PWAUTH(8)

NAME
pwauth - administrator defined password authentication

DESCRIPTION
The system administrator is able to define a list of programs which are used to validate a user's identity. These programs are given in place of the encrypted password information which is present in either the /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow files. The utilities which administer user accounts examine the encrypted password field and determine if the user has an administrator defined authentication program. The pw_auth function will be invoked whenever one of these administration programs determines that a user which is being altered has authentication programs defined.

The initial entry is created with the useradd command. Alterations, such as changing authentication information or deleting the user account, will cause the pw_auth function to be invoked. This keeps the authentication information up to date for each user account.

The authentication programs do not create the actual login or network sessions. The exit code from the authentication program is taken as an indication that the action is to be permitted. The calling process must have the appropriate priviledges to create the login or network session itself.

SEE ALSO
login(1), passwd(1), su(1), useradd(8), userdel(8), usermod(8), pw_auth(3)

AUTHOR
Julianne Frances Haugh (jfh@tab.com)