access control

About commercial databases lacking access control 
functionality to a degree "similar" to PG:  hmm, I dunno
about that.  Seems like kind of a slur on the commercial
products :-)
  
The two Big Names (Oracle and Sybase) have pretty well- 
developed access control.  I can't speak to Oracle in detail, 
but I've used Sybase for years and it has an internal AC 
mechanism at least as functional as the *nix file system. It 
offers access control over databases as well as tables, and 
good granularity (many modes and degrees of access/privilege, 
user vs group, etc).  Maybe an Oracle person can tell us how 
that engine does access control, but I was under the 
impression that it uses internal auth tables, like Sybase. 

I have never liked tying access to external OS usernames.  
Maybe it's just a personal idiosyncrasy :-) I'd jump for joy 
if PG access control became OS-independent, with usernames, 
groups, and passcodes maintained internally to the engine...  
just my $0.02.  

de

PS I'd also jump for joy if SQL statements could access
tables from more than one DB.  I can dream, can't I?

.............................................................................
:De Clarke, Software Engineer                     UCO/Lick Observatory, UCSC:
:Mail: de@ucolick.org | "There is no problem in computer science that cannot: 
:Web: www.ucolick.org |  be solved by another level of indirection"  --J.O. :