Re: Problem with reloading groups in pg_hba.conf

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> Yes, that was the issue.  We tell people pg_hba.conf only gets reloaded
> when they tell the postmaster to do it.  We can't have it happening at
> random times, e.g. password change.

I agree on that: the signal should cause the postmaster to reload
pg_pwd/pg_group info *only*.  So you cannot integrate the data from
these files into the same datastructure as you use for pg_hba.conf;
they have to be separate datastructures.

I think what you are really asking is whether to expand groups by
substitution of user names during read of the file, vs doing it
on-the-fly when accepting a connection.  On that I agree with Ross:
better to move work out of the connection logic and into the file
reread logic as much as possible.
        regards, tom lane