-<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/catalogs.sgml,v 2.229 2010/09/13 01:23:35 rhaas Exp $ -->
+<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/catalogs.sgml,v 2.230 2010/09/13 17:02:34 rhaas Exp $ -->
<!--
Documentation of the system catalogs, directed toward PostgreSQL developers
-->
<row>
<entry><structfield>rolpassword</structfield></entry>
<entry><type>text</type></entry>
- <entry>Password (possibly encrypted); null if none</entry>
+ <entry>
+ Password (possibly encrypted); null if none. If the password is
+ encrypted, this column will contain the string md5 followed by a
+ 32-character hexadecimal MD5 hash. The MD5 hash will be of the
+ user's password concatenated to their username (for example, if
+ user joe has password xyzzy, <productname>PostgreSQL</> will store
+ the md5 hash of xyzzyjoe).
+ </entry>
</row>
<row>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> before version 8.1.
It shows properties of all roles that are marked as
<structfield>rolcanlogin</> in
- <link linkend="catalog-pg-authid">pg_authid</link>.
+ <link linkend="catalog-pg-authid"><structname>pg_authid</structname></link>.
</para>
<para>
<entry><structfield>passwd</structfield></entry>
<entry><type>text</type></entry>
<entry></entry>
- <entry>Password (possibly encrypted)</entry>
+ <entry>Password (possibly encrypted); null if none. See
+ <link linkend="catalog-pg-authid"><structname>pg_authid</structname></link>
+ for details of how encrypted passwords are stored.</entry>
</row>
<row>