# phpman > man > pam-auth-update(8)

[PAM-AUTH-UPDATE(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAM-AUTH-UPDATE/8/markdown)                     System Manager's Manual                    [PAM-AUTH-UPDATE(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAM-AUTH-UPDATE/8/markdown)



## NAME
       pam-auth-update - manage PAM configuration using packaged profiles

## SYNOPSIS
       **pam-auth-update** [**--package** [**--remove** _profile_ [_profile_...]]]  [**--force**]

## DESCRIPTION
       _pam-auth-update_  is  a utility that permits configuring the central authentication policy for
       the system using pre-defined profiles as supplied by PAM module packages.   Profiles  shipped
       in  the  _/usr/share/pam-configs/_  directory specify the modules, with options, to enable; the
       preferred ordering with respect to other profiles; and whether a profile should be enabled by
       default.   Packages  providing PAM modules register their profiles at install time by calling
       **pam-auth-update** **--package**.  Selection of profiles is done using the standard  debconf  inter‐
       face.   The  profile  selection question will be asked at `medium' priority when packages are
       added or removed,  so  no  user  interaction  is  required  by  default.   Users  may  invoke
       **pam-auth-update** directly to change their authentication configuration.

       The script makes every effort to respect local changes to _/etc/pam.d/common-*_.  Local modifi‐
       cations to the list of module options will be preserved, and additions of modules within  the
       managed  portion of the stack will cause **pam-auth-update** to treat the config files as locally
       modified and not make further changes to the config files unless given the **--force** option.

       If the user specifies that **pam-auth-update** should override local configuration  changes,  the
       locally-modified files will be saved in _/etc/pam.d/_ with a suffix of _.pam-old_.

## OPTIONS
### --package
              Indicate  that  the caller is a package maintainer script; lowers the priority of deb‐
              conf questions to `medium' so that the user is not prompted by default.

       **--enable** _profile_ [_profile_...]
              Enable the specified profiles in system configuration. This is used to enable profiles
              that are not on by default.

       **--remove** _profile_ [_profile_...]
              Remove the specified profiles from the system configuration.  **pam-auth-update** **--remove**
              should be used to remove profiles from the configuration before the modules they  ref‐
              erence  are  removed from disk, to ensure that PAM is in a consistent and usable state
              at all times during package upgrades or removals.

### --force
              Overwrite the current PAM configuration, without prompting.  This option **must**  **not**  be
              used by package maintainer scripts; it is intended for use by administrators only.

## FILES
       _/etc/pam.d/common-*_
           Global configuration of PAM, affecting all installed services.

       _/usr/share/pam-configs/_
           Package-supplied authentication profiles.

## AUTHOR
       Steve Langasek <<steve.langasek@canonical.com>>

## COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2008 Canonical Ltd.

## SEE ALSO
       [PAM(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAM/7/markdown), [pam.d(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pam.d/5/markdown), [debconf(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/debconf/7/markdown)



Debian                                       08/23/2008                           [PAM-AUTH-UPDATE(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAM-AUTH-UPDATE/8/markdown)