pkcheck(1) - man - phpman

PKCHECK(1)                                     pkcheck                                    PKCHECK(1)



NAME
       pkcheck - Check whether a process is authorized

SYNOPSIS
       pkcheck [--version] [--help]

       pkcheck [--list-temp]

       pkcheck [--revoke-temp]

       pkcheck --action-id action {--process { pid | pid,pid-start-time | pid,pid-start-time,uid } |
               --system-bus-name busname} [--allow-user-interaction] [--enable-internal-agent]
               [--detail key value...]

DESCRIPTION
       pkcheck is used to check whether a process, specified by either --process (see below) or
       --system-bus-name, is authorized for action. The --detail option can be used zero or more
       times to pass details about action. If --allow-user-interaction is passed, pkcheck blocks
       while waiting for authentication.

       The invocation pkcheck --list-temp will list all temporary authorizations for the current
       session and pkcheck --revoke-temp will revoke all temporary authorizations for the current
       session.

       This command is a simple wrapper around the PolicyKit D-Bus interface; see the D-Bus
       interface documentation for details.

RETURN VALUE
       If the specified process is authorized, pkcheck exits with a return value of 0. If the
       authorization result contains any details, these are printed on standard output as key/value
       pairs using environment style reporting, e.g. first the key followed by a an equal sign, then
       the value followed by a newline.

           KEY1=VALUE1
           KEY2=VALUE2
           KEY3=VALUE3
           ...

       Octects that are not in [a-zA-Z0-9_] are escaped using octal codes prefixed with \. For
       example, the UTF-8 string føl,你好 will be printed as f\303\270l\54\344\275\240\345\245\275.

       If the specificied process is not authorized, pkcheck exits with a return value of 1 and a
       diagnostic message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard output.

       If the specificied process is not authorized because no suitable authentication agent is
       available or if the --allow-user-interaction wasn't passed, pkcheck exits with a return value
       of 2 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard
       output.

       If the specificied process is not authorized because the authentication dialog / request was
       dismissed by the user, pkcheck exits with a return value of 3 and a diagnostic message is
       printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard output.

       If an error occured while checking for authorization, pkcheck exits with a return value of
       127 with a diagnostic message printed on standard error.

       If one or more of the options passed are malformed, pkcheck exits with a return value of 126.
       If stdin is a tty, then this manual page is also shown.

NOTES
       Do not use either the bare pid or pid,start-time syntax forms for --process. There are race
       conditions in both. New code should always use pid,pid-start-time,uid. The value of
       start-time can be determined by consulting e.g. the proc(5) file system depending on the
       operating system. If fewer than 3 arguments are passed, pkcheck will attempt to look up them
       up internally, but note that this may be racy.

       If your program is a daemon with e.g. a custom Unix domain socket, you should determine the
       uid parameter via operating system mechanisms such as PEERCRED.

AUTHENTICATION AGENT
       pkcheck, like any other PolicyKit application, will use the authentication agent registered
       for the process in question. However, if no authentication agent is available, then pkcheck
       can register its own textual authentication agent if the option --enable-internal-agent is
       passed.

AUTHOR
       Written by David Zeuthen <davidz AT redhat.com> with a lot of help from many others.

BUGS
       Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the polkit-devel mailing list, see the
       link http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/polkit-devel on how to subscribe.

SEE ALSO
       polkit(8), pkaction(1), pkexec(1), pkttyagent(1)



polkit                                        May 2009                                    PKCHECK(1)