pgpass

What is pgpass?

The pgpass npm package is used to handle PostgreSQL password files (.pgpass) in Node.js applications. It simplifies the process of managing database credentials by reading and parsing the .pgpass file, which stores passwords for PostgreSQL connections.

What are pgpass's main functionalities?

Reading .pgpass file

This feature allows you to read the .pgpass file and retrieve the password for a given connection information. The pgpass function takes connection info and a callback, and returns the password if found.

const pgpass = require('pgpass');
const connInfo = { host: 'localhost', port: 5432, user: 'user', database: 'mydb' };
pgpass(connInfo, (err, password) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error('Error reading .pgpass file:', err);
  } else {
    console.log('Password:', password);
  }
});

Handling multiple entries

This feature demonstrates how to handle multiple entries in the .pgpass file. You can retrieve passwords for different users and databases by providing the respective connection information.

const pgpass = require('pgpass');
const connInfo1 = { host: 'localhost', port: 5432, user: 'user1', database: 'db1' };
const connInfo2 = { host: 'localhost', port: 5432, user: 'user2', database: 'db2' };
pgpass(connInfo1, (err, password1) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error('Error reading .pgpass file for user1:', err);
  } else {
    console.log('Password for user1:', password1);
  }
});
pgpass(connInfo2, (err, password2) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error('Error reading .pgpass file for user2:', err);
  } else {
    console.log('Password for user2:', password2);
  }
});

Other packages similar to pgpass

pg

The 'pg' package is a PostgreSQL client for Node.js. While it does not specifically handle .pgpass files, it provides comprehensive functionality for connecting to and interacting with PostgreSQL databases. Users can manually read .pgpass files and pass the credentials to the 'pg' client.

pg-promise

The 'pg-promise' package is a PostgreSQL interface for Node.js that uses promises. Similar to 'pg', it does not handle .pgpass files directly but offers robust database interaction capabilities. Users can integrate .pgpass file reading manually if needed.

node-postgres

The 'node-postgres' package, also known as 'pg', is another PostgreSQL client for Node.js. It provides a rich set of features for database operations but does not include built-in support for .pgpass files. Users can manage .pgpass file reading separately.

README

pgpass

Install

npm install --save hoegaarden/pgpass

Usage

var pgPass = require('pgpass');

var connInfo = {
  'host' : 'pgserver' ,
  'user' : 'the_user_name' ,
};


// ---- async ----
pgPass(connInfo, function(pass){
  conn_info.password = pass;
  // connect to postgresql server
});

Description

This module tries to read the ~/.pgpass file (or the equivalent for windows systems). If the environment variable PGPASSFILE is set, this file is used instead. If everything goes right, the password from said file is to the callback; if the password cannot be read undefined is passed to the callback.

Cases where undefined is returned:

• the environment variable PGPASSWORD is set
• the file cannot be read (wrong permissions, no such file, ...)
• for non windows systems: the file is write-/readable by the group or by other users
• there is no matching line for the given connection info

The goal of this package is to get included in the node-postgresql module to get the same behaviour for the javascript client as for the native client.

Tests

There are tests in ./test/; including linting and coverage testing. Running npm test runs:

• jshint
• mocha tests
• jscoverage and mocha -R html-cov

You can see the coverage report in coverage.html.

Development, Patches, Bugs, ...

If you find Bugs or have improvments, please feel free to open a issue on github. If you provide a pull request, I'm more than happy to merge them, just make sure to add tests for your changes.

Links

• https://github.com/hoegaarden/node-pgpass
• http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-pgpass.html
• https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Pgpass
• https://github.com/postgres/postgres/blob/master/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c