Re: pg_hba.conf: samehost and samenet [REVIEW]

If looking for representation -

I consider the default pg_hba.conf to be problematic. Newbies start with 
"trust" access, and then do silly things to open it up.

I would use samehost, and if samenet worked the same way it does for 
Postfix, I would probably use samenet. This information can be pulled 
from the operating system, and the requirement for it to be hard-coded 
in pg_hba.conf is inconvenient at best, and problematic at worst. Yes, 
renumbering requires some thought - but I prefer applications that do 
the majority of this thought for me over applications that require me to 
do mundane activities.

I would also use DNS in pg_hba.conf if it were available. I can see some 
of the issues with this (should it be mapped to IP right away, or should 
it be re-evaluated every time?), but ultimately the feature would be 
useful, and would be widely used. Especially once we get to IPv6, 
specification of the addresses will become a horrible chore, and 
solutions which require the IPv6 address to be spelled out will be 
painful to use.

Both of these are generally one time costs for me. They are a pain, but 
most of us suck it up and swallow. It hasn't been on my list of itches 
that I just have to scratch. Remember, though, that the majority of 
PostgreSQL users are not represented on this list, and my pain here 
might be acceptable, but a newbie will probably either turn away or do 
something wrong. Better to give them a sensible configuration from the 
start from, and allow the experts to specify IP addresses if that is 
what they want to do.

Cheers,
mark

-- 
Mark Mielke<mark@mielke.cc>