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PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)                       App. Programmers' Manual                       PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)



NAME
       pam_authenticate - authenticate a user


SYNOPSIS
       #include <security/pam_appl.h>

       int pam_authenticate(pam_handle_t *pamh, int  flags);



DESCRIPTION
       pam_authenticate

       Use  this function to authenticate an applicant user.  It is linked dynamically to the authentication
       modules by Linux-PAM.  It is the task of these module to perform such an  authentication.   The  spe-cific specific
       cific nature of the authentication is not the concern of the application.

       Following  successful completion, the name of the authenticated user will be present in the Linux-PAM
       item PAM_USER.  This item may be recovered with a call to pam_get_item(3).

       The application developer should note that the modules may request that the user enter their username
       via  the  conversation mechanism (see pam_start(3)).  Should this be the case, the user-prompt string
       can be set via the PAM_USER_PROMPT item (see pam_set_item(3)).


RETURN VALUE
       On success PAM_SUCCESS is returned.  All other returns should be considered  authentication  failures
       and  will be delayed by an amount specified with prior calls to pam_fail_delay(3).  Specific failures
       that demand special attention are the following:

       PAM_ABORT
              the application should exit immediately. Of course, pam_end(3) should be called first.


       PAM_MAXTRIES
              the application has tried too many times to authenticate the user, authentication  should  not
              be attempted again.


ERRORS
       May be translated to text with pam_strerror(3).


CONFORMING TO
       DCE-RFC 86.0, October 1995.


BUGS
       none known.


SEE ALSO
       pam_start(3), pam_get_item(3) pam_fail_delay(3) and pam_strerror(3).

       Also,  see  the three Linux-PAM Guides, for System administrators, module developers, and application
       developers.



Linux-PAM 0.55                                   1996 Dec 9                              PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)