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29 .\" $Id: pam.conf.5 741 2013-09-07 13:34:02Z des $
36 .Nd PAM policy file format
38 The PAM library searches for policies in the following files, in
39 decreasing order of preference:
42 .Pa /etc/pam.d/ Ns Ar service-name
46 .Pa /usr/local/etc/pam.d/ Ns Ar service-name
48 .Pa /usr/local/etc/pam.conf
51 If none of these locations contains a policy for the given service,
54 policy is used instead, if it exists.
56 Entries in per-service policy files must be of one of the two forms
58 .Bd -unfilled -offset indent
59 .Ar facility control-flag module-path Op Ar arguments ...
60 .Ar facility Cm include Ar other-service-name
64 .Pa pam.conf Ns -style
65 policy files are of the same form, but are prefixed by an additional
66 field specifying the name of the service they apply to.
68 In both cases, blank lines and comments introduced by a
70 sign are ignored, and the normal shell quoting rules apply.
71 The precise details of how the file is tokenized are described in
72 .Xr openpam_readword 3 .
76 field specifies the facility the entry applies to, and is one of:
79 Authentication functions
81 .Xr pam_authenticate 3 ,
85 Account management functions
86 .Pq Xr pam_acct_mgmt 3
88 Session handling functions
90 .Xr pam_open_session 3 ,
91 .Xr pam_close_session 3
94 Password management functions
95 .Pq Xr pam_chauthtok 3
100 field determines how the result returned by the module affects the
101 flow of control through (and the final result of) the rest of the
102 chain, and is one of:
105 If this module succeeds, the result of the chain will be success
106 unless a later module fails.
107 If it fails, the rest of the chain still runs, but the final result
108 will be failure regardless of the success of later modules.
110 If this module succeeds, the result of the chain will be success
111 unless a later module fails.
112 If the module fails, the chain is broken and the result is failure.
114 If this module succeeds, the chain is broken and the result is
116 If it fails, the rest of the chain still runs, but the final result
117 will be failure unless a later module succeeds.
119 If this module succeeds, the chain is broken and the result is
121 If it fails, the rest of the chain still runs, but the final result
122 will be failure regardless of the success of later modules.
124 If this module succeeds, the result of the chain will be success
125 unless a later module fails.
126 If this module fails, the result of the chain will be failure unless a
127 later module succeeds.
130 There are two exceptions to the above:
134 modules are treated as
141 .Xr pam_chauthtok 3 .
145 field specifies the name or full path of the module to call.
146 If only the name is specified, the PAM library will search for it in
147 the following locations:
155 The remaining fields, if any, are passed unmodified to the module if
156 and when it is invoked.
160 form of entry causes entries from a different chain (specified by
161 .Ar other-system-name )
162 to be included in the current one.
163 This allows one to define system-wide policies which are then included
164 into service-specific policies.
165 The system-wide policy can then be modified without having to also
166 modify each and every service-specific policy.
169 Take care not to introduce loops when using
171 rules, as there is currently no loop detection in place.
174 Some PAM library functions may alter their behavior when called by a
175 service module if certain module options were specified, regardless of
176 whether the module itself accords them any importance.
179 which causes the dispatcher to enable debugging messages before
180 calling each service function, and disable them afterwards (unless
181 they were already enabled).
182 Other special options include:
184 .It Cm authtok_prompt Ns = Ns Ar prompt , Cm oldauthtok_prompt Ns = Ns Ar prompt , Cm user_prompt Ns = Ns Ar prompt
185 These options can be used to override the prompts used by
186 .Xr pam_get_authtok 3
190 This option controls whether
191 .Xr pam_get_authtok 3
192 will allow the user to see what they are typing.
193 .It Cm try_first_pass , Cm use_first_pass
194 These options control
195 .Xr pam_get_authtok 3 Ns 's
196 use of cached authentication tokens.
202 .%T "X/Open Single Sign-On Service (XSSO) - Pluggable Authentication Modules"
206 The OpenPAM library was developed for the
208 Project by ThinkSec AS and Network Associates Laboratories, the
209 Security Research Division of Network Associates, Inc.\& under
210 DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035
212 as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.
214 The OpenPAM library is maintained by
215 .An Dag-Erling Sm\(/orgrav Aq des@des.no .