1CONSOLEHELPER(8)            System Manager's Manual           CONSOLEHELPER(8)
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NAME

6       consolehelper - A wrapper that helps console users run system programs
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SYNOPSIS

9       progname [ options ]
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DESCRIPTION

12       consolehelper  is  a  tool  that makes it easy for console users to run
13       system programs, doing authentication via PAM (which can be set  up  to
14       trust all console users or to ask for a password at the system adminis‐
15       trator's discretion).  When possible, the authentication is done graph‐
16       ically;  otherwise,  it is done within the text console from which con‐
17       solehelper was started.
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19       It is intended to be completely transparent.  This means that the  user
20       will  never  run the consolehelper program directly.  Instead, programs
21       like /sbin/shutdown are paired with a link  from  /usr/bin/shutdown  to
22       /usr/bin/consolehelper.   Then when non-root users (specifically, users
23       without /sbin in their path, or /sbin after /usr/bin) call  the  "shut‐
24       down" program, consolehelper will be invoked to authenticate the action
25       and then invoke /sbin/shutdown.  (consolehelper  itself  has  no  priv‐
26       iledges; it calls the userhelper(8) program do the real work.)
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28       consolehelper  requires that a PAM configuration for every managed pro‐
29       gram exist.  So to make /sbin/foo or /usr/sbin/foo managed, you need to
30       create  a  link  from /usr/bin/foo to /usr/bin/consolehelper and create
31       the file /etc/pam.d/foo, normally using the pam_console(8) PAM module.
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OPTIONS

34       This program has no command line options of its own; it passes all com‐
35       mand line options on to the program it is calling.
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SEE ALSO

38       userhelper(8)
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AUTHOR

41       Michael K. Johnson <johnsonm@redhat.com>
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45Red Hat Software                 18 March 1999                CONSOLEHELPER(8)