Re: Allowing usernames in pg_hba.conf

> > This is definitely stressing pg_hba past its design limits --- heck, the
> > name of the file isn't even appropriate anymore, if usernames are part
> > of the match criteria.  Rather than contorting things to maintain a
> > pretense of backwards compatibility, it's time to abandon the current
> > file format, change the name, and start over.
>
> The pg_hba.conf thing is slowly growing to become a bad excuse for a
> completely general authentication system, such as PAM.  Instead of
> creating our own, maybe we could rip off the "BSD authentication" system
> from some free *BSD.  I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be like (or
> "better than") PAM.

Hmmm...I've never heard of the "BSD authentication" system...?  As far as I
was aware, FreeBSD uses PAM:

man pam

PAM(8)                      PAM Manual                     PAM(8)

NAME      PAM - Pluggable Authentication Modules

SYNOPSIS      /etc/pam.conf

DESCRIPTION      This  manual  is intended to offer a quick introduction to      PAM.  For more information the reader
isdirected  to  the      Linux-PAM system administrators' guide.
 
      PAM  Is  a system of libraries that handle the authentica-      tion tasks of applications (services) on the
system.  The      library  provides  a stable general interface (Application      Programming Interface - API) that
privilegegranting  pro-      grams  (such  as  login(1)  and su(1)) defer to to perform      standard authentication
tasks.

...

Chris