pam_authenticate

TriggerTek Logo
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz_
PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)	   App. Programmers’ Manual	  PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)



NAME
       pam_authenticate - authenticate a user


SYNOPSIS
       #include <security/pam_appl.h>

       int pam_authenticate(pam_handle_t *pamh, int  flags);



DESCRIPTION
       pam_authenticate

       Use  this  function  to	authenticate an applicant user.	 It is linked
       dynamically to the authentication modules by  Linux-PAM.	  It  is  the
       task  of these module to perform such an authentication.	 The specific
       nature of the authentication is not the concern of the application.

       Following successful completion, the name of  the  authenticated	 user
       will  be	 present  in  the  Linux-PAM item PAM_USER.  This item may be
       recovered with a call to pam_get_item(3).

       The application developer should note that  the	modules	 may  request
       that the user enter their username via the conversation mechanism (see
       pam_start(3)).  Should this be the case, the user-prompt string can be
       set via the PAM_USER_PROMPT item (see pam_set_item(3)).


RETURN VALUE
       On  success PAM_SUCCESS is returned.  All other returns should be con-
       sidered authentication failures and will be delayed by an amount spec-
       ified  with  prior calls to pam_fail_delay(3).  Specific failures that
       demand special attention are the following:

       PAM_ABORT
	      the application should exit immediately. Of course,  pam_end(3)
	      should be called first.


       PAM_MAXTRIES
	      the  application	has  tried too many times to authenticate the
	      user, authentication should not be attempted again.


ERRORS
       May be translated to text with pam_strerror(3).


CONFORMING TO
       DCE-RFC 86.0, October 1995.


BUGS
       none known.


SEE ALSO
       pam_start(3), pam_get_item(3) pam_fail_delay(3) and pam_strerror(3).

       Also, see the three Linux-PAM Guides, for System administrators,	 mod-
       ule developers, and application developers.



Linux-PAM 0.55			  1996 Dec 9		  PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)