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author | Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com> | 2019-01-03 12:48:14 -0800 |
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committer | Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com> | 2019-01-03 12:48:14 -0800 |
commit | d5b06b67bbeeed7c05c0eb2e05d6a972ad050d1c (patch) | |
tree | ba5654cffacfd2002eefc5bc3764a7971afff1dc /Linux-PAM/doc/man/PAM.8 | |
parent | 4c51da22e068907adb7857d50f5109a467c94d7c (diff) | |
parent | 7cbfa335c57d068d59508c844f3957165cccfb9b (diff) | |
download | pam-d5b06b67bbeeed7c05c0eb2e05d6a972ad050d1c.tar.gz pam-d5b06b67bbeeed7c05c0eb2e05d6a972ad050d1c.tar.bz2 pam-d5b06b67bbeeed7c05c0eb2e05d6a972ad050d1c.zip |
New upstream version 0.99.7.1
Diffstat (limited to 'Linux-PAM/doc/man/PAM.8')
-rw-r--r-- | Linux-PAM/doc/man/PAM.8 | 103 |
1 files changed, 103 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Linux-PAM/doc/man/PAM.8 b/Linux-PAM/doc/man/PAM.8 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..112ea7d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Linux-PAM/doc/man/PAM.8 @@ -0,0 +1,103 @@ +.\" Title: pam +.\" Author: +.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.70.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/> +.\" Date: 06/27/2006 +.\" Manual: Linux\-PAM Manual +.\" Source: Linux\-PAM Manual +.\" +.TH "PAM" "8" "06/27/2006" "Linux\-PAM Manual" "Linux\-PAM Manual" +.\" disable hyphenation +.nh +.\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only) +.ad l +.SH "NAME" +PAM, pam \- Pluggable Authentication Modules for Linux +.SH "DESCRIPTION" +.PP +This manual is intended to offer a quick introduction to +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR. For more information the reader is directed to the +\fBLinux\-PAM system administrators' guide\fR. +.PP + +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +is a system of libraries that handle the authentication tasks of applications (services) on the system. The library provides a stable general interface (Application Programming Interface \- API) that privilege granting programs (such as +\fBlogin\fR(1) +and +\fBsu\fR(1)) defer to to perform standard authentication tasks. +.PP +The principal feature of the PAM approach is that the nature of the authentication is dynamically configurable. In other words, the system administrator is free to choose how individual service\-providing applications will authenticate users. This dynamic configuration is set by the contents of the single +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +configuration file +\fI/etc/pam.conf\fR. Alternatively, the configuration can be set by individual configuration files located in the +\fI/etc/pam.d/\fR +directory. The presence of this directory will cause +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +to +\fIignore\fR +\fI/etc/pam.conf\fR. +.PP +From the point of view of the system administrator, for whom this manual is provided, it is not of primary importance to understand the internal behavior of the +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +library. The important point to recognize is that the configuration file(s) +\fIdefine\fR +the connection between applications +(\fBservices\fR) and the pluggable authentication modules +(\fBPAM\fRs) that perform the actual authentication tasks. +.PP +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +separates the tasks of +\fIauthentication\fR +into four independent management groups: +\fBaccount\fR +management; +\fBauth\fRentication management; +\fBpassword\fR +management; and +\fBsession\fR +management. (We highlight the abbreviations used for these groups in the configuration file.) +.PP +Simply put, these groups take care of different aspects of a typical user's request for a restricted service: +.PP +\fBaccount\fR +\- provide account verification types of service: has the user's password expired?; is this user permitted access to the requested service? +.PP +\fBauth\fRentication \- authenticate a user and set up user credentials. Typically this is via some challenge\-response request that the user must satisfy: if you are who you claim to be please enter your password. Not all authentications are of this type, there exist hardware based authentication schemes (such as the use of smart\-cards and biometric devices), with suitable modules, these may be substituted seamlessly for more standard approaches to authentication \- such is the flexibility of +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR. +.PP +\fBpassword\fR +\- this group's responsibility is the task of updating authentication mechanisms. Typically, such services are strongly coupled to those of the +\fBauth\fR +group. Some authentication mechanisms lend themselves well to being updated with such a function. Standard UN*X password\-based access is the obvious example: please enter a replacement password. +.PP +\fBsession\fR +\- this group of tasks cover things that should be done prior to a service being given and after it is withdrawn. Such tasks include the maintenance of audit trails and the mounting of the user's home directory. The +\fBsession\fR +management group is important as it provides both an opening and closing hook for modules to affect the services available to a user. +.SH "FILES" +.TP 3n +\fI/etc/pam.conf\fR +the configuration file +.TP 3n +\fI/etc/pam.d\fR +the +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +configuration directory. Generally, if this directory is present, the +\fI/etc/pam.conf\fR +file is ignored. +.SH "ERRORS" +.PP +Typically errors generated by the +\fBLinux\-PAM\fR +system of libraries, will be written to +\fBsyslog\fR(3). +.SH "CONFORMING TO" +.PP +DCE\-RFC 86.0, October 1995. Contains additional features, but remains backwardly compatible with this RFC. +.SH "SEE ALSO" +.PP + +\fBpam\fR(3), +\fBpam_authenticate\fR(3), +\fBpam_sm_setcred\fR(3), +\fBpam_strerror\fR(3), +\fBPAM\fR(8) |