<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Privileges</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REV="MADE" HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="PostgreSQL 7.4.1 Documentation" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Database Users and Privileges" HREF="user-manag.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Groups" HREF="groups.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Functions and Triggers" HREF="perm-functions.html"><LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="stylesheet.css"><META NAME="creation" CONTENT="2003-12-22T03:48:47"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="5" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >PostgreSQL 7.4.1 Documentation</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="groups.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="user-manag.html" >Fast Backward</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Chapter 17. Database Users and Privileges</TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="user-manag.html" >Fast Forward</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="perm-functions.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="PRIVILEGES" >17.4. Privileges</A ></H1 ><A NAME="AEN17300" ></A ><A NAME="AEN17302" ></A ><A NAME="AEN17304" ></A ><A NAME="AEN17306" ></A ><P > When a database object is created, it is assigned an owner. The owner is the user that executed the creation statement. To change the owner of a table, index, sequence, or view, use the <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >ALTER TABLE</TT > command. By default, only an owner (or a superuser) can do anything with the object. In order to allow other users to use it, <I CLASS="FIRSTTERM" >privileges</I > must be granted. </P ><P > There are several different privileges: <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >SELECT</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >INSERT</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >UPDATE</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >DELETE</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >RULE</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >REFERENCES</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >TRIGGER</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >CREATE</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >TEMPORARY</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >EXECUTE</TT >, <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >USAGE</TT >, and <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >ALL PRIVILEGES</TT >. For more information on the different types of privileges support by <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >PostgreSQL</SPAN >, see the <A HREF="sql-grant.html" ><I >GRANT</I ></A > reference page. The right to modify or destroy an object is always the privilege of the owner only. To assign privileges, the <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >GRANT</TT > command is used. So, if <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >joe</TT > is an existing user, and <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >accounts</TT > is an existing table, the privilege to update the table can be granted with </P><PRE CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING" >GRANT UPDATE ON accounts TO joe;</PRE ><P> The user executing this command must be the owner of the table. To grant a privilege to a group, use </P><PRE CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING" >GRANT SELECT ON accounts TO GROUP staff;</PRE ><P> The special <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"user"</SPAN > name <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >PUBLIC</TT > can be used to grant a privilege to every user on the system. Writing <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >ALL</TT > in place of a specific privilege specifies that all privileges will be granted. </P ><P > To revoke a privilege, use the fittingly named <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >REVOKE</TT > command: </P><PRE CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING" >REVOKE ALL ON accounts FROM PUBLIC;</PRE ><P> The special privileges of the table owner (i.e., the right to do <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >DROP</TT >, <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >GRANT</TT >, <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >REVOKE</TT >, etc) are always implicit in being the owner, and cannot be granted or revoked. But the table owner can choose to revoke his own ordinary privileges, for example to make a table read-only for himself as well as others. </P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="groups.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="perm-functions.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Groups</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="user-manag.html" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Functions and Triggers</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >
