Permissions¶

BLUE’s primary permission object is a role. The role operates in a dual capacity as both a user and a group. As a user, a role may have permissions to execute operations like creating tables, querying data, and administering the database. The group attribute may be thought of as a membership. As a group, a role may extend its permissions to other roles defined as its group members. This becomes handy when privileged roles wish to extend their permissions and grant multiple permissions to multiple roles. The information about all system role permissions is stored in the metadata.

There are two types of permissions: global and object-level. Global permissions belong to SUPERUSER roles, allowing unrestricted access to all system and database activities. Object-level permissions apply to non-SUPERUSER roles and can be assigned to databases, schemas, tables, functions, views, foreign tables, and catalogs.

The following table describe the required permissions for performing and executing operations on various BLUE objects.

Permission	Description
All Databases
`LOGIN`	Use role to log into the system (the role also needs connect permission on the database it is connecting to)
`SUPERUSER`	No permission restrictions on any activity
Database
`SUPERUSER`	No permission restrictions on any activity within that database (this does not include modifying roles or permissions)
`CONNECT`	Connect to the database
`CREATE`	Create schemas in the database
`CREATEFUNCTION`	Create and drop functions
`DDL`	Drop and alter tables within the database
`ALL`	All database permissions except for a SUPERUSER permission
Schema
`USAGE`	Grants access to schema objects
`CREATE`	Create tables in the schema
`SUPERUSER`	No permission restrictions on any activity within the schema (this does not include modifying roles or permissions)
`DDL`	Drop and alter tables within the schema
`ALL`	All schema permissions
Table
`SELECT`	SELECT from the table
`INSERT`	INSERT into the table
`UPDATE`	UPDATE the value of certain columns in existing rows
`DELETE`	DELETE and TRUNCATE on the table
`DDL`	Drop and alter on the table
`ALL`	All table permissions
Function
`EXECUTE`	Use the function
`DDL`	Drop and alter on the function
`ALL`	All function permissions
Column
`SELECT`	Select from catalog
`DDL`	Column DDL operations
View
`SELECT`	Select from view
`DDL`	DDL operations of view results
`ALL`	All views permissions
Foreign Table
`SELECT`	Select from foreign table
`DDL`	Foreign table DDL operations
`ALL`	All foreign table permissions
Catalog
`SELECT`	Select from catalog
`ALL`	All catalog permissions

Syntax¶

Permissions may be granted or revoked using the following syntax.

GRANT¶

-- Grant permissions to all databases:
GRANT {
SUPERUSER
| LOGIN }
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant permissions at the database level:
GRANT {
CREATE
| CONNECT
| DDL
| SUPERUSER
| CREATE FUNCTION } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS]
ON DATABASE <database> [, ...]
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant permissions at the schema level:
GRANT {
CREATE
| DDL
| USAGE
| SUPERUSER } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS]
ON SCHEMA <schema> [, ...]
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant permissions at the object level:
GRANT {
SELECT
| INSERT
| DELETE
| DDL
| UPDATE } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS]
ON {TABLE <table_name> [, ...]
| ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA <schema_name> [, ...]}
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant permissions at the catalog level:
GRANT {
{SELECT } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS] }
ON { CATALOG <catalog_name> [, ...] }
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant permissions on the foreign table level:

GRANT {
{SELECT
| DDL } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS] }
ON { FOREIGN TABLE <table_name> [, ...]
| ALL FOREIGN TABLE IN SCHEMA <schema_name> [, ...]}
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant function execution permission:
GRANT {
ALL
| EXECUTE
| DDL }
ON FUNCTION <function_name>
TO "<role>"

-- Grant permissions at the column level:
GRANT
{
  { SELECT
  | DDL } [, ...]
  | ALL [PERMISSIONS]
}
ON
{
  COLUMN "<column_name>" [,"<column_name2>"] IN TABLE <table_name> [,<table_name2>]
  | COLUMN "<column_name>" [,"<column_name2>"] IN FOREIGN TABLE <table_name> [,<table_name2>]
  | ALL COLUMNS IN TABLE <schema_name.table_name> [, ...]
  | ALL COLUMNS IN FOREIGN TABLE <foreign_table_name> [, ...]
}
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Grant permissions on the view level
GRANT {
{SELECT
| DDL } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS] }
ON { VIEW <view_name> [, ...]
| ALL VIEWS IN SCHEMA <schema_name> [, ...]}
TO "<role>" [, ...]

-- Allows role2 to use permissions granted to role1
GRANT "<role1>" [, ...]
TO "<role2>"

-- Also allows the role2 to grant role1 to other roles:
GRANT "<role1>" [, ...]
TO "<role2>" [,...] [WITH ADMIN OPTION]

REVOKE¶

-- Revoke permissions from all databases:
REVOKE {
SUPERUSER
| LOGIN }
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke permissions at the database level:
REVOKE {
CREATE
| CONNECT
| DDL
| SUPERUSER
| CREATE FUNCTION } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS]
ON DATABASE <database> [, ...]
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke permissions at the schema level:
REVOKE {
CREATE
| DDL
| USAGE
| SUPERUSER } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS]
ON SCHEMA <schema> [, ...]
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke permissions at the object level:
REVOKE {
SELECT
| INSERT
| DELETE
| DDL
| UPDATE } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS]
ON {TABLE <table_name> [, ...]
| ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA <schema_name> [, ...]}
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke permissions at the catalog level:
REVOKE {
{SELECT } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS] }
ON { CATALOG <catalog_name> [, ...] }
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke permissions on the foreign table level:

REVOKE {
{SELECT
| DDL } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS] }
ON { FOREIGN TABLE <table_name> [, ...]
| ALL FOREIGN TABLE IN SCHEMA <schema_name> [, ...]}
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke function execution permission:
REVOKE {
ALL
| EXECUTE
| DDL }
ON FUNCTION <function_name>
FROM "<role>"

-- Revoke permissions at the column level:
REVOKE
{
  { SELECT
  | DDL } [, ...]
  | ALL [PERMISSIONS]}
ON
{
  COLUMN "<column_name>" [,"<column_name2>"] IN TABLE <table_name> [,<table_name2>] | COLUMN "<column_name>" [,"<column_name2>"] IN FOREIGN TABLE <table_name> [,<table_name2>]
  | ALL COLUMNS IN TABLE <schema_name.table_name> [, ...]
  | ALL COLUMNS IN FOREIGN TABLE <schema_name.foreign_table_name> [, ...]
}
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Revoke permissions on the view level
REVOKE {
{SELECT
| DDL } [, ...]
| ALL [PERMISSIONS] }
ON { VIEW <view_name> [, ...]
| ALL VIEWS IN SCHEMA <schema_name> [, ...]}
FROM "<role>" [, ...]

-- Removes access to permissions in role1 by role 2
REVOKE [ADMIN OPTION FOR] "<role1>" [, ...]
FROM "<role2>" [, ...]

-- Removes permissions to grant role1 to additional roles from role2
REVOKE [ADMIN OPTION FOR] "<role1>" [, ...]
FROM "<role2>" [, ...]

Altering Default Permissions¶

The default permissions system (See ALTER DEFAULT PERMISSIONS) can be used to automatically grant permissions to newly created objects (See the departmental example below for one way it can be used).

A default permissions rule looks for a schema being created, or a table (possibly by schema), and is table to grant any permission to that object to any role. This happens when the create table or create schema statement is run.

ALTER DEFAULT PERMISSIONS FOR modifying_role
[IN <schema_name> [, ...]
FOR {
     SCHEMAS
     | TABLES
     | FOREIGN TABLES
     | VIEWS
     | COLUMNS
     | CATALOGS
    }
     { grant_clause
     | DROP grant_clause }
     TO ROLE { role_name | public
            }

grant_clause ::=
GRANT
   { CREATE FUNCTION
    | SUPERUSER
    | CONNECT
    | CREATE
    | USAGE
    | SELECT
    | INSERT
    | DELETE
    | DDL
    | UPDATE
    | EXECUTE
    | ALL
   }

Examples¶

GRANT¶

Grant superuser privileges and login capability to a role:

GRANT SUPERUSER, LOGIN TO role_name;

Grant specific permissions on a database to a role:

GRANT CREATE, CONNECT, DDL, SUPERUSER, CREATE FUNCTION ON DATABASE database_name TO role_name;

Grant various permissions on a schema to a role:

GRANT CREATE, USAGE, SUPERUSER ON SCHEMA schema_name TO role_name;

Grant permissions on specific objects (table, view, foreign table, or catalog) to a role:

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, DDL, UPDATE ON TABLE schema_name.table_name TO role_name;

Grant execute function permission to a role:

GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION function_name TO role_name;

Grant column-level permissions to a role:

GRANT SELECT, DDL ON COLUMN "column_name" IN TABLE schema_name.table_name TO role_name;

Grant view-level permissions to a role:

GRANT ALL PERMISSIONS ON VIEW "view_name" IN SCHEMA "schema_name" TO role_name;

Grant role2 the ability to use permissions granted to role1:

GRANT role1 TO role2;

Grant role2 the ability to grant role1 to other roles:

GRANT role1 TO role2 WITH ADMIN OPTION;

REVOKE¶

Revoke superuser privileges or login capability from a role:

REVOKE SUPERUSER, LOGIN FROM role_name;

Revoke specific permissions on a database from a role:

REVOKE CREATE, CONNECT, DDL, SUPERUSER, CREATE FUNCTION ON DATABASE database_name FROM role_name;

Revoke permissions on a schema from a role:

REVOKE CREATE, USAGE, SUPERUSER ON SCHEMA schema_name FROM role_name;

Revoke permissions on specific objects (table, view, foreign table, or catalog) from a role:

REVOKE SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, DDL, UPDATE ON TABLE schema_name.table_name FROM role_name;

Revoke column-level permissions from a role:

REVOKE SELECT, DDL FROM COLUMN "column_name" IN TABLE schema_name.table_name FROM role_name;

Revoke view-level permissions from a role:

REVOKE ALL PERMISSIONS ON VIEW "view_name" IN SCHEMA "schema_name" FROM role_name;

Remove access to permissions in role1 by role2:

REVOKE role1 FROM role2 ;

Remove permissions to grant role1 to additional roles from role2:

REVOKE ADMIN OPTION FOR role1 FROM role2 ;