This extension makes it easy to DROP ROLE in PostgreSQL.

It provides a function that helps you to revoke all privileges of a role in a database.

Example

You want to get rid of user dummy in the database.

If you want to keep the objects owned by the role, change their ownership to a different role:

REASSIGN OWNED BY dummy TO otheruser;

Then drop everything still owned by the role. This is required even if you ran REASSIGN OWNED, as some objects (for example user mappings) are not affected.

DROP OWNED BY dummy;

Then use the extension to get rid of all the permissions. When using psql, you can use the convenient \gexec to execute the function results as an SQL script:

CREATE EXTENSION drop_role_helper SCHEMA public;
SELECT * FROM public.drop_role_helper('dummy') \gexec

Repeat the above statements in all databases in the PostgreSQL cluster. Then you can drop the role:

DROP ROLE dummy;

Installation

To install the software, make sure that the correct pg_config is on the PATH, change into the directory with the software and run

sudo make install

Then install the extension in the databases where you need it:

CREATE EXTENSION drop_role_helper;

If you don't have permission to install software on the database server, you can simply run the SQL script that creates the function. In that case you don't need to call CREATE EXTENSION.

Usage

The extension creates a single table function drop_role_helper that takes a role name as argument and returns a table of SQL statements.

You need no special permissions to run the function, but to execute the SQL statements returned by the function, you need to be a superuser or the owner of all the affected objects. If the role to be dropped has default privileges, you must also be a member of the role for which the default privileges are defined.

Support

Please report problems by creating a Github issue.
Commercial support is available from CYBERTEC PostgreSQL International GmbH.