Re: System username in pg_stat_activity

Hi,

On 2024-01-10 12:46:34 +0100, Magnus Hagander wrote:
> The attached patch adds a column "authuser" to pg_stat_activity which
> contains the username of the externally authenticated user, being the
> same value as the SYSTEM_USER keyword returns in a backend.

I continue to think that it's a bad idea to make pg_stat_activity ever wider
with columns that do not actually describe properties that change across the
course of a session. Yes, there's the argument that that ship has sailed, but
I don't think that's a good reason to continue ever further down that road.

It's not just a usability issue, it also makes it more expensive to query
pg_stat_activity. This is of course more pronounced with textual columns than
with integer ones.

Greetings,

Andres Freund