Re: Required permissions for data directory

Tom Lane wrote:
> "Joshua D. Drake" <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com> writes:
>
>>For 8.0 are we going to allow group modifications to the data
>>directories for PostgreSQL? It is kind of silly that it must be 700.
>
>
> Not in the least. There are many systems where users by default
> are all in a "users" group, and so 770 isn't much safer than 777.

Which is not the responsibility of us. It is the responsibility of the
administrator of that system.

> Being able to edit postgresql.conf gives one the ability to become
> postgres (hint: you can cause the backend to load a shlib of your
> choosing, or even more trivially, adjust pg_hba.conf to let you in
> as superuser), so the above distinction is unenforceable.

Again, the responsibility of the administrator for the system.

It seems really odd that we build this dynamic, extensible database
system -- yet cripple (at least in this way) the ability for the
administrators of that system to have a dynamic, and extensible
administration policy.

If we are going to take the route of... "Oh gosh, the user is probably
and idiot.", then we should also get rid of the ability to delete from ;)

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake

>
> In short: no way.
>
> regards, tom lane

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