Alexander Reichstadt <lxr@xxxxxxx> writes: > in the documentation of 8.1 the concept of roles is outlined compared > to users and groups at > <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/user-manag.html>. Um ... why are you reading 8.1 documentation while running 9.1? There are likely to be some obsolete things in there. > I also read today that pg_shadow is the real table containing the > users as opposed to pg_user which is only a view and one never > displaying anything but **** for the password. I don't have the link > where that was, Whereever it was, it was even more obsolete than the 8.1 docs. pg_shadow has been a view (on pg_authid) for quite a while now. Try "\d+ pg_shadow" in psql. The reason this is such a mess is that we've changed the catalog representation several times, each time leaving behind a view that was meant to emulate the old catalog. For some time now, pg_authid has been the ground truth, but it stores entries for both login and non-login roles, which more or less correspond to what used to be users and groups. pg_roles is the only non-protected view that shows you all the entries. regards, tom lane -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
