From: Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us>
Message-Id: <200301260215.h0Q2Fsi24213@candle.pha.pa.us>
Subject: Re: What goes into the security doc?
In-Reply-To: <1043162191.18529.11.camel@camel>
To: Robert Treat <xzilla@users.sourceforge.net>
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 21:15:53 -0500 (EST)
Cc: Dan Langille <dan@langille.org>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
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Robert Treat wrote:
> I'm not sure how adequately these topics are covered elsewhere, but you
> should probably provide at least a pointer if not improved information:
> 
> * Should have a mention of the pgcrypto code in contrib.
> 
> * Brain hiccup, but isn't there some type of "password" datatype

It is in /contrib as chkpass:
	
	Chkpass is a password type that is automatically checked and converted upon
	entry.  It is stored encrypted.  To compare, simply compare agains a clear
	text password and the comparison function will encrypt it before comparing.
	It also returns an error if the code determines that the password is easily
	crackable.  This is currently a stub that does nothing.
	
	I haven't worried about making this type indexable.  I doubt that anyone
	would ever need to sort a file in order of encrypted password.
	
	If you precede the string with a colon, the encryption and checking are
	skipped so that you can enter existing passwords into the field.
	
	On output, a colon is prepended.  This makes it possible to dump and reload
	passwords without re-encrypting them.  If you want the password (encrypted)
	without the colon then use the raw() function.  This allows you to use the
	type with things like Apache's Auth_PostgreSQL module.
	
	D'Arcy J.M. Cain
	darcy@druid.net
	
The document is a good idea, and the initdb -W item is good too!
	

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