Re: Problem setting up new users

"Michael J. Robinson" <robinson(at)neod(dot)net> writes:
> When I try to login I get the following error:

> [root(at)host postgressql]# psql template1 -U foo --password
> Password:
> psql: FATAL: IDENT authentication failed for user "foo"

The prompt tells the tale: you aren't "foo", you are "root".
IDENT wants those things to be the same. The password you
forced psql to ask you for is totally irrelevant.

Probably your best bet is to "su" from root to postgres and then create
your initial users as postgres. You can create root as a postgres
superuser if you would prefer to do this sort of maintenance from the
root account in future. (Whether that's a good idea is another question
--- in general, using root for more than you absolutely must isn't good
practice IMHO.)

You could also think about changing to some other auth method besides
IDENT, if you would prefer to operate with Postgres passwords instead of
who-are-you-to-the-kernel.

regards, tom lane