pgAdmin writes that file whenever a user successfully logs into a server with a new password for the first time, and opts to save it. If the user then edits the file in notepad (maybe to add new details for a server to use from psql), they'll run into problems.
-- Dave Page Blog: http://pgsnake.blogspot.com Twitter: @pgsnake EnterpriseDB UK:http://www.enterprisedb.com The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company > On 5 Sep 2014, at 20:32, Daniel Browning <d...@kavod.com> wrote: > >> On Friday 05 September 2014 12:57:21 am Dave Page wrote: >>> On Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 11:23 PM, Daniel Browning <d...@kavod.com> wrote: >>> Do you agree with modifying pgAdmin so that it stops converting the EOL >>> characters in the pgpass.conf file from unix-style (\n) to Windows-style >>> (\r\n)? >>> >>> It works fine with unix-style line endings, and if the file is in that >>> format already, I think it should leave well enough alone. >>> >>> The reason the issue came up is that I would like to be able to use one >>> pgpass file for both Windows applications (pgAdmin, psql under >>> powershell, etc.) and cygwin applications (/usr/bin/psql). I created a >>> symlink from the pgpass.conf file to .pgpass, and it works perfectly. >>> Until, that is, I launch pgAdmin and it adds the Windows carriage >>> returns. Then, cygwin's psql stops working; it seems to send the carriage >>> return appended to the end of the password, resulting in incorrect >>> password errors. >> >> The primary reason that file (and others) are written with DOS line >> endings is because the default editor on Windows (notepad) can't cope >> with *nix style line ends. > > I can understand that, but how would such a user have ever ended up with a > file that has unix line-endings anyway? > > If they were creating it from scratch, it would have windows EOLs already. If > they copied the file from another windows developer, it would have them too. > The only case I can think of where this feature would be useful is in a > pretty > specific set of circumstances: > > * A novice user copies a .pgpass file with *nix EOLs from a colleague > * He knows to rename it to pgpass.conf and put it in AppData\Roaming\etc. > * When he tries to open it in notepad, it's all wonky and he is confused. > * He tries running PgAdmin anyway > * PgAdmin fixed the file so it can be opened in notepad > * The novice user is thankful for PgAdmin doing that > > To me, that seems like a pretty rare circumstance -- and not really PgAdmin's > place to be doing that. Now if the user was actually *modifying* the > pgpass.conf in PgAdmin, I could see some reason behind converting to windows > EOLs; however, when the file is only being read and not written, it seems > like > converting EOLs is trying to be too helpful. > >> This is obviously a PITA, as it requires >> users to install a better editor (which is arguably a very good idea >> anyway, but we don't want to force it on users who may just be setting >> up an app on a machine for someone else for example). > > Agreed. My inner pedant would like to point out that technically, they don't > have to install a better editor, they just need to open the file in Wordpad, > which is distributed with all versions of windows from at least Windows 95 > through 8.1, and reads files with unix-style line endings. But for some > novice > users, opening a file in a non-default program is probably just as hard as > installing a new text editor, so your point remains. > >>> I could also just not use cygwin, but as a long-term Linux user, I find >>> that when I am forced to use Windows, as in this case, it is >>> significantly easier for me to use cygwin than to learn all the >>> Windows-equivalent commandline tools, which in many cases do not even >>> exist. >> >> Have you tried Msys? Not suggesting you should switch, but it would be >> interesting to know how it behaves. > > I haven't tried it. If I get a chance to, I'll report back. > >>> What do you think? >> >> At the moment I'm leaning towards leaving it as-is. I see your >> problem, but you're the only person to report it in 12+ years that I >> can remember. I suspect the notepad issue would inconvenience far more >> users. I suppose we could make it a configurable option. > > Personally, I'd be in favor of a configurable option and a dialog box that > says something like: > > "Your pgpass.conf file was in unix format, so we converted it to Windows > format for you. If you would like to change this behavior, access the such- > and-such option." > -- > DB
