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authorAndrew G. Morgan <morgan@kernel.org>2001-02-05 06:50:41 +0000
committerAndrew G. Morgan <morgan@kernel.org>2001-02-05 06:50:41 +0000
commit547e42fc5cb7c0208eeb002809c3d270334af114 (patch)
tree8c1653cfb589e3d69c80611c3808a47320cdb2fa /doc/pam_modules.sgml
parentb89c0d4ccae2f48cfa1e28423e2fe86e1d435ec5 (diff)
Relevant BUGIDs: 129775
Purpose of commit: bugfix Commit summary: --------------- This bugfix leads to backwardly incompatable behavior with earlier releases of Linux-PAM. Note, this cleans up the setcred/session and chauthtok stacks in such a way that it is no longer preferred that the setcred module always return the same error code as the auth components of said modules did. This means behavior should be a great deal more sane. It also gives meaning to the unique return codes that are available to pam_sm_setcred. [I'm sure that when we add support for credential relevant events, this change will be critical.]
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/pam_modules.sgml')
-rw-r--r--doc/pam_modules.sgml35
1 files changed, 25 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/doc/pam_modules.sgml b/doc/pam_modules.sgml
index 694eff85..8afd01fa 100644
--- a/doc/pam_modules.sgml
+++ b/doc/pam_modules.sgml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ DAMAGE.
<title>The Linux-PAM Module Writers' Guide
<author>Andrew G. Morgan, <tt>morgan@kernel.org</tt>
-<date>DRAFT v0.74 2001/01/21
+<date>DRAFT v0.75 2001/02/04
<abstract>
This manual documents what a programmer needs to know in order to
write a module that conforms to the <bf/Linux-PAM/ standard. It also
@@ -693,7 +693,7 @@ scheme. Generally, an authentication module may have access to more
information about a user than their authentication token. This
function is used to make such information available to the
application. It should only be called <em/after/ the user has been
-authenticated and after a session has been established.
+authenticated but before a session has been established.
<p>
Permitted flags, one of which, may be logically OR'd with
@@ -711,16 +711,26 @@ Permitted flags, one of which, may be logically OR'd with
</descrip>
<p>
-Generally, the module should attempt to return the same error code as
-<tt/pam_sm_authenticate/ did. This will preserve the logic followed
-by libpam as it executes the stack of <em/authentication/ modules,
-when the application calls <tt/pam_authenticate()/ and
-<tt/pam_setcred()/. Failing to do this, will lead to much confudion
-on the part of the System administrator.
+Prior to <bf/Linux-PAM-0.75/, and due to a deficiency with the way the
+<tt/auth/ stack was handled in the case of the setcred stack being
+processed, the module was required to attempt to return the same error
+code as <tt/pam_sm_authenticate/ did. This was necessary to preserve
+the logic followed by libpam as it executes the stack of
+<em/authentication/ modules, when the application called either
+<tt/pam_authenticate()/ or <tt/pam_setcred()/. Failing to do this,
+led to confusion on the part of the System Administrator.
<p>
-<bf>The following text is depreciated. Some thought needs to be given to
-how the credential setting modules are supposed to be stacked...</bf>
+For <bf/Linux-PAM-0.75/ and later, libpam handles the credential stack
+much more sanely. The way the <tt/auth/ stack is navigated in order to
+evaluate the <tt/pam_setcred()/ function call, independent of the
+<tt/pam_sm_setcred()/ return codes, is exactly the same way that it
+was navigated when evaluating the <tt/pam_authenticate()/ library
+call. Typically, if a stack entry was ignored in evaluating
+<tt/pam_authenticate()/, it will be ignored when libpam evaluates the
+<tt/pam_setcred()/ function call. Otherwise, the return codes from
+each module specific <tt/pam_sm_setcred()/ call are treated as
+<tt/required/.
<p>
Besides <tt/PAM_SUCCESS/, the module may return one of the following
@@ -737,6 +747,11 @@ errors:
This module was unable to set the credentials of the user.
</descrip>
+<p>
+these, non-<tt/PAM_SUCCESS/, return values will typically lead to the
+credential stack <em/failing/. The first such error will dominate in
+the return value of <tt/pam_setcred()/.
+
</itemize>
<sect1> Account management