Re: adding PGPASSWORDFILE to libpq

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> Alvaro Herrera writes:
>> Currently the format for the file should be
>> host:port:database:user:password

> I think just the password.  If you need a different password, select a
> different file.
> The sort of format you propose makes it much too convenient for users to
> build password databases in files, which kind of defeats the point of
> passwords.

Why is it better to make the user's life more difficult?  If I have
several different database passwords to keep track of, and I'm going
to store them in $HOME/.foo files, I'd rather keep them all in one such
.foo file.  That means only one file to get the permissions right on.
I am not aware of *any* other Unix utility that diverges from this
scheme: cvs does it that way, ftp does it that way, ssh does it that
way, xauth does it that way ... need I go on?

            regards, tom lane