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+.so man8/PAM.8
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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='pam8'>
+
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>pam</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo class='setdesc'>Linux-PAM Manual</refmiscinfo>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv id='pam8-name'>
+ <refname>PAM</refname>
+ <refname>pam</refname>
+ <refpurpose>Pluggable Authentication Modules for Linux</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsect1 id='pam8-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. The presence of this
+ directory will cause <emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis> to
+ <emphasis remap='I'>ignore</emphasis> <filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Vendor-supplied PAM configuration files might be installed in
+ the system directory <filename>/usr/lib/pam.d/</filename> or
+ a configurable vendor specific directory instead
+ of the machine configuration directory <filename>/etc/pam.d/</filename>.
+ If no machine configuration file is found, the vendor-supplied file
+ is used. All files in <filename>/etc/pam.d/</filename> override
+ files with the same name in other directories.
+ </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='pam8-files'>
+ <title>FILES</title>
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>the configuration file</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><filename>/etc/pam.d</filename></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ the <emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis> configuration
+ directory. Generally, if this directory is present, the
+ <filename>/etc/pam.conf</filename> file is ignored.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><filename>/usr/lib/pam.d</filename></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ the <emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis> vendor configuration
+ directory. Files in <filename>/etc/pam.d</filename> override
+ files with the same name in this directory.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><filename>%vendordir%/pam.d</filename></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ the <emphasis remap='B'>Linux-PAM</emphasis> vendor configuration
+ directory. Files in <filename>/etc/pam.d</filename> and
+ <filename>/usr/lib/pam.d</filename> override files with the same
+ name in this directory. Only available if Linux-PAM was compiled
+ with vendordir enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1 id='pam8-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='pam8-conforming_to'>
+ <title>CONFORMING TO</title>
+ <para>
+ DCE-RFC 86.0, October 1995.
+ Contains additional features, but remains backwardly compatible
+ with this RFC.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1 id='pam8-see_also'>
+ <title>SEE ALSO</title>
+ <para>
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>pam</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>pam_authenticate</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>pam_sm_setcred</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>pam_strerror</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry>
+ <refentrytitle>PAM</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
+ </citerefentry>
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+</refentry>