diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/explorer/state b/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/explorer/state
index c8e1fa9d..34069de9 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/explorer/state
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/explorer/state
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/sh -e
 #
 # 2011 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist at armstrong.cc)
+# 2020 Dennis Camera (dennis.camera at ssrq-sds-fds.ch)
 #
 # This file is part of cdist.
 #
@@ -11,32 +12,140 @@
 #
 # cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.	See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
 
-case "$("${__explorer}/os")"
+case $("${__explorer:?}/os")
 in
-    netbsd)
-        postgres_user='pgsql'
-        ;;
-    openbsd)
-        postgres_user='_postgresql'
-        ;;
-    *)
-        postgres_user='postgres'
-        ;;
+	(netbsd)
+		postgres_user='pgsql'
+		;;
+	(openbsd)
+		postgres_user='_postgresql'
+		;;
+	(*)
+		postgres_user='postgres'
+		;;
 esac
 
+rolename=${__object_id:?}
 
-name="$__object_id"
 
-if test -n "$(su - "$postgres_user" -c "psql postgres -twAc \"SELECT 1 FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname='$name'\"")"
+psql_query() {
+	su -l "${postgres_user}" -c "$(
+		printf "psql -q -F '\034' -R '\036' -wAc '%s'" \
+		"$(printf %s "$*" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g")"
+	)"
+}
+
+password_check_login() (
+	PGPASSWORD=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/password"; printf .)
+	PGPASSWORD=${PGPASSWORD%?.}
+	export PGPASSWORD
+	psql -q -w -h localhost -U "${rolename}" template1 -c '\q' >/dev/null 2>&1
+)
+
+role_properties=$(
+	psql_query "SELECT * FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname = '${rolename}'" \
+	| awk '
+	  BEGIN { RS = "\036"; FS = "\034" }
+	  /^\([0-9]+ rows?\)/ { exit }
+	  NR == 1 { for (i = 1; i <= NF; i++) cols[i] = $i; next }
+	  NR == 2 { for (i = 1; i <= NF; i++) printf "%s=%s\n", cols[i], $i }
+	  '
+)
+
+if test -n "${role_properties}"
 then
-    echo 'present'
+	# Check if the user's properties match the parameters
+	for prop in login createdb createrole superuser
+	do
+		bool_should=$(test -f "${__object:?}/parameter/${prop}" && echo 't' || echo 'f')
+		bool_is=$(
+			printf '%s\n' "${role_properties}" |
+			awk -F '=' -v key="${prop}" '
+			BEGIN {
+				if (key == "login")
+					key = "canlogin"
+				else if (key == "superuser")
+					key = "super"
+				key = "rol" key
+			}
+			$1 == key {
+				sub(/^[^=]*=/, "")
+				print
+			}
+			'
+		)
+
+		test "${bool_is}" = "${bool_should}" || {
+			state='different properties'
+		}
+	done
+
+	# Check password
+	passwd_stored=$(
+		psql_query "SELECT rolpassword FROM pg_authid WHERE rolname = '${rolename}'" \
+		| awk 'BEGIN { RS = "\036" } NR == 2'
+		printf .
+	)
+	passwd_stored=${passwd_stored%?.}
+
+	if test -f "${__object:?}/parameter/password"
+	then
+		passwd_should=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/password"; printf .)
+	fi
+	passwd_should=${passwd_should%?.}
+
+	if test -z "${passwd_stored}"
+	then
+		test -z "${passwd_should}" || state="${state:-different} password"
+	elif expr "${passwd_stored}" : 'SCRAM-SHA-256\$.*$' >/dev/null
+	then
+		# SCRAM-SHA-256 "encrypted" password
+		# NOTE: There is currently no easy way to check SCRAM passwords without
+		#       logging in
+		password_check_login || state="${state:-different} password"
+	elif expr "${passwd_stored}" : 'md5[0-9a-f]\{32\}$' >/dev/null
+	then
+		# MD5 "encrypted" password
+		if command -v md5sum >/dev/null 2>&1
+		then
+			should_md5=$(
+				printf '%s%s' "${passwd_should}" "${rolename}" \
+				| md5sum - | sed -e 's/[^0-9a-f]*$//')
+		elif command -v gmd5sum >/dev/null 2>&1
+		then
+			should_md5=$(
+				printf '%s%s' "${passwd_should}" "${rolename}" \
+				| gmd5sum - | sed -e 's/[^0-9a-f]*$//')
+		elif command -v openssl >/dev/null 2>&1
+		then
+			should_md5=$(
+				printf '%s%s' "${passwd_should}" "${rolename}" \
+				| openssl dgst -md5 | sed 's/^.* //')
+		fi
+
+		if test -n "${should_md5}"
+		then
+			test "${passwd_stored}" = "md5${should_md5}" \
+			|| state="${state:-different} password"
+		else
+			password_check_login || state="${state:-different} password"
+		fi
+	else
+		# unencrypted password (unsupported since PostgreSQL 10)
+		test "${passwd_stored}" = "${passwd_should}" \
+		|| state="${state:-different} password"
+	fi
+
+	test -n "${state}" || state='present'
 else
-    echo 'absent'
+	state='absent'
 fi
+
+echo "${state}"
diff --git a/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/gencode-remote b/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/gencode-remote
index 282294c9..d7631fbd 100755
--- a/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/gencode-remote
+++ b/cdist/conf/type/__postgres_role/gencode-remote
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 #
 # 2011 Steven Armstrong (steven-cdist at armstrong.cc)
+# 2020 Dennis Camera (dennis.camera at ssrq-sds-fds.ch)
 #
 # This file is part of cdist.
 #
@@ -11,55 +12,117 @@
 #
 # cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.	See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
 
-case "$(cat "${__global}/explorer/os")"
+quote() {
+	if test $# -gt 0
+	then
+		printf '%s' "$*"
+	else
+		cat -
+	fi | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g;1s/^/'/;\$s/\$/'/"
+}
+
+case $(cat "${__global:?}/explorer/os")
 in
-    netbsd)
-        postgres_user='pgsql'
-        ;;
-    openbsd)
-        postgres_user='_postgresql'
-        ;;
-    *)
-        postgres_user='postgres'
-        ;;
+	(netbsd)
+		postgres_user='pgsql'
+		;;
+	(openbsd)
+		postgres_user='_postgresql'
+		;;
+	(*)
+		postgres_user='postgres'
+		;;
 esac
 
 
-name="$__object_id"
-state_is="$(cat "$__object/explorer/state")"
-state_should="$(cat "$__object/parameter/state")"
+rolename=${__object_id:?}
+state_is=$(cat "${__object:?}/explorer/state")
+state_should=$(cat "${__object:?}/parameter/state")
 
-[ "$state_is" = "$state_should" ] && exit 0
+if test "${state_is}" = "${state_should}"
+then
+	exit 0
+fi
 
-case "$state_should" in
-    present)
-        if [ -f "$__object/parameter/password" ]; then
-            password="$(cat "$__object/parameter/password")"
-        fi
-        booleans=""
-        for boolean in login createdb createrole superuser; do
-            if [ ! -f "$__object/parameter/$boolean" ]; then
-                boolean="no${boolean}"
-            fi
-            upper=$(echo $boolean | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]')
-            booleans="$booleans $upper"
-        done
+psql_query() {
+	printf 'su -l %s -c %s\n' \
+		"$(quote "${postgres_user}")" \
+		"$(quote "psql postgres -q -w -c $(quote "$1")")"
+}
 
-        [ -n "$password" ] && password="PASSWORD '$password'"
-        cat << EOF
-su - '$postgres_user' -c "psql postgres -wc \"CREATE ROLE \\\\\"$name\\\\\" WITH $password $booleans;\""
-EOF
-    ;;
-    absent)
-        cat << EOF
-su - '$postgres_user' -c "dropuser \"$name\""
-EOF
-    ;;
+psql_set_password() {
+	# NOTE: Always make sure that the password does not end up in psql_history!
+	# NOTE: Never set an empty string as the password, because they can be
+	#       interpreted differently by different tooling.
+	if test -s "${__object:?}/parameter/password"
+	then
+		cat <<-EOF
+		exec 3< "\${__object:?}/parameter/password"
+		su -l '${postgres_user}' -c 'psql -q -w postgres' <<'SQL'
+		\set HISTFILE /dev/null
+		\set pw \`cat <&3\`
+		ALTER ROLE "${rolename}" WITH PASSWORD :'pw';
+		SQL
+		exec 3<&-
+		EOF
+	else
+		psql_query "ALTER ROLE \"${rolename}\" WITH PASSWORD NULL;"
+	fi
+}
+
+role_properties_should() {
+	_props=
+	for _prop in login createdb createrole superuser
+	do
+		_props="${_props}${_props:+ }$(
+			if test -f "${__object:?}/parameter/${_prop}"
+			then
+				echo "${_prop}"
+			else
+				echo "no${_prop}"
+			fi \
+			| tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]')"
+	done
+	printf '%s\n' "${_props}"
+	unset _prop _props
+}
+
+case ${state_should}
+in
+	(present)
+		case ${state_is}
+		in
+			(absent)
+				psql_query "CREATE ROLE \"${rolename}\" WITH $(role_properties_should);"
+				psql_set_password
+				;;
+			(different*)
+				if expr "${state_is}" : 'different.*properties' >/dev/null
+				then
+					psql_query "ALTER ROLE \"${rolename}\" WITH $(role_properties_should);"
+				fi
+
+				if expr "${state_is}" : 'different.*password' >/dev/null
+				then
+					psql_set_password
+				fi
+				;;
+			(*)
+				printf 'Invalid state reported by state explorer: %s\n' "${state_is}" >&2
+				exit 1
+				;;
+		esac
+		;;
+	(absent)
+		printf 'su -l %s -c %s\n' \
+			"$(quote "${postgres_user}")" \
+			"$(quote "dropuser $(quote "${rolename}")")"
+		;;
 esac