The documentation for 8.3 states:
ALTER USER is now an alias for ALTER ROLE.
Under the entry for ALTER ROLE it says:
Caution must be exercised when specifying an unencrypted password with
this command. The password will be transmitted to the server in
cleartext, and it might also be logged in the client's command history
or the server log. psql contains a command \password that can be used
to safely change a role's password.
Kenneth Banyas wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I am using versions 7.4 and 8.3.7.
> I have not discovered a way to obfuscate the password when changing it
> in psql with ALTER USER syntax.
> The password displays in clear text at the command line AND in the log file.
> Why is this?
> Or am I missing something obvious in the documentation?
> Thanks.
>
> Ken Banyas
>
>