Re: Postgres 8.1 hangs at boot time due to password authentication for user postgres.

Rolf Gross wrote:

> after upgrading from PostgreSQL 7.4 to 8.1 on my Debian PC (Testing
> Release) PostgreSQL hangs at boot time.  This is because user
> "postgres" was set to password authentication in my database.  The
> function "/usr/bin/pg_ctlcluster - cluster_port_ready" tries to
> connect to the database using "psql" which prompts for the password
> then. But the password cannot be entered at boot time.  Changing user
> "postgres" to "ident" authentification removes the problem. But in my
> opinion it should be possible to use password authentication.

This pg_ctlcluster program seems to be Debian-specific, so please report
issues with it to the Debian team.  (I don't even know what it's
supposed to do.)

Anyway, with password authentication there's no way to connect without a
password.  I don't think there's a way around that.  You could set the
authentication to ident for the specific database and user that
pg_ctlcluster is using; or you could set a .pgpass file.

--
Alvaro Herrera                                http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.