PostgreSQL 8.2.13 Documentation
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# 29.16. SSL Support

PostgreSQL has native support for using SSL connections to encrypt client/server communications for increased security. See Section 16.7 for details about the server-side SSL functionality.

If the server demands a client certificate, libpq will send the certificate stored in file `~/.postgresql/postgresql.crt` within the user's home directory. A matching private key file `~/.postgresql/postgresql.key` must also be present, and must not be world-readable. (On Microsoft Windows these files are named `%APPDATA%\postgresql\postgresql.crt` and `%APPDATA%\postgresql\postgresql.key`.)

If the file `~/.postgresql/root.crt` is present in the user's home directory, libpq will use the certificate list stored therein to verify the server's certificate. (On Microsoft Windows the file is named `%APPDATA%\postgresql\root.crt`.) The SSL connection will fail if the server does not present a certificate; therefore, to use this feature the server must have a `server.crt` file. Certificate Revocation List (CRL) entries are also checked if the file `~/.postgresql/root.crl` exists (`%APPDATA%\postgresql\root.crl` on Microsoft Windows).

If you are using SSL inside your application (in addition to inside libpq), you can use `PQinitSSL(int)` to tell libpq that the SSL library has already been initialized by your application.

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