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Subject: Re: Remove deprecated role membership options from psql help for
 CREATE USER/GROUP
From: Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <MEAPR01MB30316011F7E46FEAB98013C7B684A@MEAPR01MB3031.ausprd01.prod.outlook.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2026 06:45:01 +0800
Cc: Postgres hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>
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To: Japin Li <japinli@hotmail.com>
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> On Jan 7, 2026, at 19:06, Japin Li <japinli@hotmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> On Wed, 07 Jan 2026 at 18:52, Japin Li <japinli@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, 07 Jan 2026 at 17:30, Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Jan 6, 2026, at 18:16, Japin Li <japinli@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>> Hi,
>>>>=20
>>>> When I review [1], I found commit 8e78f0a1 deprecated the IN GROUP =
and USER
>>>> clauses in CREATE ROLE, and also removed IN GROUP and USER from the =
psql \h
>>>> CREATE ROLE help output.
>>>>=20
>>>> However, the psql help for the legacy synonyms CREATE USER and =
CREATE GROUP
>>>> still lists the deprecated options:
>>>>=20
>>>> - IN GROUP role_name [, ...]
>>>> - USER role_name [, ...]
>>>>=20
>>>> postgres=3D# \h create role
>>>> Command:     CREATE ROLE
>>>> Description: define a new database role
>>>> Syntax:
>>>> CREATE ROLE name [ [ WITH ] option [ ... ] ]
>>>>=20
>>>> where option can be:
>>>>=20
>>>>    SUPERUSER | NOSUPERUSER
>>>>  | CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB
>>>>  | CREATEROLE | NOCREATEROLE
>>>>  | INHERIT | NOINHERIT
>>>>  | LOGIN | NOLOGIN
>>>>  | REPLICATION | NOREPLICATION
>>>>  | BYPASSRLS | NOBYPASSRLS
>>>>  | CONNECTION LIMIT connlimit
>>>>  | [ ENCRYPTED ] PASSWORD 'password' | PASSWORD NULL
>>>>  | VALID UNTIL 'timestamp'
>>>>  | IN ROLE role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | ROLE role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | ADMIN role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | SYSID uid
>>>>=20
>>>> URL: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/sql-createrole.html
>>>>=20
>>>> postgres=3D# \h create user
>>>> Command:     CREATE USER
>>>> Description: define a new database role
>>>> Syntax:
>>>> CREATE USER name [ [ WITH ] option [ ... ] ]
>>>>=20
>>>> where option can be:
>>>>=20
>>>>    SUPERUSER | NOSUPERUSER
>>>>  | CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB
>>>>  | CREATEROLE | NOCREATEROLE
>>>>  | INHERIT | NOINHERIT
>>>>  | LOGIN | NOLOGIN
>>>>  | REPLICATION | NOREPLICATION
>>>>  | BYPASSRLS | NOBYPASSRLS
>>>>  | CONNECTION LIMIT connlimit
>>>>  | [ ENCRYPTED ] PASSWORD 'password' | PASSWORD NULL
>>>>  | VALID UNTIL 'timestamp'
>>>>  | IN ROLE role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | IN GROUP role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | ROLE role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | ADMIN role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | USER role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | SYSID uid
>>>>=20
>>>> URL: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/sql-createuser.html
>>>>=20
>>>> postgres=3D# \h create group
>>>> Command:     CREATE GROUP
>>>> Description: define a new database role
>>>> Syntax:
>>>> CREATE GROUP name [ [ WITH ] option [ ... ] ]
>>>>=20
>>>> where option can be:
>>>>=20
>>>>    SUPERUSER | NOSUPERUSER
>>>>  | CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB
>>>>  | CREATEROLE | NOCREATEROLE
>>>>  | INHERIT | NOINHERIT
>>>>  | LOGIN | NOLOGIN
>>>>  | REPLICATION | NOREPLICATION
>>>>  | BYPASSRLS | NOBYPASSRLS
>>>>  | CONNECTION LIMIT connlimit
>>>>  | [ ENCRYPTED ] PASSWORD 'password' | PASSWORD NULL
>>>>  | VALID UNTIL 'timestamp'
>>>>  | IN ROLE role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | IN GROUP role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | ROLE role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | ADMIN role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | USER role_name [, ...]
>>>>  | SYSID uid
>>>>=20
>>>> URL: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/sql-creategroup.html
>>>>=20
>>>> Since CREATE USER is documented as equivalent to CREATE ROLE WITH =
LOGIN, and
>>>> CREATE GROUP is equivalent to CREATE ROLE, their help syntax should =
remain
>>>> consistent with CREATE ROLE.
>>>>=20
>>>> I propose removing the deprecated IN GROUP and USER lines from the =
help text
>>>> of both CREATE USER and CREATE GROUP. This would be a simple =
documentation
>>>> cleanup that aligns the psql help with current reality and avoids =
confusing
>>>> users with obsolete syntax.
>>>>=20
>>>> [1] =
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/4c5f895e-3281-48f8-b943-9228b7da6471=
%40gmail.com
>>>>=20
>>>> --=20
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Japin Li
>>>> ChengDu WenWu Information Technology Co., Ltd.
>>>>=20
>>>> <v1-0001-Remove-deprecated-role-options-for-CREATE-USER-GR.patch>
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>> ```
>>> This commit removes the deprecated IN GROUP and USER lines from the =
psql
>>> help output for CREATE USER and CREATE GROUP.
>>> ```
>>>=20
>>> The commit message claims to remove things from psql help output, =
but the change actually updated the SGML docs. Does the patch miss the =
change on psql?
>>=20
>> Hmm, psql's SQL help (\h) output is generated from SGML. See the =
generator
>> scripts: src/bin/psql/create_*_help.pl.
>>=20
>=20
> Sorry, I made a typo, the script is src/bin/psql/create_help.pl.
>=20
> --=20
> Regards,
> Japin Li
> ChengDu WenWu Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Good to know. I wasn=E2=80=99t aware of that. Maybe it deserves to =
mention that in the commit message.

Best regards,
--
Chao Li (Evan)
HighGo Software Co., Ltd.
https://www.highgo.com/