man/man3pam/pam_open_session.3pam

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 PAM_OPEN_SESSION 3PAM "Oct 13, 1998"
 NAME
pam_open_session, pam_close_session - perform PAM session creation and
termination operations
 SYNOPSIS

cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lpam [ library ... ]
#include <security/pam_appl.h>


int pam_open_session(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags);


int pam_close_session(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags);


 DESCRIPTION

The pam_open_session() function is called after a user has been
successfully authenticated. See pam_authenticate(3PAM) and
pam_acct_mgmt(3PAM). It is used to notify the session modules that a new
session has been initiated. All programs that use the pam(3PAM)
library should invoke pam_open_session() when beginning a new session.
Upon termination of this activity, pam_close_session() should be invoked
to inform pam(3PAM) that the session has terminated.

The pamh argument is an authentication handle obtained by a prior call to
pam_start(). The following flag may be set in the flags field for
pam_open_session() and pam_close_session():
PAM_SILENT

The session service should not generate any messages.


 RETURN VALUES

Upon successful completion, PAM_SUCCESS is returned. In addition to the
return values defined in pam(3PAM), the following value may be returned
on error:
PAM_SESSION_ERR

Cannot make or remove an entry for the specified session.


 ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for description of the following attributes:


ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Interface Stability Stable
MT-Level MT-Safe with exceptions


 SEE ALSO

getutxent(3C), pam(3PAM), pam_acct_mgmt(3PAM),
pam_authenticate(3PAM), pam_start(3PAM), attributes(5)
 NOTES

In many instances, the pam_open_session() and pam_close_session()
calls may be made by different processes. For example, in UNIX the login
process opens a session, while the init process closes the session. In
this case, UTMP/WTMP entries may be used to link the call to
pam_close_session() with an earlier call to pam_open_session().
This is possible because UTMP/WTMP entries are uniquely identified by a
combination of attributes, including the user login name and device name, which
are accessible through the PAM handle, pamh. The call to
pam_open_session() should precede UTMP/WTMP entry management, and
the call to pam_close_session() should follow UTMP/WTMP exit
management.

The interfaces in libpam are MT-Safe only if each thread within the
multithreaded application uses its own PAM handle.