pkttyagent(1) [debian man page]
PKTTYAGENT(1) pkttyagent PKTTYAGENT(1) NAME
pkttyagent - Textual authentication helper SYNOPSIS
pkttyagent [--version] [--help] pkttyagent [--process { pid | pid,pid-start-time } | --system-bus-name busname] [--notify-fd fd] [--fallback] DESCRIPTION
pkttyagent is used to start a textual authentication agent for the subject specified by either --process or --system-bus-name. If neither of these options are given, the parent process is used. To get notified when the authentication agent has been registered either listen to the Changed D-Bus signal or use --notify-fd to pass the number of a file descriptor that has been passed to the program. This file descriptor will then be closed when the authentication agent has been successfully registered. If --fallback is used, the textual authentication agent will not replace an existing authentication agent. RETURN VALUE
If the authentication agent could not be registered, pkttyagent exits with an exit code of 127. Diagnostic messages are printed on standard error. If one or more of the options passed are malformed, pkttyagent exits with an exit code of 126. If stdin is a tty, then this manual page is also shown. If the authentication agent was successfully registered, pkttyagent will keep running, interacting with the user as needed. When its services are no longer needed, the process can be killed. NOTES
Since process identifiers can be recycled, the caller should always use pid,pid-start-time when using the --process option. The value of pid-start-time can be determined by consulting e.g. the proc(5) file system depending on the operating system. If only pid is passed to the --process option, then pkttyagent will look up the start time itself but note that this may be racy. AUTHOR
Written by David Zeuthen davidz@redhat.com with a lot of help from many others. BUGS
Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the polkit-devel mailing list, see the link http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/polkit-devel on how to subscribe. SEE ALSO
polkit(8), pkaction(1), pkcheck(1), pkexec(1) polkit May 2009 PKTTYAGENT(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
PKCHECK(1) pkcheck PKCHECK(1) NAME
pkcheck - Check whether a process is authorized SYNOPSIS
pkcheck [--version] [--help] pkcheck [--list-temp] pkcheck [--revoke-temp] pkcheck --action-id action {--process { pid | pid,pid-start-time } | --system-bus-name busname} [--allow-user-interaction] [--enable-internal-agent] [--detail key value...] DESCRIPTION
pkcheck is used to check whether a process, specified by either --process or --system-bus-name, is authorized for action. The --detail option can be used zero or more times to pass details about action. If --allow-user-interaction is passed, pkcheck blocks while waiting for authentication. The invocation pkcheck --list-temp will list all temporary authorizations for the current session and pkcheck --revoke-temp will revoke all temporary authorizations for the current session. This command is a simple wrapper around the PolicyKit D-Bus interface; see the D-Bus interface documentation for details. RETURN VALUE
If the specified process is authorized, pkcheck exits with a return value of 0. If the authorization result contains any details, these are printed on standard output as key/value pairs using environment style reporting, e.g. first the key followed by a an equal sign, then the value followed by a newline. KEY1=VALUE1 KEY2=VALUE2 KEY3=VALUE3 ... Octects that are not in [a-zA-Z0-9_] are escaped using octal codes prefixed with . For example, the UTF-8 string fol, will be printed as f303270l54344275240345245275. If the specificied process is not authorized, pkcheck exits with a return value of 1 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard output. If the specificied process is not authorized because no suitable authentication agent is available or if the --allow-user-interaction wasn't passed, pkcheck exits with a return value of 2 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard output. If the specificied process is not authorized because the authentication dialog / request was dismissed by the user, pkcheck exits with a return value of 3 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard output. If an error occured while checking for authorization, pkcheck exits with a return value of 127 with a diagnostic message printed on standard error. If one or more of the options passed are malformed, pkcheck exits with a return value of 126. If stdin is a tty, then this manual page is also shown. NOTES
Since process identifiers can be recycled, the caller should always use pid,pid-start-time to specify the process to check for authorization when using the --process option. The value of pid-start-time can be determined by consulting e.g. the proc(5) file system depending on the operating system. If only pid is passed to the --process option, then pkcheck will look up the start time itself but note that this may be racy. AUTHENTICATION AGENT
pkcheck, like any other PolicyKit application, will use the authentication agent registered for the process in question. However, if no authentication agent is available, then pkcheck can register its own textual authentication agent if the option --enable-internal-agent is passed. AUTHOR
Written by David Zeuthen davidz@redhat.com with a lot of help from many others. BUGS
Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the polkit-devel mailing list, see the link http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/polkit-devel on how to subscribe. SEE ALSO
polkit(8), pkaction(1), pkexec(1), pkttyagent(1) polkit May 2009 PKCHECK(1)