GRANT SELECT to all tables in postgresql

I thought it might be helpful to mention that, as of 9.0, postgres does have the syntax to grant privileges on all tables (as well as other objects) in a schema:

GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO user;
GRANT EXECUTE ON ALL FUNCTIONS IN SCHEMA public TO user;

Here's the link.

My (non-one-liner) solution:

#!/bin/bash

for table in `echo "SELECT schemaname || '.' || relname FROM pg_stat_user_tables;" | psql -A -t my_database_name`;
do
    echo "GRANT SELECT ON TABLE $table to my_new_user;"
    echo "GRANT SELECT ON TABLE $table to my_new_user;" | psql my_database_name
done

Run from the privileged user, it worked like a charm.

This can be done with a two-step process.

1. Run this query:

   select 'grant all on '||schemaname||'.'||tablename||' to $foo;'
   from pg_tables where schemaname in ('$bar', '$baz')
   order by schemaname, tablename;
   

   Replacements:

   $foo = username you want to grant permissions for
   $bar, $baz = schemas you want to grant permissions in (can be just "public")

2. That's going to give you a list of queries that will generate the required permissions. Copy the output, paste it into another query, and execute.

I ended up doing this, and it worked:

ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public 
GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO PUBLIC;