Re: [PATCH] initdb: Treat empty -U argument as unset username

> On 2 Jul 2025, at 15:52, Jianghua Yang <yjhjstz(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
> Hi hackers,
>
> Based on the suggestion that we should explicitly reject empty usernames instead of silently falling back, I’ve updated the patch accordingly.
>
> ### Changes in v2:
>
> - `initdb` now errors out immediately if the `-U` or `--username` argument is an empty string.
> - The error message is:
>
> superuser name must not be empty
>
> - A regression test is added to `src/bin/initdb/t/001_initdb.pl` to verify that the case `initdb -U ''` fails as expected.
>
> This approach avoids any ambiguity about whether an empty username is valid, and fails early with a clear message. It also brings consistency with existing checks, such as the one disallowing superuser names starting with `pg_`.
>
> Let me know if this looks acceptable or if further refinement is needed.

+ pg_log_error("superuser name must not be empty");
+ exit(1);

I would prefer pg_fatal() for this.

--
Daniel Gustafsson