1. Overview

Cognica Database implements a comprehensive role-based access control (RBAC) system compatible with PostgreSQL. Key concepts:

• Roles are the foundation of the permission system. A role can be a user (can log in) or a group (collection of privileges).
• Privileges control what operations a role can perform on database objects.
• Role Membership allows roles to inherit privileges from other roles.
• Row-Level Security (RLS) provides fine-grained access control at the row level.

Terminology:

• In PostgreSQL (and Cognica), "user" and "role" are nearly synonymous. The difference is that a "user" is a role with the LOGIN attribute.
• CREATE USER is equivalent to CREATE ROLE ... LOGIN.

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