Re: BUG #17649: With libpg5 15.0 psql 10.22 uses HOME variable instead of uid and /etc/passwd to select .pgpass file

Hi,

On Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 09:17:05AM +0000, PG Bug reporting form wrote:
> The following bug has been logged on the website:
>
> Bug reference:      17649
> Logged by:          Reinhard Vicinus
> Email address:      rvpostgres@metaways.de
> PostgreSQL version: 15.0
> Operating system:   Ubuntu 18.04
> Description:
>
> This is probably the same issue that was reported in bug #17647

Indeed!
>
> The general postgresql version we use is 10.22-1.pgdg18.04+1
>
> With the update of libpg5 from 14.5-1.pgdg18.04+1 to 15.0-1.pgdg18.04+1 the
> behavior of psql changed and with libpg5 version 15.0 it uses the HOME
> environment variable to determine the location of the .pgpass file. With
> 14.5 the uid of the running process is used to determine the home directory
> location. This causes the issue that "sudo -u postgres psql" no longer finds
> the .pgpass file in /var/lib/postgresql/. After downgrading libpg5 to
> 14.5-1.pgdg18.04+1 or setting the correct HOME environment variable, it
> works again as intended.
>
As I just answered on the other bug, this is a wanted and documented change,
you can refer at
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/1634252654444.90107%40mit.edu for
the discussion about it.

You can use "sudo -iu" to behave the way you want.