1PKCHECK(1) pkcheck PKCHECK(1)
2
6 pkcheck - Check whether a process is authorized
7
9 pkcheck [--version] [--help]
10 pkcheck [--list-temp]
12 pkcheck [--revoke-temp]
14 pkcheck --action-id action
16 {--process { pid | pid,pid-start-time | pid,pid-start-time,uid }
17 | --system-bus-name busname} [--allow-user-interaction]
18 [--enable-internal-agent] [--detail key value...]
19
21 pkcheck is used to check whether a process, specified by either
22 --process (see below) or --system-bus-name, is authorized for action.
23 The --detail option can be used zero or more times to pass details
24 about action. If --allow-user-interaction is passed, pkcheck blocks
25 while waiting for authentication.
26 The invocation pkcheck --list-temp will list all temporary
28 authorizations for the current session and pkcheck --revoke-temp will
29 revoke all temporary authorizations for the current session.
30 This command is a simple wrapper around the polkit D-Bus interface; see
32 the D-Bus interface documentation for details.
33
35 If the specified process is authorized, pkcheck exits with a return
36 value of 0. If the authorization result contains any details, these are
37 printed on standard output as key/value pairs using environment style
38 reporting, e.g. first the key followed by a an equal sign, then the
39 value followed by a newline.
40 KEY1=VALUE1
42 KEY2=VALUE2
43 KEY3=VALUE3
44 ...
45 Octets that are not in [a-zA-Z0-9_] are escaped using octal codes
47 prefixed with \. For example, the UTF-8 string føl,你好 will be printed
48 as f\303\270l\54\344\275\240\345\245\275.
49 If the specified process is not authorized, pkcheck exits with a return
51 value of 1 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error.
52 Details are printed on standard output.
53 If the specified process is not authorized because no suitable
55 authentication agent is available or if the --allow-user-interaction
56 wasn't passed, pkcheck exits with a return value of 2 and a diagnostic
57 message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard
58 output.
59 If the specified process is not authorized because the authentication
61 dialog / request was dismissed by the user, pkcheck exits with a return
62 value of 3 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error.
63 Details are printed on standard output.
64 If an error occurred while checking for authorization, pkcheck exits
66 with a return value of 127 with a diagnostic message printed on
67 standard error.
68 If one or more of the options passed are malformed, pkcheck exits with
70 a return value of 126. If stdin is a tty, then this manual page is also
71 shown.
72
74 Do not use either the bare pid or pid,start-time syntax forms for
75 --process. There are race conditions in both. New code should always
76 use pid,pid-start-time,uid. The value of start-time can be determined
77 by consulting e.g. the proc(5) file system depending on the operating
78 system. If fewer than 3 arguments are passed, pkcheck will attempt to
79 look up them up internally, but note that this may be racy.
80 If your program is a daemon with e.g. a custom Unix domain socket, you
82 should determine the uid parameter via operating system mechanisms such
83 as PEERCRED.
84
86 pkcheck, like any other polkit application, will use the authentication
87 agent registered for the process in question. However, if no
88 authentication agent is available, then pkcheck can register its own
89 textual authentication agent if the option --enable-internal-agent is
90 passed.
91
93 Written by David Zeuthen <davidz@redhat.com> with a lot of help from
94 many others.
95
97 Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the polkit-devel
98 mailing list, see the link
99 http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/polkit-devel on how to
100 subscribe.
101
103 polkit(8), polkitd(8), pkaction(1), pkexec(1), pkttyagent(1)
104polkit May 2009 PKCHECK(1)