PostgreSQL: Getting Permission Checks Right
Two backpatched fixes this cycle both correct cases where PostgreSQL's permission logic didn't match reality — one in psql's database listing, one in logical replication's sequence sync error reporting.
Duration: PT2M29S
Episode overview
This episode is a short developer briefing from PostgreSQL.
It explains recent repository work in plain language.
- Show: PostgreSQL
- Published: 2026-07-25T13:03:22Z
- Audio duration: PT2M29S
Transcript excerpt
This excerpt keeps the crawler page concise. Listen to the episode or use the RSS feed for the full update.
Good day, and welcome to PostgreSQL, the daily briefing. It's July 25th, 2026.
Today's activity is small but points at one clear theme: permission checks that didn't quite line up with what the underlying system actually allows, and the fixes needed to correct them.
First, commit 38afc3d, from Fujii Masao, patches psql's backslash-l-plus command. The underlying function, pg_database_size, has always granted access to two groups: users with connect privilege on a database, or users holding the pg_read_all_stats role. But psql's display logic only checked for connect privilege.…
Second, commit 13b7a8a, authored by Vignesh C, fixes a reporting bug in logical replication's sequence synchronization. When a sync batch included both a sequence dropped on the publisher and a separate sequence the replication role lacked permission to read, the permission-denied sequence got flagged twice — once…
Both fixes share a pattern worth remembering: permission and status logic that lives in more than one place tends to drift out of sync over time. Neither change is complex, but both required someone to notice a mismatch between documented behavior and actual behavior.
What's next: these are backpatch…
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