Horton

Re: Rejecting weak passwords

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>

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From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net>
Cc: Albe Laurenz <laurenz.albe@wien.gv.at>, Bruce Momjian *EXTERN* <bruce@momjian.us>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>, Mark Mielke <mark@mark.mielke.cc>, Dave Page <dpage@pgadmin.org>, Kevin Grittner <Kevin.Grittner@wicourts.gov>, Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net>, Marko Kreen <markokr@gmail.com>, Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net>, Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu>, pgsql-hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>, mlortiz <mlortiz@uci.cu>
Date: 2009-10-19T16:12:07Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers 
Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> On Mon, 2009-10-19 at 14:54 +0200, Albe Laurenz wrote:
>> I guess I misunderstood something there, but I had assumed that the
>> checkbox item read something like: "Does the product offer password
>> policy enforcement?" (to quote Dave Page).

> The answer to that is currently "Yes, with external tools".  Using the
> plugin approach, the answer will remain "Yes, with external tools".  So
> we wouldn't gain much.

Except that your first statement is false.  It is not possible currently
for any tool to prevent someone from doing ALTER USER joe PASSWORD joe.
A server-side plugin can provide a guarantee that there are no bad
passwords (for some value of bad, and with some possible adverse
consequences).  We don't have that today.

			regards, tom lane