SYSTEM-AUTH(5)

📦 version 1.7.2, in centos-stream 10, centos-stream 9, fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 SYSTEM-AUTH(5) 💖

okay bestie, gather round, we're talking system-auth — the common config file for PAMified services, straight out of the Linux-PAM Manual. this is one of those pages that looks short and then turns out to be load-bearing for your whole login stack. no cap. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

/etc/pam.d/system-auth /etc/pam.d/password-auth /etc/pam.d/fingerprint-auth /etc/pam.d/smartcard-auth

like, four files. one squad. four besties holding hands. 🌈

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so the whole point of these configuration files is to give every application and service daemon that calls into the PAM library one single shared interface to talk to. it's the group chat everyone's in instead of a hundred separate DMs. iconic behavior, honestly.

the system-auth configuration file is included from nearly all individual service configuration files — and it gets pulled in with the help of the substack directive. that's the mechanic. that's the move. 💅

then there's the trio — password-auth, fingerprint-auth, smartcard-auth — and these ones are for applications that handle authentication from different types of devices, by running individual conversations simultaneously instead of one single aggregate conversation. so like, multiple convos at once, all of them happening, none of them merged into one. multitasking main character energy. 🔥

📝 NOTES 📝

okay a little lore drop, because this used to be messier:

previously, these common configuration files were included with the help of the include directive. and that limited the use of the different action types of modules. 😭

but — and this is the glow-up — with the use of the substack directive to include these common configuration files, this limitation no longer applies. we fixed it. we healed. periodt. ✨

💀 BUGS 💀

none known.

literally nothing. zero. the bug list is an empty plate and we ate. 👑

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

and the three Linux-PAM Guides — one for system administrators, one for module developers, and one for application developers. all three. read them, bestie, they're right there. 🎀

🦋 FINAL VIBES 🦋

that's the whole page, fr fr. this one came from Red Hat, dated 2010 Dec 22, and it lives inside the Linux-PAM Manual 💜 — go forth and configure responsibly, you absolute legend. 🌸💖

📦 where this page comes from