From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>
cc: Jim Jones <jim.jones@uni-muenster.de>,
        PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>,
        Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se>,
        Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org>
Subject: Re: Add annotation syntax to pg_hba.conf entries
In-reply-to: <CA+TgmoZw9DpGOsdF6ROO_o9YtTEH2j0k7b_0iALM5Z9=VQDbTQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <997377b9-b2c7-452d-75af-eca6668d6e77@uni-muenster.de> <CA+TgmoZw9DpGOsdF6ROO_o9YtTEH2j0k7b_0iALM5Z9=VQDbTQ@mail.gmail.com>
Comments: In-reply-to Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>
	message dated "Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:18:50 -0400"
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Date: Wed, 04 Oct 2023 18:55:44 -0400
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Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:
> You're probably not going to like this answer very much, but this
> doesn't seem particularly worthwhile to me.

Yeah, I was unconvinced about the number of use-cases too.
As you say, some support from other potential users could convince
me otherwise, but right now the evidence seems thin.

> The argument for this
> feature is not that this information needs to exist, but that it needs
> to be queryable from within PostgreSQL.

Not only that, but that it needs to be accessible via the
pg_hba_file_rules view.  Superusers could already see the
pg_hba file's contents via pg_read_file().

Again, that's not an argument that this is a bad idea.
But it's an answer that would likely satisfy some fraction
of whatever potential users are out there, which makes the
question of how many use-cases really exist even more
pressing.

			regards, tom lane