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Insecure passwords #686

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Insecure passwords #686

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4009c51
doc: add commas to improve grammar
jsoref Dec 16, 2020
c374245
doc: clarify insecure handling of passwords sections
jsoref Dec 16, 2020
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14 changes: 8 additions & 6 deletions doc/configuration-password-management.xml
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -13,10 +13,11 @@
</indexterm>

<para>
For security purposes it's desirable to protect database access using a password.
For security purposes, it's desirable to protect database access using a password.
</para>
<para>
PostgreSQL has three ways of providing a password:
PostgreSQL has three ways of providing a password (ordered from least to most secure
as viewed from the perspective of &repmgr;):
<itemizedlist spacing="compact" mark="bullet">

<listitem>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -49,21 +50,22 @@
</para>
<note>
<para>
Currently &repmgr; does not fully support use of the <option>password</option> option in the
Currently, &repmgr; does not fully support the use of the <option>password</option> option in the
<option>conninfo</option> string.
</para>
</note>
<para>
Exporting the password as an environment variable (<envar>PGPASSWORD</envar>) is considered
less insecure, but the PostgreSQL documentation explicitly recommends against doing this:
It is possible to export the password as an environment variable (<envar>PGPASSWORD</envar>),
but this is also considered insecure, and the PostgreSQL documentation explicitly recommends
against doing so:
<blockquote>
<attribution><ulink url="https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-envars.html">Environment Variables</ulink></attribution>
<para>
<envar>PGPASSWORD</envar> behaves the same as the <option>password</option>
connection parameter. Use of this environment variable
is not recommended for security reasons, as some operating systems
allow non-root users to see process environment variables via
<application>ps</application>; instead consider using a password file.
<application>ps</application>; instead, consider using a password file.
</para>
</blockquote>

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