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| <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" |
| "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"> |
| <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later --> |
| |
| <refentry id="systemd-ask-password" |
| xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"> |
| |
| <refentryinfo> |
| <title>systemd-ask-password</title> |
| <productname>systemd</productname> |
| </refentryinfo> |
| |
| <refmeta> |
| <refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password</refentrytitle> |
| <manvolnum>1</manvolnum> |
| </refmeta> |
| |
| <refnamediv> |
| <refname>systemd-ask-password</refname> |
| <refpurpose>Query the user for a system password</refpurpose> |
| </refnamediv> |
| |
| <refsynopsisdiv> |
| <cmdsynopsis> |
| <command>systemd-ask-password <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg> <arg choice="opt">MESSAGE</arg></command> |
| </cmdsynopsis> |
| </refsynopsisdiv> |
| |
| <refsect1> |
| <title>Description</title> |
| |
| <para><command>systemd-ask-password</command> may be used to query |
| a system password or passphrase from the user, using a question |
| message specified on the command line. When run from a TTY it will |
| query a password on the TTY and print it to standard output. When |
| run with no TTY or with <option>--no-tty</option> it will use the |
| system-wide query mechanism, which allows active users to respond via |
| several agents, listed below.</para> |
| |
| <para>The purpose of this tool is to query system-wide passwords |
| — that is passwords not attached to a specific user account. |
| Examples include: unlocking encrypted hard disks when they are |
| plugged in or at boot, entering an SSL certificate passphrase for |
| web and VPN servers.</para> |
| |
| <para>Existing agents are: |
| <itemizedlist> |
| |
| <listitem><para>A boot-time password agent asking the user for |
| passwords using |
| <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>plymouth</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| </para></listitem> |
| |
| <listitem><para>A boot-time password agent querying the user |
| directly on the console — |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password-console.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| </para></listitem> |
| |
| <listitem><para>An agent requesting password input via a |
| <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>wall</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> |
| message — |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password-wall.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| </para></listitem> |
| |
| <listitem><para>A TTY agent that is temporarily spawned during |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> |
| invocations,</para></listitem> |
| |
| <listitem><para>A command line agent which can be started |
| temporarily to process queued password |
| requests — <command>systemd-tty-ask-password-agent --query</command>. |
| </para></listitem> |
| </itemizedlist></para> |
| |
| <para>Answering system-wide password queries is a privileged operation, hence |
| all the agents listed above (except for the last one), run as privileged |
| system services. The last one also needs elevated privileges, so |
| should be run through |
| <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>sudo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> |
| or similar.</para> |
| |
| <para>Additional password agents may be implemented according to |
| the <ulink url="https://systemd.io/PASSWORD_AGENTS/">systemd Password Agent |
| Specification</ulink>.</para> |
| |
| <para>If a password is queried on a TTY, the user may press TAB to |
| hide the asterisks normally shown for each character typed. |
| Pressing Backspace as first key achieves the same effect.</para> |
| |
| </refsect1> |
| |
| <refsect1> |
| <title>Options</title> |
| |
| <para>The following options are understood:</para> |
| |
| <variablelist> |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--icon=</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Specify an icon name alongside the password |
| query, which may be used in all agents supporting graphical |
| display. The icon name should follow the <ulink |
| url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html">XDG |
| Icon Naming Specification</ulink>.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--id=</option></term> |
| <listitem><para>Specify an identifier for this password |
| query. This identifier is freely choosable and allows |
| recognition of queries by involved agents. It should include |
| the subsystem doing the query and the specific object the |
| query is done for. Example: |
| <literal>--id=cryptsetup:/dev/sda5</literal>.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--keyname=</option></term> |
| <listitem><para>Configure a kernel keyring key name to use as |
| cache for the password. If set, then the tool will try to push |
| any collected passwords into the kernel keyring of the root |
| user, as a key of the specified name. If combined with |
| <option>--accept-cached</option>, it will also try to retrieve |
| such cached passwords from the key in the kernel keyring |
| instead of querying the user right away. By using this option, |
| the kernel keyring may be used as effective cache to avoid |
| repeatedly asking users for passwords, if there are multiple |
| objects that may be unlocked with the same password. The |
| cached key will have a timeout of 2.5min set, after which it |
| will be purged from the kernel keyring. Note that it is |
| possible to cache multiple passwords under the same keyname, |
| in which case they will be stored as <constant>NUL</constant>-separated list of |
| passwords. Use |
| <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>keyctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> |
| to access the cached key via the kernel keyring |
| directly. Example: <literal>--keyname=cryptsetup</literal></para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--credential=</option></term> |
| <listitem><para>Configure a credential to read the password from – if it exists. This may be used in |
| conjunction with the <varname>LoadCredential=</varname> and <varname>SetCredential=</varname> |
| settings in unit files. See |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for |
| details. If not specified, defaults to <literal>password</literal>. This option has no effect if no |
| credentials directory is passed to the program (i.e. <varname>$CREDENTIALS_DIRECTORY</varname> is not |
| set) or if the no credential of the specified name exists.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--timeout=</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Specify the query timeout in seconds. Defaults |
| to 90s. A timeout of 0 waits indefinitely. </para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--echo=yes|no|masked</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Controls whether to echo user input. Takes a boolean or the special string |
| <literal>masked</literal>, the default being the latter. If enabled the typed characters are echoed |
| literally, which is useful for prompting for usernames and other non-protected data. If disabled the |
| typed characters are not echoed in any form, the user will not get feedback on their input. If set to |
| <literal>masked</literal>, an asterisk (<literal>*</literal>) is echoed for each character |
| typed. In this mode, if the user hits the tabulator key (<literal>↹</literal>), echo is turned |
| off. (Alternatively, if the user hits the backspace key (<literal>⌫</literal>) while no data has |
| been entered otherwise, echo is turned off, too).</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--echo</option></term> |
| <term><option>-e</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Equivalent to <option>--echo=yes</option>, see above.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--emoji=yes|no|auto</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Controls whether or not to prefix the query with a |
| lock and key emoji (🔐), if the TTY settings permit this. The default |
| is <literal>auto</literal>, which defaults to <literal>yes</literal>, |
| unless <option>--echo=yes</option> is given.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--no-tty</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Never ask for password on current TTY even if |
| one is available. Always use agent system.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--accept-cached</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>If passed, accept cached passwords, i.e. |
| passwords previously entered.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--multiple</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>When used in conjunction with |
| <option>--accept-cached</option> accept multiple passwords. |
| This will output one password per line.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>--no-output</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>Do not print passwords to standard output. This is useful if you want to store a |
| password in kernel keyring with <option>--keyname=</option> but do not want it to show up on screen |
| or in logs.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <varlistentry> |
| <term><option>-n</option></term> |
| |
| <listitem><para>By default, when writing the acquired password to standard output it is suffixed by a |
| newline character. This may be turned off with the <option>-n</option> switch, similar to the switch |
| of the same name of the <citerefentry |
| project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>echo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> |
| command.</para></listitem> |
| </varlistentry> |
| |
| <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" /> |
| </variablelist> |
| |
| </refsect1> |
| |
| <refsect1> |
| <title>Exit status</title> |
| |
| <para>On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code |
| otherwise.</para> |
| </refsect1> |
| |
| <refsect1> |
| <title>See Also</title> |
| <para> |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password-console.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-tty-ask-password-agent</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>keyctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>plymouth</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, |
| <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>wall</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> |
| </para> |
| </refsect1> |
| |
| </refentry> |
