PostgreSQL 8.4.7 Documentation
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# 44.8. `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`) can 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 20 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 44-8. `pg_authid` Columns

Name | Type | 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 can create more roles
`rolcreatedb` | `bool` | Role can create databases
`rolcatupdate` | `bool` | Role can update system catalogs directly. (Even a superuser cannot do this unless this column is true)
`rolcanlogin` | `bool` | Role can 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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