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><A
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>5.7. Privileges</A
></H1
><A
NAME="AEN2358"
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><A
NAME="AEN2360"
></A
><P
> When you create a database object, you become its owner. By
default, only the owner of an object can do anything with the
object. In order to allow other users to use it,
<I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>privileges</I
> must be granted. (However,
users that have the superuser attribute can always
access any object.)
</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
>,
and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>USAGE</TT
>. The privileges applicable to a particular
object vary depending on the object's type (table, function, etc).
For complete
information on the different types of privileges supported by
<SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>, refer to the
<A
HREF="sql-grant.html"
>GRANT</A
> reference page. The following sections
and chapters will also show you how those privileges are used.
</P
><P
> The right to modify or destroy an object is always the privilege of
the owner only.
</P
><DIV
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><P
><B
>Note: </B
> To change the owner of a table, index, sequence, or view, use the
<A
HREF="sql-altertable.html"
>ALTER TABLE</A
> command. There are corresponding
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>ALTER</TT
> commands for other object types.
</P
></BLOCKQUOTE
></DIV
><P
> To assign privileges, the <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>GRANT</TT
> command is
used. For example, 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>
To grant a privilege to a group, use this syntax:
</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 grants all
privileges that are relevant for the object type.
</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 object 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 object owner can choose
to revoke his own ordinary privileges, for example to make a
table read-only for himself as well as others.
</P
><P
> Ordinarily, only the object's owner (or a superuser) can grant or revoke
privileges on an object. However, it is possible to grant a privilege
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"with grant option"</SPAN
>, which gives the recipient the right to
grant it in turn to others. If the grant option is subsequently revoked
then all who received the privilege from that recipient (directly or
through a chain of grants) will lose the privilege. For details see
the <A
HREF="sql-grant.html"
>GRANT</A
> and <A
HREF="sql-revoke.html"
>REVOKE</A
> reference
pages.
</P
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