1 .\" Hey Emacs! This file is -*- nroff -*- source.
2 .\" $Id: pam_authenticate.3,v 1.2 1997/02/15 18:39:59 morgan Exp $
3 .\" $FreeBSD: src/contrib/libpam/doc/man/pam_authenticate.3,v 1.2.6.2 2001/06/11 15:28:11 markm Exp $
4 .\" $DragonFly: src/contrib/libpam/doc/man/Attic/pam_authenticate.3,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:24:02 dillon Exp $
5 .\" Copyright (c) Andrew G. Morgan 1996-7 <morgan@parc.power.net>
6 .TH PAM_AUTHENTICATE 3 "1996 Dec 9" "PAM 0.55" "App. Programmers' Manual"
9 pam_authenticate \- authenticate a user
12 .B #include <security/pam_appl.h>
14 .BI "int pam_authenticate(pam_handle_t " *pamh ", int " flags ");"
20 Use this function to authenticate an applicant user. It is linked
22 to the authentication modules by
24 It is the task of these module to perform such an authentication. The
25 specific nature of the authentication is not the concern of the
29 Following successful completion, the
31 of the authenticated user will be present in the
35 This item may be recovered with a call to
36 .BR pam_get_item "(3)."
39 The application developer should note that the modules may request
40 that the user enter their username via the conversation mechanism (see
42 Should this be the case, the user-prompt string can be set via
46 .BR pam_set_item "(3))."
51 is returned. All other returns should be considered
52 authentication failures and will be
54 by an amount specified with prior calls to
55 .BR pam_fail_delay "(3). "
56 Specific failures that demand special attention are the following:
59 the application should exit immediately. Of course,
61 should be called first.
65 the application has tried too many times to authenticate the
66 user, authentication should not be attempted again.
69 May be translated to text with
70 .BR pam_strerror "(3). "
73 DCE-RFC 86.0, October 1995.
82 .BR pam_get_item "(3) "
83 .BR pam_fail_delay "(3) "
85 .BR pam_strerror "(3). "
90 .BR "System administrators" ", "
91 .BR "module developers" ", "
93 .BR "application developers" ". "