login privilege<A
NAME="AEN28775"
></A
></DT
><DD
><P
> Only roles that have the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LOGIN</TT
> attribute can be used
as the initial role name for a database connection. A role with
the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LOGIN</TT
> attribute can be considered the same thing
as a <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"database user"</SPAN
>. To create a role with login privilege,
use either:
</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>CREATE ROLE <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
> LOGIN;
CREATE USER <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
>;</PRE
><P>
(<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE USER</TT
> is equivalent to <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE ROLE</TT
>
except that <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE USER</TT
> assumes <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LOGIN</TT
> by
default, while <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE ROLE</TT
> does not.)
</P
></DD
><DT
>superuser status<A
NAME="AEN28792"
></A
></DT
><DD
><P
> A database superuser bypasses all permission checks. This is a
dangerous privilege and should not be used carelessly; it is best
to do most of your work as a role that is not a superuser.
To create a new database superuser, use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATE ROLE
<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
> SUPERUSER</TT
>. You must do
this as a role that is already a superuser.
</P
></DD
><DT
>database creation<A
NAME="AEN28800"
></A
></DT
><DD
><P
> A role must be explicitly given permission to create databases
(except for superusers, since those bypass all permission
checks). To create such a role, use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATE ROLE
<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
> CREATEDB</TT
>.
</P
></DD
><DT
>role creation<A
NAME="AEN28809"
></A
></DT
><DD
><P
> A role must be explicitly given permission to create more roles
(except for superusers, since those bypass all permission
checks). To create such a role, use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATE ROLE
<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
> CREATEROLE</TT
>.
A role with <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEROLE</TT
> privilege can alter and drop
other roles, too, as well as grant or revoke membership in them.
However, to create, alter, drop, or change membership of a
superuser role, superuser status is required;
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEROLE</TT
> is not sufficient for that.
</P
></DD
><DT
>password<A
NAME="AEN28820"
></A
></DT
><DD
><P
> A password is only significant if the client authentication
method requires the user to supply a password when connecting
to the database. The <TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>password</TT
> and
<TT
CLASS="OPTION"
>md5</TT
> authentication methods
make use of passwords. Database passwords are separate from
operating system passwords. Specify a password upon role
creation with <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATE ROLE
<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
> PASSWORD '<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>string</I
></TT
>'</TT
>.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P>
A role's attributes can be modified after creation with
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>ALTER ROLE</TT
>.<A
NAME="AEN28830"
></A
>
See the reference pages for the <A
HREF="sql-createrole.html"
><I
>CREATE ROLE</I
></A
> and <A
HREF="sql-alterrole.html"
><I
>ALTER ROLE</I
></A
> commands for details.
</P
><DIV
CLASS="TIP"
><BLOCKQUOTE
CLASS="TIP"
><P
><B
>Tip: </B
> It is good practice to create a role that has the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEDB</TT
>
and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEROLE</TT
> privileges, but is not a superuser, and then
use this role for all routine management of databases and roles. This
approach avoids the dangers of operating as a superuser for tasks that
do not really require it.
</P
></BLOCKQUOTE
></DIV
><P
> A role can also have role-specific defaults for many of the run-time
configuration settings described in <A
HREF="runtime-config.html"
>Chapter 18</A
>. For example, if for some reason you
want to disable index scans (hint: not a good idea) anytime you
connect, you can use:
</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>ALTER ROLE myname SET enable_indexscan TO off;</PRE
><P>
This will save the setting (but not set it immediately). In
subsequent connections by this role it will appear as though
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>SET enable_indexscan TO off;</TT
> had been executed
just before the session started.
You can still alter this setting during the session; it will only
be the default. To remove a role-specific default setting, use
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>ALTER ROLE <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>rolename</I
></TT
> RESET <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>varname</I
></TT
>;</TT
>.
Note that role-specific defaults attached to roles without
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LOGIN</TT
> privilege are fairly useless, since they will never
be invoked.
</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="database-roles.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="privileges.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>Database Roles</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="user-manag.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>Privileges</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>
y~or5J ={Eeu磝Qk ᯘG{?+]ן?wM3X^歌>{7پK>on\jy R g/=fOroNVv~Y+ NGuÝHWyw[eQʨSb> >}Gmx[o[<{Ϯ_qF vM IENDB`
