Message-ID: <gh-postgresql-interfaces-psqlodbc-42-c2379664764@github.com>
From: "omeuid (@omeuid)" <noreply+omeuid@github.com>
To: "postgresql-interfaces/psqlodbc" <noreply+postgresql-interfaces-psqlodbc@github.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2024 16:34:39 +0000
Subject: Re: [postgresql-interfaces/psqlodbc] issue #42: Why does the ODBC driver expect the password in a connection string to be URL-encoded?
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You could use passwords with special characters like '+', '%' or '$' without requiring to URL-encode those values.

Why do you assume that using one of those characters in the password is a problem?

A generic ODBC client(for any ODBC driver) does not know this kind of requirements for this specific driver. It will use the ODBC api requirerments (See [comments](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/odbc/reference/syntax/sqldriverconnect-function?view=sql-server-ver16#comments) section).

So, when a client asks for user credentials, the following connection strings could be created.
* If the password contains a special character like '+' --> `DSN=mydsn;UID=myUser;PWD=my+pass`
* If the password contains a special character like ';' or '=' --> `DSN=mydsn;UID=myUser;PWD={my;pass}`
* If the password contains a special character like ';' or '=' and also a bracker '}' --> `DSN=mydsn;UID=myUser;PWD={my;}}pass}`

The first scenario fails with the current implementation of the driver (the '+' symbol should be URL-escaped).

Please, feel free to ask me anything which is not clear enough.