ASKPASS-FIFO(8mandos)

✨ ASKPASS-FIFO(8mandos) ✨

okay bestie, sit down, we're doing a 8mandos manual page and it's literally called askpass-fifo 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

askpass-fifo — it's a Mandos plugin, and its whole entire job is getting a password out of a FIFO. that's it. that's the girl. 💖

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

askpass-fifo

no args, no flags, no drama. she just is. ✨

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea: this program reads a password from a FIFO and then outputs it to standard output. simple. iconic. no notes. 🫶

ngl, on its own this program is not very useful. like at all. it's really meant to run as a plugin inside the Mandos client-side system, where it serves as a fallback and an alternative to retrieving passwords from a Mandos server. so it's the understudy, the backup dancer, the girl who steps in when the main plan doesn't pan out. 💅

and the whole point of it? it's meant to imitate a feature of the askpass program, so that programs written to interface with that one can keep working under the Mandos system. she's doing an impression. and she's doing it well. 👑

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💜 OPTIONS 💜

This program takes no options.

like, zero. none. not a single one. don't even try, bestie, she's booked and busy with exactly one (1) task. 🙈

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🔥 EXIT STATUS 🔥

listen up, this part matters:

• If exit status is 0, the output from the program is the password as it was read. 🎉 clean run, we love to see it.
• Otherwise, if exit status is other than 0, the program was interrupted or encountered an error, and any output so far could be corrupt and/or truncated, and should therefore be ignored. 💀

so like, if she comes back with a non-zero status, do NOT trust the vibe. throw that output away. it's giving "half a password" and half a password is not a password. periodt.

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /lib/cryptsetup/passfifo — this is the FIFO where this program will read the password. and if it does not exist, it will be created. she's resourceful like that. ✨

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🧚 BUGS 🧚

found a bug? first of all, thank you for your service. 🫡 please report bugs to the Mandos development mailing list:

<mandos-dev@recompile.se>

(subscription required). note that this list is public. 👀 so everyone can see your bug report and honestly? good for you.

the developers can be reached privately at <mandos@recompile.se> — with OpenPGP key fingerprint 153A 37F1 0BBA 0435 987F 2C4A 7223 2973 CA34 C2C4 for encrypted mail. 🔐 fancy. we love a secure girlie.

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🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

okay so real talk: normally this program will not be invoked directly, but instead started by the plugin-runner(8mandos). she doesn't take walk-ins, she works through her manager. 💅

also, just to say it again:

This program takes no options.

and here's what it looks like:

askpass-fifo

yeah. that's the whole example. short queen. 👑

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💖 SECURITY 💖

the only thing that could be considered worthy of note is this: this program is meant to be run by plugin-runner(8mandos), and will, when run standalone, outside, in a normal environment, immediately output on its standard output any presumably secret password it just received.

😭 so if you're running this standalone — which, btw, should never normally be done — please take care not to type in any real secret password by force of habit. because she will show it. immediately. as output. on your screen. in front of whoever's standing behind you. 🙈

no cap, just be careful.

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

intro(8mandos), fifo(7), plugin-runner(8mandos)

go read those too, they're part of the family. 🫶

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👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright © 2008-2019 Teddy Hogeborn, Björn Påhlsson

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and that's the whole page bestie!! 💖 this was Mandos 1.8.19, dated 2019-02-10, filed under ASKPASS-FIFO(8mandos) — stay hydrated, keep your passwords out of standalone runs, and slay 💅✨🎀🦋