path: root/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_user.sgml

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$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_user.sgml,v 1.23 2002/02/27 21:14:53 petere Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
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<refentry id="SQL-CREATEUSER">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="sql-createuser-title">CREATE USER</refentrytitle>
  <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>CREATE USER</refname>
  <refpurpose>define a new database user account</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
CREATE USER <replaceable class="PARAMETER">username</replaceable> [ [ WITH ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">option</replaceable> [ ... ] ]

where <replaceable class="PARAMETER">option</replaceable> can be:
    
      SYSID <replaceable class="PARAMETER">uid</replaceable> 
    | [ ENCRYPTED | UNENCRYPTED ] PASSWORD '<replaceable class="PARAMETER">password</replaceable>'
    | CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB
    | CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER
    | IN GROUP <replaceable class="PARAMETER">groupname</replaceable> [, ...]
    | VALID UNTIL '<replaceable class="PARAMETER">abstime</replaceable>' 
</synopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   <command>CREATE USER</command> will add a new user to an instance
   of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>. Refer to the
   <citetitle>Administrator's Guide</citetitle> for information about
   managing users and authentication.  You must be a database
   superuser to use this command.
  </para>

  <refsect2>
   <title>Parameters</title>

   <para>

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The name of the user.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">uid</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        The <literal>SYSID</literal> clause can be used to choose the
        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user ID of the user that
        is being created. It is not at all necessary that those match
        the Unix user IDs, but some people choose to keep the numbers
        the same.
       </para>
       <para>
        If this is not specified, the highest assigned user ID plus one
	(with a minimum of 100) will be used as default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">password</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Sets the user's password. If you do not plan to use password
        authentication you can omit this option, but the user
        won't be able to connect to a password-authenticated server.
	The password can be set or changed later, using
	<xref linkend="SQL-ALTERUSER" endterm="SQL-ALTERUSER-title">.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><literal>ENCRYPTED</></term>
      <term><literal>UNENCRYPTED</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	These keywords control whether the password is stored
	encrypted in <literal>pg_shadow</>.  (If neither is specified,
	the default behavior is determined by the
	<varname>PASSWORD_ENCRYPTION</varname> server parameter.)  If
	the presented string is already in MD5-encrypted format, then
	it is stored as-is, regardless of whether
	<literal>ENCRYPTED</> or <literal>UNENCRYPTED</> is specified.
	This allows reloading of encrypted passwords during
	dump/restore.
       </para>

       <para>
        See the chapter on client authentication in the
        <citetitle>Administrator's Guide</citetitle> for details on
        how to set up authentication mechanisms.  Note that older
        clients may lack support for the MD5 authentication mechanism
        that is needed to work with passwords that are stored
        encrypted.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><literal>CREATEDB</></term>
      <term><literal>NOCREATEDB</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	These clauses define a user's ability to create databases.  If
	<literal>CREATEDB</literal> is specified, the user being
	defined will be allowed to create his own databases. Using
	<literal>NOCREATEDB</literal> will deny a user the ability to
	create databases. If this clause is omitted,
	<literal>NOCREATEDB</literal> is used by default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><literal>CREATEUSER</literal></term>
      <term><literal>NOCREATEUSER</literal></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	These clauses determine whether a user will be permitted to
	create new users himself. This option will also make the user
	a superuser who can override all access restrictions.
	Omitting this clause will set the user's value of this
	attribute to be <literal>NOCREATEUSER</literal>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">groupname</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	A name of a group into which to insert the user as a new member.
	Multiple group names may be listed.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">abstime</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The <literal>VALID UNTIL</literal> clause sets an absolute
	time after which the user's password is no longer valid.  If
	this clause is omitted the login will be valid for all time.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
  </refsect2>

 </refsect1> 

 <refsect1>
  <title>Diagnostics</title>

  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><computeroutput>CREATE USER</computeroutput></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Message returned if the command completes successfully.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   Use <xref linkend="SQL-ALTERUSER" endterm="SQL-ALTERUSER-title"> to
   change the attributes of a user, and <xref linkend="SQL-DROPUSER"
   endterm="SQL-DROPUSER-title"> to remove a user.  Use <xref
   linkend="SQL-ALTERGROUP" endterm="SQL-ALTERGROUP-title"> to add the
   user to groups or remove the user from groups.
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> includes a program <xref
   linkend="APP-CREATEUSER" endterm="APP-CREATEUSER-title"> that has
   the same functionality as this command (in fact, it calls this
   command) but can be run from the command shell.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Examples</title>

  <para>
   Create a user with no password:
<programlisting>
CREATE USER jonathan;
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   Create a user with a password:
<programlisting>
CREATE USER davide WITH PASSWORD 'jw8s0F4';
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   Create a user with a password, whose account is valid until the end of 2001.
   Note that after one second has ticked in 2002, the account is not
   valid:

<programlisting>
CREATE USER miriam WITH PASSWORD 'jw8s0F4' VALID UNTIL 'Jan 1 2002';
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para> 
   Create an account where the user can create databases:
<programlisting>
CREATE USER manuel WITH PASSWORD 'jw8s0F4' CREATEDB;
</programlisting>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 
 <refsect1>
  <title>Compatibility</title>
  
  <para>
   The <command>CREATE USER</command> statement is a
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.  The SQL standard
   leaves the definition of users to the implementation.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

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

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

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