PostgreSQL authentification with password

Question

I work with PostgreSQL 9.2 and have command:

psql -h localhost -U testdb -d postgis

This command has the ability to connect database without password. I want to enter a password.

My pg_hba.cconf is:

local   all             all                                     password
# IPv4 local connections:
host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            md5
# IPv6 local connections:
host    all             all             ::1/128                 md5

have you restarted the server after you changed config file? — Ihor Romanchenko, Oct 27 '13 at 18:28
@IgorRomanchenko: [A reload should suffice.](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7667193/heroku-dbpull-failing-due-to-lack-of-password-when-i-havent-specified-a-passwo/7667344#7667344) — Erwin Brandstetter, Oct 27 '13 at 18:42

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Password-less access requires that one of several authentication methods is configured accordingly. More details in these related answers:
pgadmin gives me the error: no password supplied
Run batch file with psql command without password

In particular, localhost is not a "local connection" in the pg_hba.conf file in the second one. Since you are connecting with -h localhost, only the lines starting with host in your pg_hba.conf file are applicable, so a password should be required.

Remaining explanations:

You did not reload since the config file was changed.
You are not showing the right (or complete) pg_hba.conf (or inadvertently connecting to the wrong db cluster. Port 5432?) and there is in fact a line with peer or ident authentication that comes before other host lines.
Your installation has a .pgpass file in place, that grants access to the system user you are running the command with. For details, refer to the second linked answer.

The last one seems most likely.

PostgreSQL authentification with password

1 Answers1