doc/src/sgml/ref/createuser.sgml

<!--
$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/createuser.sgml,v 1.52 2009/02/26 16:02:37 petere Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
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<refentry id="APP-CREATEUSER">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="APP-CREATEUSER-TITLE"><application>createuser</application></refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>createuser</refname>
  <refpurpose>define a new <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user account</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <indexterm zone="app-createuser">
  <primary>createuser</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <cmdsynopsis>
   <command>createuser</command>
   <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>option</replaceable></arg>
   <arg><replaceable>username</replaceable></arg>
  </cmdsynopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>
  

 <refsect1>
  <title>Description</title>
  <para>
   <application>createuser</application> creates a 
   new <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user (or more precisely, a role).
   Only superusers and users with <literal>CREATEROLE</> privilege can create
   new users, so <application>createuser</application> must be
   invoked by someone who can connect as a superuser or a user with
   <literal>CREATEROLE</> privilege.
  </para>

  <para>
   If you wish to create a new superuser, you must connect as a
   superuser, not merely with <literal>CREATEROLE</> privilege.
   Being a superuser implies the ability to bypass all access permission
   checks within the database, so superuserdom should not be granted lightly.
  </para>

  <para>
   <application>createuser</application> is a wrapper around the
   <acronym>SQL</acronym> command <xref linkend="SQL-CREATEROLE"
   endterm="SQL-CREATEROLE-title">.
   There is no effective difference between creating users via
   this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Options</title>

  <para>
   <application>createuser</> accepts the following command-line arguments:

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the name of the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user
        to be created.
        This name must be different from all existing roles in this
        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> installation.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>  

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-s</></term>
      <term><option>--superuser</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will be a superuser.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-S</></term>
      <term><option>--no-superuser</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will not be a superuser.
        This is the default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-d</></term>
      <term><option>--createdb</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will be allowed to create databases.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-D</></term>
      <term><option>--no-createdb</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will not be allowed to create databases.
        This is the default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-r</></term>
      <term><option>--createrole</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will be allowed to create new roles (that is,
        this user will have <literal>CREATEROLE</> privilege).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-R</></term>
      <term><option>--no-createrole</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will not be allowed to create new roles.
        This is the default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-l</></term>
      <term><option>--login</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will be allowed to log in (that is, the user name
        can be used as the initial session user identifier).
        This is the default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-L</></term>
      <term><option>--no-login</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new user will not be allowed to log in.
        (A role without login privilege is still useful as a means of
        managing database permissions.)
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-i</></term>
      <term><option>--inherit</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new role will automatically inherit privileges of roles
        it is a member of.
        This is the default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-I</></term>
      <term><option>--no-inherit</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The new role will not automatically inherit privileges of roles
        it is a member of.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">number</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--connection-limit <replaceable class="parameter">number</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Set a maximum number of connections for the new user.
        The default is to set no limit.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-P</></term>
      <term><option>--pwprompt</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
       If given, <application>createuser</application> will issue a prompt for
       the password of the new user. This is not necessary if you do not plan
       on using password authentication.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-E</></term>
      <term><option>--encrypted</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Encrypts the user's password stored in the database. If not
        specified, the default password behavior is used.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-N</></term>
      <term><option>--unencrypted</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Does not encrypt the user's password stored in the database. If
        not specified, the default password behavior is used.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-e</></term>
      <term><option>--echo</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Echo the commands that <application>createuser</application> generates
        and sends to the server.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
  </para>

  <para>
   You will be prompted for a name and other missing information if it
   is not specified on the command line.
  </para>

  <para>
   <application>createuser</application> also accepts the following
   command-line arguments for connection parameters:
    
   <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-h <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--host <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the host name of the machine on which the 
        server
        is running.  If the value begins with a slash, it is used 
        as the directory for the Unix domain socket.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--port <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file 
        extension on which the server
        is listening for connections.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--username <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        User name to connect as (not the user name to create).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-w</></term>
      <term><option>--no-password</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Never issue a password prompt.  If the server requires
        password authentication and a password is not available by
        other means such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> file, the
        connection attempt will fail.  This option can be useful in
        batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a
        password.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-W</></term>
      <term><option>--password</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Force <application>createuser</application> to prompt for a
        password (for connecting to the server, not for the
        password of the new user).
       </para>

       <para>
        This option is never essential, since
        <application>createuser</application> will automatically prompt
        for a password if the server demands password authentication.
        However, <application>createuser</application> will waste a
        connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password.
        In some cases it is worth typing <option>-W</> to avoid the extra
        connection attempt.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default connection parameters
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>

  <para>
   This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</> utilities,
   also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</>
   (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Diagnostics</title>

  <para>
   In case of difficulty, see <xref linkend="SQL-CREATEROLE"
   endterm="sql-createrole-title"> and <xref linkend="APP-PSQL"> for
   discussions of potential problems and error messages.
   The database server must be running at the
   targeted host.  Also, any default connection settings and environment
   variables used by the <application>libpq</application> front-end
   library will apply.
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Examples</title>

   <para>
    To create a user <literal>joe</literal> on the default database
    server:
<screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt><userinput>createuser joe</userinput>
<computeroutput>Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) </computeroutput><userinput>n</userinput>
<computeroutput>Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) </computeroutput><userinput>n</userinput>
<computeroutput>Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) </computeroutput><userinput>n</userinput>
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    To create the same user <literal>joe</literal> using the
    server on host <literal>eden</>, port 5000, avoiding the prompts and
    taking a look at the underlying command:
<screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt><userinput>createuser -h eden -p 5000 -S -D -R -e joe</userinput>
<computeroutput>CREATE ROLE joe NOSUPERUSER NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE INHERIT LOGIN;</computeroutput>
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    To create the user <literal>joe</literal> as a superuser,
    and assign a password immediately:
<screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt><userinput>createuser -P -s -e joe</userinput>
<computeroutput>Enter password for new role: </computeroutput><userinput>xyzzy</userinput>
<computeroutput>Enter it again: </computeroutput><userinput>xyzzy</userinput>
<computeroutput>CREATE ROLE joe PASSWORD 'md5b5f5ba1a423792b526f799ae4eb3d59e' SUPERUSER CREATEDB CREATEROLE INHERIT LOGIN;</computeroutput>
</screen>
    In the above example, the new password isn't actually echoed when typed,
    but we show what was typed for clarity.  As you see, the password is
    encrypted before it is sent to the client.  If the option <option>--unencrypted</option>
    is used, the password <emphasis>will</> appear in the echoed command
    (and possibly also in the server log and elsewhere),
    so you don't want to use <option>-e</> in that case, if
    anyone else can see your screen.
   </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <simplelist type="inline">
   <member><xref linkend="app-dropuser"></member>
   <member><xref linkend="sql-createrole" endterm="sql-createrole-title"></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>