Remove support for password_encryption='off' / 'plain'.

Storing passwords in plaintext hasn't been a good idea for a very long
time, if ever. Now seems like a good time to finally forbid it, since we're
messing with this in PostgreSQL 10 anyway.

Remove the CREATE/ALTER USER UNENCRYPTED PASSSWORD 'foo' syntax, since
storing passwords unencrypted is no longer supported. ENCRYPTED PASSWORD
'foo' is still accepted, but ENCRYPTED is now just a noise-word, it does
the same as just PASSWORD 'foo'.

Likewise, remove the --unencrypted option from createuser, but accept
--encrypted as a no-op for backward compatibility. AFAICS, --encrypted was
a no-op even before this patch, because createuser encrypted the password
before sending it to the server even if --encrypted was not specified. It
added the ENCRYPTED keyword to the SQL command, but since the password was
already in encrypted form, it didn't make any difference. The documentation
was not clear on whether that was intended or not, but it's moot now.

Also, while password_encryption='on' is still accepted as an alias for
'md5', it is now marked as hidden, so that it is not listed as an accepted
value in error hints, for example. That's not directly related to removing
'plain', but it seems better this way.

Reviewed by Michael Paquier

Discussion: https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/16e9b768-fd78-0b12-cfc1-7b6b7f238fde@iki.fi

1 files changed, 3 insertions, 18 deletions

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/createuser.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/createuser.sgml
index 4332008c68b..fda77976ff2 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/createuser.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/createuser.sgml
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
       <term><option>--encrypted</></term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
-        Encrypts the user's password stored in the database. If not
-        specified, the default password behavior is used.
+        This option is obsolete but still accepted for backward
+        compatibility.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
@@ -205,17 +205,6 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
      </varlistentry>
 
      <varlistentry>
-      <term><option>-N</></term>
-      <term><option>--unencrypted</></term>
-      <listitem>
-       <para>
-        Does not encrypt the user's password stored in the database. If
-        not specified, the default password behavior is used.
-       </para>
-      </listitem>
-     </varlistentry>
-
-     <varlistentry>
       <term><option>-P</></term>
       <term><option>--pwprompt</></term>
       <listitem>
@@ -481,11 +470,7 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
 </screen>
     In the above example, the new password isn't actually echoed when typed,
     but we show what was typed for clarity.  As you see, the password is
-    encrypted before it is sent to the client.  If the option <option>--unencrypted</option>
-    is used, the password <emphasis>will</> appear in the echoed command
-    (and possibly also in the server log and elsewhere),
-    so you don't want to use <option>-e</> in that case, if
-    anyone else can see your screen.
+    encrypted before it is sent to the client.
    </para>
  </refsect1>