Re: Re: Debian's PostgreSQL packages

Bruce Momjian wrote:
>> > I think our current idea is to have people run local ident servers to
>> > handle this. We don't have any OS-specific stuff in pg_hba.conf and I
>> > am not sure if we want to add that complexity. What do others think?
>>
>> This is not any less "specific" than SSL or Kerberos. Note that opening a
>> TCP/IP socket already opens a theoretical hole to the world. Unix domain
>> is much safer.
>
>You can install SSL/Kerberos on any Unix, and many come pre-installed.
>You can't add unix-domain socket user authentication to any OS.
>
>I assume most OS's have 127.0.0.1 set as loopback so there shouldn't be
>a hole:
>
>127 127.0.0.1 UGRS 4352 lo0
>127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 UH 4352 lo0
>
>However, the security issue may make it worthwhile. Which OS's support
>user authentication again, and can we test via configure? Maybe we can
>strip out the mention in the pg_hba.conf file if it is not supported on
>that OS.

The security issue is why I developed it. There were complaints from people
who did not want to have identd running at all.

I think the feature is available in Linux, Solaris and some BSD. It can be
tested for by whether SO_PEERCRED is defined in sys/socket.h.

I don't see the need to strip mention from the comments in pg_hba.conf. The
situation is no different from those systems which do not have Kerberos or
SSL available.

--
Oliver Elphick Oliver(dot)Elphick(at)lfix(dot)co(dot)uk
Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver
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