Re: Importing into Postgres from a csv file

> On Thu, 24 Aug 2000, Roderick A. Anderson wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 24 Aug 2000, John McKown wrote:
> >
> > > I think that you can do this using the COPY verb in psql.
> > >
> > > COPY table FROM file USING DELIMITERS ',';
> >
> > Be aware you will probably have to start psql as the postgres
(superuser)
> > to use the COPY command.
> >
> > But ... the \copy version is usable by normal users.
>
> Why do you need to be the postgres superuser to do this this? I admin
that
> I have only used the COPY table FROM STDIN; version of the command. It
> works under my "normal" id.
>

I believe this was for security reasons. When the backend performs a COPY,
as opposed to the client, it executes the command as the Unix user
"postgres".
Therefore, if Joe User could have the backend perform the COPY, he could
overwrite contents of the $PGDATA tree at will (or any other files which
should
only be modified by the server itself).

Hope that helps,

Mike Mascari