NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · IOException

Bad map field in pg_ident.conf entry

Error message

Bad map field in pg_ident.conf entry

What it means

Thrown by ServerConfig.IdentEntry.parse when the first non-whitespace character of a pg_ident.conf line is a double-quote. The map-name field must be an unquoted token; a leading quote is treated as malformed because the parser expects a bare map name here.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/ServerConfig.java:378

		public boolean matchRole(String mName, String rName) {
			return mapName.equals(mName) && roleName.equals(rName);
		}

		/**
		 * Parse a single line from the pg_ident.conf file and recover the
		 * map name, system name, and role
		 * @param line is the incoming of text
		 * @return true if the line is an ident entry, false if it is a comment
		 * @throws IOException if the text cannot be parsed
		 */
		public boolean parse(String line) throws IOException {
			int pos = 0;
			pos = skipWhiteSpace(pos, line);
			if (pos >= line.length()) {
				return false;			// Blank line, treat as comment
			}
			if (line.charAt(pos) == '"') {
				throw new IOException("Bad map field in pg_ident.conf entry");
			}
			if (line.charAt(pos) == '#') {
				return false;			// Return false to indicate comment
			}
			int endpos = parseField(pos, line);
			mapName = line.substring(pos, endpos);

			pos = skipWhiteSpace(endpos, line);
			if (pos >= line.length()) {
				throw new IOException("Missing system-name in pg_ident.conf entry");
			}
			else if (line.charAt(pos) == '"') {
				systemNameIsQuoted = true;
				endpos = parseDoubleQuote(pos, line);
				if (line.charAt(endpos - 1) != '"') {
					throw new IOException("Entry missing ending quote in pg_ident.conf");
				}
				systemName = line.substring(pos + 1, endpos - 1);		// Strip quotes

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Remove the leading quote from the map-name field; the map name must be an unquoted token.
2. Use the form: mapname systemname username (only system-name and role may be quoted if they contain spaces).
3. Validate that the first field does not start with '"' before saving the file.

Example fix

// before (pg_ident.conf line)
"mymap"   myuser   myrole
// after
mymap   myuser   myrole

// Reject a quoted map-name before parsing pg_ident.conf entry
String trimmed = line.trim();
int i = 0;
while (i < trimmed.length() && Character.isWhitespace(trimmed.charAt(i))) i++;
if (i < trimmed.length() && trimmed.charAt(i) == '"') {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
        "pg_ident.conf map-name must be unquoted: " + line);
}
identEntry.parse(line);

try {
    identEntry.parse(line);
} catch (IOException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("Bad map field")) {
        log.error("pg_ident.conf map-name must not be quoted: '{}'", line);
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Parsing a pg_ident.conf entry line whose map-name field begins with '"' (e.g. '"mymap" system user'). The parser rejects quoting on the first field.

Common situations: Over-quoting fields when editing pg_ident.conf by hand. Copying a quoted format from another config style into pg_ident.conf. Misunderstanding which fields may be quoted in this file.

Related errors

• Missing system-name in pg_ident.conf entry
• Entry missing ending quote in pg_ident.conf
• Missing role in pg_ident.conf entry
• Parsing error
• PostgreSQL pg_ctl command not found: {}

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e8892f02ff9a8b9f. Report an issue: GitHub.