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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd">
<refentry id='pam'>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>pam</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo class='setdesc'>Linux-PAM Manual</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv id='pam-name'>
<refname>PAM</refname>
<refname>pam</refname>
<refpurpose>Pluggable Authentication Modules for Linux</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<!-- body begins here -->
<refsect1 id='description'><title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para>This manual is intended to offer a quick introduction to
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>.
For more information the reader is directed to the
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM system administrators' guide</emphasis>.</para>
<para><emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
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
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>login</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
and
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>su</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>)
defer to to perform standard authentication tasks.</para>
<para>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
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
configuration file
<filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename>.
Alternatively, the configuration can be set by individual
configuration files located in the
<filename>/etc/pam.d/</filename>
directory.
<emphasis remap='I'>The presence of this directory will cause </emphasis><emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis><emphasis remap='I'> to ignore</emphasis>
<filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename><literal>.</literal></para>
<para>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
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
library. The important point to recognize is that the configuration
file(s)
<emphasis remap='I'>define</emphasis>
the connection between applications
<emphasis remap='B'></emphasis>(<emphasis remap='B'>services</emphasis>)
and the pluggable authentication modules
<emphasis remap='B'></emphasis>(<emphasis remap='B'>PAM</emphasis>s)
that perform the actual authentication tasks.</para>
<para><emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
separates the tasks of
<emphasis remap='I'>authentication</emphasis>
into four independent management groups:
<emphasis remap='B'>account</emphasis> management;
<emphasis remap='B'>auth</emphasis>entication management;
<emphasis remap='B'>password</emphasis> management;
and
<emphasis remap='B'>session</emphasis> management.
(We highlight the abbreviations used for these groups in the
configuration file.)</para>
<para>Simply put, these groups take care of different aspects of a typical
user's request for a restricted service:</para>
<para><emphasis remap='B'>account</emphasis> -
provide account verification types of service: has the user's password
expired?; is this user permitted access to the requested service?</para>
<!-- .br -->
<para><emphasis remap='B'>auth</emphasis>entication -
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
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>.</para>
<!-- .br -->
<para><emphasis remap='B'>password</emphasis> -
this group's responsibility is the task of updating authentication
mechanisms. Typically, such services are strongly coupled to those of
the
<emphasis remap='B'>auth</emphasis>
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.</para>
<!-- .br -->
<para><emphasis remap='B'>session</emphasis> -
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
<emphasis remap='B'>session</emphasis>
management group is important as it provides both an opening and
closing hook for modules to affect the services available to a user.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='files'><title>FILES</title>
<para><filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename> - the configuration file
<!-- .br -->
<filename>/etc/pam.d/</filename> - the
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
configuration directory. Generally, if this directory is present, the
<filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename>
file is ignored.
<!-- .br -->
<filename>/lib/libpam.so.X</filename> - the dynamic library
<!-- .br -->
<filename>/lib/security/*.so</filename> - the PAMs</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='errors'><title>ERRORS</title>
<para>Typically errors generated by the
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
system of libraries, will be written to
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>syslog</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='conforming_to'><title>CONFORMING TO</title>
<para>DCE-RFC 86.0, October 1995.
<!-- .br -->
Contains additional features, but remains backwardly compatible with
this RFC.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='bugs'><title>BUGS</title>
<para>None known.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='see_also'><title>SEE ALSO</title>
<para>The three
<emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis>
Guides, for
<emphasis remap='B'>system administrators</emphasis>,
<emphasis remap='B'>module developers</emphasis>,
and
<emphasis remap='B'>application developers</emphasis>. </para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
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