Re: [ADMIN] Cannot connect to the database (PG 7.3)

I wrote:
> Michiel Lange <michiel(at)minas(dot)demon(dot)nl> writes:
>> It is, somehow, not possible to connect as a user which name is completely
>> numeric.

> I muttered "nonsense!" to myself, but darned if you're not right:

> regression=# create user "12345";
> CREATE USER
> regression=# \q
> $ psql -U 12345 regression
> psql: FATAL: SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION: permission denied

> Will look into it.

After some looking, it appears the culprit is
assign_session_authorization() in commands/variable.c, which is assuming
that a numeric-looking parameter string should be taken as a numeric
user sysid, rather than an actual user name.

The reason this was done was to avoid the need to do catalog lookups
when restoring a prior setting during error recovery. That's still a
valid concern, so right offhand I don't see an easy fix. Any ideas?

regards, tom lane