Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2023 21:51:58 -0400
From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
To: Laurenz Albe <laurenz.albe@cybertec.at>
Cc: Jordi =?utf-8?Q?Guti=C3=A9rrez?= Hermoso <jordigh@octave.org>,
	pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Document target_role param of ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES
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On Wed, Nov  1, 2023 at 09:31:52PM +0100, Laurenz Albe wrote:
> On Wed, 2023-11-01 at 13:09 -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 08:16:13AM +0100, Laurenz Albe wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2021-02-17 at 15:08 -0500, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
> > > > I just had a confusing moment trying to figure out why my roles
> > > > weren't creating tables the way I was expecting them to. I didn't
> > > > understand what the `target_role` parameter did. No matter how I try
> > > > to read this page, I can't see an explanation for that parameter:
> > > > 
> > > > https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-alterdefaultprivileges.html
> > > > 
> > > > I propose an explanation like the following be added to the
> > > > `target_role` parameter:
> > > > 
> > > >     This is the role that will create objects with altered default
> > > >     privileges. Note that changes in default privileges aren't
> > > >     inherited, so altering the default privileges of created objects
> > > >     for a parent role will not change the default privileges of
> > > >     objects created by inherited roles.
> > > 
> > > +1.  I cannot count the number of times I have seen people confused by that.
> > > 
> > > Suggested patch attached.
> > 
> > I see how people can be confused.  I wrote this patch, which I think is
> > simpler than the previously posted one.
> 
> Oh, I had forgotten about this patch.  I like your version better.
> 
> There is another patch in the current commitfest that addresses a similar
> problem, triggered by another complaint:
> https://commitfest.postgresql.org/45/4633/
> 
> That patch does not cover role membership.  Perhaps you could adopt that
> patch and merge the information from your patch into it.

Agreed.  I found this doc report from 2020 with the same confusion about
what target_role means:

	https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/160003085417.31338.6391977653235501273%40wrigleys.postgresql.org

I will apply my patch tomorrow/Friday and then work on the commitfest
one.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  Only you can decide what is important to you.