password method in pg_hba.conf fails

Hello everybody

I just upgraded from 7.2.2 to 7.3.2, and I this upgrade broke the way I
handled authentication.

I had an external password file ~pgsql/data/pg_passwd with lines like this:
guest:OgP29.PYhgA

~pg_hba.conf/data/ contains entries like this (I had to add one field when
upgrading to 7.3.2, the beast complaining about it)
local all guest trust
local template1 all password pg_passwd
local dirdb all password pg_passwd

Then I try to login. I get this:
$ psql -U pgsql dirdb
Password:
psql: FATAL: Password authentication failed for user "pgsql"

ktrace'ing the postgres process (I'm running on NetBSD) shows that it never
try to open ~pgsql/data/pg_passwd.

What turned wrong?

--
Emmanuel Dreyfus
manu(at)netbsd(dot)org