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In-Reply-To: <138cfd8c-b305-4303-9700-bc53ff4fb926@eisentraut.org>
From: Greg Sabino Mullane <htamfids@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:32:24 -0400
Message-ID: 
 <CAKAnmmKgYqavU6xUPKgeOwOY0P9EycCmm339+PLaL5f4AQ9fNQ@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Read-only connection mode for AI workflows.
To: Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org>
Cc: Andrei Lepikhov <lepihov@gmail.com>, Jack Bonatakis <jack@bonatak.is>,
	pgsql-hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>,
	Bruce Momjian <bruce.momjian@enterprisedb.com>,
 Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>
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On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 6:09=E2=80=AFAM Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.=
org>
wrote:

> Here is a stalled project to implement ALTER SYSTEM READ ONLY:
>
> https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/CAAJ_b97KZzdJsffwRK7w0XU5HnXkc=
gKgTR69t8cOZztsyXjkQw%40mail.gmail.com


I think the scope of this request is much smaller than that one, so should
be more doable. That one, IIUC, is more of a ALTER SYSTEM
STOP_ALL_ACTIVITY_EVEN_WAL but we are looking for more of a "stop any overt
changes to our data via any non-select command" while still allowing all
sorts of background/maintenance activity to continue on. Basically,
anything that would cause a pg_dump to be different.

I'm a +1 to the cluster-wide change, and a -1 to the per-connection idea
that started this thread, because I still don't see the need for it when we
have an existing roles/permissions system that gets the job done. You want
your untrusted agent to read from your database? Create a specific role for
that. If our existing per-role access controls are not sufficient, improve
them.

Cheers,
Greg

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr">On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 6:09=E2=80=AFAM P=
eter Eisentraut &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:peter@eisentraut.org">peter@eisentrau=
t.org</a>&gt; wrote:</div><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">=
<blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-=
left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Here is a stalled project=
 to implement ALTER SYSTEM READ ONLY: <br>
<a href=3D"https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/CAAJ_b97KZzdJsffwRK7w=
0XU5HnXkcgKgTR69t8cOZztsyXjkQw%40mail.gmail.com" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=
=3D"_blank">https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/CAAJ_b97KZzdJsffwRK7=
w0XU5HnXkcgKgTR69t8cOZztsyXjkQw%40mail.gmail.com</a></blockquote><div><br><=
/div><div>I think the scope of this request is much smaller than that one, =
so should be more doable. That one, IIUC, is more of a ALTER SYSTEM STOP_AL=
L_ACTIVITY_EVEN_WAL but we are looking for more of a &quot;stop any overt c=
hanges to our data via any non-select command&quot; while still allowing al=
l sorts of background/maintenance activity to continue on. Basically, anyth=
ing that would cause a pg_dump to be different.</div><div><br></div><div>I&=
#39;m a +1 to the cluster-wide change, and a -1 to the per-connection idea =
that started this thread, because I still don&#39;t see the need for it whe=
n we have an existing roles/permissions system that gets the job done. You =
want your untrusted agent to read from your database? Create a specific rol=
e for that. If our existing per-role access controls are not sufficient, im=
prove them.</div><div><br></div></div><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_signa=
ture"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Cheers,</div><div>Greg</div><div><br></div><div=
><br></div></div></div></div>

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