psql needs an option to set hostaddr instead of host

In the past, I've always used hostnames or host addresses with the -h
option on psql:

> psql -h mycomputer mydata rex

or

> psql -h 192.168.168.52 mydata rex

It turns out that this use of the IP address only works if DNS is set up
correctly.

We recently installed postgres on a network without DNS. We could
ping, but we couldn't connect with psql when we supplied the IP address
as the host:

> psql -h 192.168.168.52 mydata rex
psql: connectDBStart() -- unknown hostname: 192.168.168.52

(You can reproduce this on your network. Kill named, and you will be
able to ping, but not connect with psql.)

I've looked at the source a bit, and realized that I really needed to
set the hostaddr option in the connect string, but that there is no way
to do this in psql. I think there should be another option on psql:

> psql -i 192.168.168.52 mydata rex

Or, you could simply add an option to allow the user to send any part
ot the connect string:

> psql -C hostaddr=192.168.168.52 -C port=593 -C dbname=mydata -C
user=rex"

(Note that this last option would also take care of the "add requiressl
option or not" question.)

- Aaron Hillegass

The Big Nerd Ranch
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http://www.bignerdranch.com/
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