How do I install pgcrypto in PostgreSQL 8.4?

Question

I'm using Ubuntu Server 10.10 and I have installed PostgreSQL 8.4 using apt-get install postgresql. I would like to use the built-in sha1() function, but it seems that I have to install pgcrypto first. But I don't know how to install it.

There is no pgcrypto if I try to install it using apt-get install pgcrypto and I don't find any files starting with pgcrypto in my system (I tried find / -name "pgcrypto*").

How do I install pgcrypto so I can use the digest('word-to-hash','sha1') function in my database queries?

Update: I'm struggling to install pgcrypto on another Ubuntu machine. After installing the package using sudo apt-get install postgresql-contrib-8.4 how do I install it to my current PostgreSQL database?

score 21 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 09 '17 at 04:30

PostgreSQL 9.1+

Note that I'm working on Ubuntu 12.04, which uses postgresql 9.1.

There, I needed to:

sudo apt-get install postgresql-contrib

And then in my database:

postgres@ztrustee:~$ psql test
psql (9.1.3)
Type "help" for help.
test=# CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto;
CREATE EXTENSION

And now I can use pgcrypto functionality, gen_random_bytes():

test=# create table test ( 
  id 
    text 
    not null 
    default encode( gen_random_bytes( 32 ), 'hex' ) 
    primary key, 
  value 
    text 
); 
NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index "test_pkey" for table "test"
CREATE TABLE
test=# \d test
                            Table "public.test"
 Column | Type |                         Modifiers                          
--------+------+------------------------------------------------------------
 id     | text | not null default encode(gen_random_bytes(32), 'hex'::text)
 value  | text | 
Indexes:
    "test_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)

test=# insert into test (value) VALUES ('scoobydoo');
INSERT 0 1
test=# select * from test;
                                id                                |   value   
------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------
 76dd5bd0120d3df797f932fbcb4f8aa5088e215ee2b920dddbff59c8595fbac7 | scoobydoo

DrColossos · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-23T08:18:52.813

For newer version of PG, check out the answer below by Dustin Kirkland

It's an external module for Postgres. You should install the postgresql-contrib-8.4 (or your pg version) package via apt:

apt-get install postgresql-contrib-8.4

Then you find the sql install file somewhere in the /usr/share/postgresql folder, and you'll need to run pgcryto.sql on the database.

psql -d <database> -f /usr/share/postgresql/8.4/contrib/pgcrypto.sql

Or,

$ cd /usr/share/postgresql/8.4/contrib
$ psql -d <database>
    psql (8.4.8)
    Type "help" for help.

    database=# \i pgcrypto.sql

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 13 '19 at 16:49

For the latest version, there is no file path end with pgcrypto.sql .

Create an extension pgcrypto under the required user.

$ psql -U <username> -d mydb

psql (10.6 (Ubuntu 10.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1))
Type "help" for help.

mydb=> CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto;

CREATE EXTENSION
mydb=>

If in case, the user does not have permission to create an extension, give superuser permission by login as postgres(default) user and try again.

$ psql --u postgres

psql (10.6 (Ubuntu 10.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1))
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# ALTER USER <username> WITH SUPERUSER;

ALTER ROLE

How do I install pgcrypto in PostgreSQL 8.4?

3 Answers3

PostgreSQL 9.1+