Re: BUG #16486: Prompted password is ignored when password specified in connection string

On Mon, Jun  8, 2020 at 09:59:18PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> I wrote:
> > Hmm ... I had thought that the docs explained -W in more or less the same
> > way I did above, but I see that (at least on the psql page) things are
> > indeed pretty vague.  I'll see about improving that.
> 
> Concretely, it looks like we need edits as attached for psql, and
> likewise for all our other programs with similar options.
> 
> The thing that was really missing here IMO is the specification that a
> conninfo string overrides other command-line parameters.  It's somewhat
> debatable whether a -W prompt is a "command line parameter", but it
> acts that way for this purpose.  In any case, I'm disinclined to document
> that specific interaction, because it would amount to blessing a pretty
> damfool practice, which is to make your password visible on the program's
> command line.  (I wonder whether section 33.1.2 ought to specifically
> caution against putting passwords into command-line conninfo strings.)

I used a later version of Tom's patch to add documentation of how
connection strings can override command-line options, plus it has the
password description improvements.

I would like to apply this to all supported versions.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             https://enterprisedb.com

  The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness, Bruce Lee