Login procedure for Linux

[sujita]

CAn anyone explain to me how Linux performs the login procedure?Anyway I can tinker with the kernel to bypass the login procedure/or create my own customised login procedure?

[mikek147]

May I inquire why you would want to bypass login? If you're considering on removing the login process because entering a login name and password requires too much effort, maybe Linux is not for you. Keep in mind, this isn't MS Windows. The login process and good user IDs and passwords are the first line of defence in protecting your system from the world. Further, the login process defines what permissions you have once your on the system. And it's not a good idea to always run a login sesson as root, unless you're doing sys admin stuff. Besides, I'm pretty much sure that you'll just end up corrupting your system by trying to remove this proceedure. Not a good idea at all.

Now if your just looking into changing the text for the user login, that some of that can be done in /etc/issue and /etc/motd. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

[This message has been edited by mikek147 (edited 02-20-2001).]

[sujita]

Hi,
Actually I am working on SmartCards,and am trying to see if the idea of logging in using the SmartCard is feasible or not..I mean is there any way to modifythe login process such that it takes username and password from the SmartCard reader instead of the keyboard..I don't know how the login actually works..hence the question.:-)Hope it's ok.

[mikek147]

The smart card idea for logging in sounds like a real novel approach for login. I went looking through my /usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.1 for login without too much success. I do know, however, that there is a 'login' package that you can down load the source for. In Debian, that would be in the stable/source/main tree of the distribution. Where it would be in your distro, well, you'll have to look around.

If you have any success with what you're trying to do, please keep us posted. It's refreshing to hear of someone using Linux for development. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

[sujita]

Thank u for the suggestion ,will try it out and will keep U posted. :-) Am sure I will have many questions along the way,too :-)

[sujita]

Whatexactly is the name of the package in Debian which handles the login?

[mikek147]

sujita,

I may have mis-spoken. As of yet, I have not found a location for the 'getty' source. I'll keep looking and post back to this thread if I find it. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

[This message has been edited by mikek147 (edited 02-22-2001).]

[mikek147]

OK, I found it.

First, ftp to ftp.us.debian.org. Then cd debian/dists/stable/main/source/base/. Then get util-linux_2.10f.orig.tar.gz. This is the package that has the agetty.c source that Linux uses as getty to control login. I think this is what your looking for.

By the way, if you are using Debian, to see what package a particular command resides in, do dpkg -S /path/command. In this particular case, the command was dpkg -S /sbin/getty. Hope this helps. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

[sujita]

thanks..trying,and will keep u posted about developments in this thread.:-)

[sujita]

Hi mikek,
ok,the smart login project is almost ready..
We used Login.app and PAM and the MUSCLE smart card interface (the MUSCLE smart card interface details are at : www.linuxnet.com)
Now what's left is trying to modify xlock such that the screen is locked when the smart card is removed.