> Unless you edit pg_ident.conf, your postgres install will not listen for connections outside of on localhost.
I don't know what the defaults are, but pg_ident.conf has absolutely nothing to do with this. The main configuration file (I think postgresql.conf usually) has listen_addresses, which controls the addresses on which postgres listens, as you might guess.
pg_hba.conf (not pg_ident.conf) controls the authentication methods the server asks from the client, depending on how they're connecting.
You're technically correct, but the difference is immaterial unless we're talking about outright pre-auth exploits. Or exploits of the auth itself, I guess.
(I think I recall exactly one in the history of PostgreSQL since I started using it, but it is what it is.)
I don't know what the defaults are, but pg_ident.conf has absolutely nothing to do with this. The main configuration file (I think postgresql.conf usually) has listen_addresses, which controls the addresses on which postgres listens, as you might guess.
pg_hba.conf (not pg_ident.conf) controls the authentication methods the server asks from the client, depending on how they're connecting.