This patch improves the "Database Users and Permissions" section of

the Administrator's Guide. This section needs a lot more work, but
this is a start anyway...

Neil Conway

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/user-manag.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/user-manag.sgml
index 2103122cfef44a0f754fd102c636e981f3d8fcc3..27a6512174ddfdfae5c403abc0378b8cef54ec4e 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/src/sgml/user-manag.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/user-manag.sgml
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
-
+
+
+
  Database Users and Permissions
 
  
   Managing database users and their privileges is in concept similar
-  to managing users of a Unix operating system, but the details are not
-  identical.
+  to managing the users of a Unix operating system, but the details
+  are not identical.
  
 
  
@@ -27,8 +31,8 @@ CREATE USER name
   
 
   
-   For convenience, the shell scripts <filename>createuser>
-   and <filename>dropuser> are provided as wrappers around these SQL
+   For convenience, the shell scripts <application>createuser>
+   and <application>dropuser> are provided as wrappers around these SQL
    commands.
   
 
@@ -36,18 +40,18 @@ CREATE USER name
    In order to bootstrap the database system, a freshly initialized
    system always contains one predefined user. This user will have the
    fixed id 1, and by default (unless altered when running
-   <command>initdb) it will have the same name as the
-   operating system user that initialized the area (and is presumably
-   being used as the user that runs the server). Customarily, this user
-   will be named postgres. In order to create more
-   users you first have to connect as this initial user.
+   <application>initdb) it will have the same name as
+   the operating system user that initialized the database
+   cluster. Customarily, this user will be named
+   postgres. In order to create more users
+   you first have to connect as this initial user.
   
 
   
    The user name to use for a particular database connection is
    indicated by the client that is initiating the connection request
    in an application-specific fashion. For example, the
-   <command>psql> program uses the -U
+   <application>psql> program uses the -U
    command line option to indicate the user to connect as. The set of
    database users a given client connection may connect as is
    determined by the client authentication setup, as explained in
@@ -71,7 +75,7 @@ CREATE USER name
        
         A database superuser bypasses all permission checks. Also,
         only a superuser can create new users. To create a database
-        superuser, use CREATE USER name
+        superuser, use CREATE USER name
         CREATEUSER.
        
       
@@ -83,8 +87,8 @@ CREATE USER name
        
         A user must be explicitly given permission to create databases
         (except for superusers, since those bypass all permission
-        checks). To create such a user, use CREATE USER name
-        CREATEDB.
+        checks). To create such a user, use CREATE USER
+        name CREATEDB.
        
       
      
@@ -93,11 +97,14 @@ CREATE USER name
       password
       
        
-        A password is only significant if password authentication is
-        used for client authentication. Database passwords are separate
-        from operating system passwords. Specify a password upon
-        user creation with CREATE USER name PASSWORD
-        'string'.
+        A password is only significant if the client authentication
+        method requires the user to supply a password when connecting
+        to the database. At present, the password,
+        md5, and crypt authentication methods
+        make use of passwords. Database passwords are separate from
+        operating system passwords. Specify a password upon user
+        creation with CREATE USER
+        name PASSWORD 'string'. 
        
       
      
@@ -134,26 +141,29 @@ ALTER GROUP name DROP USER uname1
 
   
    When a database object is created, it is assigned an owner. The
-   owner is the user that executed the creation statement. There is
-   currently no polished interface for changing the owner of a database
-   object (except for tables, for which ALTER TABLE can do it).
-   By default, only an owner (or a superuser) can do anything
-   with the object. In order to allow other users to use it,
-   privileges must be granted.
+   owner is the user that executed the creation statement. To change
+   the owner of a table, index, sequence, or view, use the
+   ALTER TABLE command. By default, only an owner
+   (or a superuser) can do anything with the object. In order to allow
+   other users to use it, privileges must be
+   granted.
   
 
   
-   There are several different privileges: SELECT
-   (read), INSERT (append), UPDATE
-   (write), DELETE, RULE,
-   REFERENCES (foreign key), and
-   TRIGGER. (See the GRANT manual
-   page for more detailed information.) The right to modify or destroy
-   an object is always the privilege of the owner only. To assign
-   privileges, the GRANT command is used. So, if
-   joe is an existing user, and
-   accounts is an existing table, write access can be
-   granted with
+   There are several different privileges: SELECT,
+   INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE,
+   RULE, REFERENCES, TRIGGER,
+   CREATE, TEMPORARY, EXECUTE,
+   USAGE, and ALL PRIVILEGES. For more
+   information on the different types of privileges support by
+   PostgreSQL, refer to the
+   GRANT reference manual. The right to modify or
+   destroy an object is always the privilege of the owner only. To
+   assign privileges, the GRANT command is
+   used. So, if joe is an existing user, and
+   accounts is an existing table, the privilege to
+   update the table can be granted with
+
 
 GRANT UPDATE ON accounts TO joe;
 
@@ -210,4 +220,4 @@ REVOKE ALL ON accounts FROM PUBLIC;
 
  
 
-Chapter>
+chapter>