When you create a new PostgreSQL database server there will be a single db and a

single user (both usually named postgres). You can run the following command to
check
the name of the active user

SELECT current_user;

The inital user has permission to create new db, tables, users, etc. In PostgreSQL
the term for such user is 'superuser'. A 'superuser' bypasses all permission checks
that other users face beore being allowed to perform an action.
They can be passed to any number of users, but it is very dangerous if too many
people has this type of access.

• Some principles to address regarding superusers:

- most user's priveliges are restricted;

- superusers aren't performing routine db tasks;
- specilized roles are created with only the permissions they require.

Investigating User Permissions

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As a superuser, you may want to check the permissions of users in your db to ensure
compliance. The following tables and columns are useful for understanding the state
of any user's permissions:

• 'pg_catalog.pg_roles' - a listing of all users in the db, their roles and a

description of what special permissions these users have. To access it type:

SELECT * from pg_catalog.pgroles;

As a superuser you can give yourself roles to check how a user with this role would
behave. You could try to create a table, change tables etc with a given role and
test with the role works as it should. As a superuser, you can give the superuser
role back to you anytime as well. To set a new role for you, type:

SET ROLE role_name

SET ROLE superuser_role_name // superuser role name
is usually 'postgres', sets role back to superuser

• 'information_schema.table_privileges' - a description of permissions a user has

on a table, answering questions about who can SELECT, INSERT, etc values on a
table.
You don't need all columns in this table to understand what permissions, you can
use the below example as a guide to select only important stuff:

SELECT grantor, grantee, table_schema, table_name, privilege_type

FROM information_schema.table_privileges
WHERE grantee = 'userB';

grantor = who granted the privilege

grantee = who received the previlege
table_schema = database name?
table_name = table name
previlege_type = type of privilege (SELECT, UPDATE, etc)