PostgreSQL 8.1.3 Documentation
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# 42.8. `pg_authid`

The catalog `pg_authid` contains information about database authorization identifiers (roles). A role subsumes the concepts of "users" and "groups". A user is essentially just a role with the `rolcanlogin` flag set. Any role (with or without `rolcanlogin`) may have other roles as members; see `pg_auth_members`.

Since this catalog contains passwords, it must not be publicly readable. `pg_roles` is a publicly readable view on `pg_authid` that blanks out the password field.

Chapter 18 contains detailed information about user and privilege management.

Because user identities are cluster-wide, `pg_authid` is shared across all databases of a cluster: there is only one copy of `pg_authid` per cluster, not one per database.

Table 42-8. `pg_authid` Columns

Name | Type | References | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
`rolname` | `name` |  | Role name
`rolsuper` | `bool` |  | Role has superuser privileges
`rolinherit` | `bool` |  | Role automatically inherits privileges of roles it is a member of
`rolcreaterole` | `bool` |  | Role may create more roles
`rolcreatedb` | `bool` |  | Role may create databases
`rolcatupdate` | `bool` |  | Role may update system catalogs directly. (Even a superuser may not do this unless this column is true.)
`rolcanlogin` | `bool` |  | Role may log in, that is, this role can be given as the initial session authorization identifier.
`rolconnlimit` | `int4` |  | For roles that can log in, this sets maximum number of concurrent connections this role can make. -1 means no limit.
`rolpassword` | `text` |  | Password (possibly encrypted); NULL if none
`rolvaliduntil` | `timestamptz` |  | Password expiry time (only used for password authentication); NULL if no expiration
`rolconfig` | `text[]` |  | Session defaults for run-time configuration variables

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