Stephen Frost <sfrost@snowman.net> writes:
> Alright, sorry to just jump in here in the middle, but I don't see why
> pg_hba.conf couldn't be made to work just like pg_shadow (or rather,
> pg_authid or whatever it is now :).
(1) pg_hba.conf is fundamentally order-sensitive; SQL tables are
fundamentally not. I think it would be a bad idea to try to make
pg_hba.conf be an image of a SQL table.
(2) You have to be able to edit pg_hba.conf manually before you start
the server for the first time.
regards, tom lane