31.16. The Connection Service File
The connection service file allows libpq connection parameters to be associated with a single service name. That service name can then be specified by a libpq connection, and the associated settings will be used. This allows connection parameters to be modified without requiring a recompile of the libpq application. The service name can also be specified using thePGSERVICE environment variable.
The connection service file can be a per-user service file at~/.pg_service.conf or the location specified by the environment variablePGSERVICEFILE, or it can be a system-wide file at`pg_config --sysconfdir`/pg_service.conf or in the directory specified by the environment variablePGSYSCONFDIR. If service definitions with the same name exist in the user and the system file, the user file takes precedence.
The file uses an“INI file” format where the section name is the service name and the parameters are connection parameters; seeSection 31.1.2 for a list. For example:
# comment[mydb]host=somehostport=5433user=admin
An example file is provided atshare/pg_service.conf.sample.