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#26 2007-02-15 17:20:57

Master One
Member
From: Europe
Registered: 2007-01-21
Posts: 249

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

I just finished a new installation with KDEMOD (login via KDM), and authentification by fingerprint does not work. I don't really know, what's going on, but KDE installs two new files in /etc/pam.d: kde & kde-np. I modified the file kde to fit the instructions for thinkfinger:

$ cat /etc/pam.d/kde
#%PAM-1.0
#auth       required     pam_unix.so

auth       sufficient   pam_thinkfinger.so
auth       required     pam_unix.so use_first_pass nullok_secure

auth       required     pam_nologin.so
account    required     pam_unix.so
password   required     pam_unix.so
session    required     pam_unix.so
session    required     pam_limits.so

but this does not work. When I get to the login in KDM, I select my username, but there is no way around entering the password, because a finger-swipe does not do anything. It's the same when root-privileges are needed in the control center.

Can this problem be fixed by modifying /etc/pam.d/kde?

I honestly have no clue about pam, so hopefully somebody with the needed knowledge can take a look.

Login in a virtual console and the su-command work with fingerprint without problem. And BTW, in former times, when I had the fingerprint-usage setup in Gentoo & Kubuntu with the bioapi-framework + proprietary UPEK driver + pam_bioapi, it was indeed working properly in all situations, for login in KDM and supeuser-rights in KDE I just had to press enter instead entering the password, then the fingerprint-driver-popup was shown, a finger swipe, and it proceeded (strangely in KDE for superuser-rights, I always had to swipe twice, because the password popup came twice when using pam_bioapi).

Hopefully this issue can be fixed somehow, because otherwise thinkfinger would be pretty useless when using KDM+KDE, and I would have to revert to the proprietary way as explained in thinkwiki (I'd prefer OSS over the proprietary stuff, although the proprietary driver has the advantage of showing this nice little popup for the fingerprint-swipe).

Last edited by Master One (2007-02-17 13:09:04)

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#27 2007-02-17 13:23:59

Master One
Member
From: Europe
Registered: 2007-01-21
Posts: 249

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

Took some time to investigate that matter further, and it really looks like there is no way to get this working properly with any GUI app, like KDM Login or KDESU.

The problem is, that pam_thinkfinger.so does only trigger for users with present bir-file in /etc/pam_thinkfinger, and that requires to enter the username before going for the password / fingerprint authentication. This is not possible in KDM Login, because username & password are entered in advance, before the data gets passed to the pam-mechanism.

With the proprietary UPEK driver, this issue is solved by the reversed order of the pam modules:

auth       sufficient   pam_unix.so likeauth nullok
auth       sufficient   pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/

That way you first have to press enter on an emtpy password, the fingerprint popup shows up, you roll the fingerprint, and that's it.

Unfortunately using pam_thinkfinger in that reversed order (so after the pam_unix.so line) requires you to press enter another time after the fingerprint-enrolling, so it works with first selecting the username + press enter + enroll-fingerprint + press enter, which is not really the most comfortable way.

The other downside is, that you do not get any visual feedback, if the fingerprint is correctly recognised, which leaves you pressing enter several times until the enrolled fingerprint is right.

So the mentioned way of using pam_thinkfinger.so is working quite nicely, if you only stick to a console (login on a virtual terminal, and using "su" in a console), but is not of any use when being in a graphical environment, not only because of the missing visual fingerprint-driver feedback.

Unless somebody comes up with a way how to trick pam with some options, to act accordingly, I'll have to go back to the proprietary UPEK-driver + bioapi-framework, which is fitting much better into graphical environments (and also works correctly in a console) under these circumstances. :-(

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#28 2007-02-17 13:53:26

Sigi
Member
From: Thurgau, Switzerland
Registered: 2005-09-22
Posts: 1,131

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

Thank you for investigating further in this issue. I'm sorry that I'm unable to help you in this topic, as I'm only a user of this tool and not a programmer of any kind. I'm working in the way you discribed as working: login on VT, using "su" in the console, etc. The only tool I'd like supported which doesn't work for me yet is gksu. I really don't have the time now to investigate in this issue atm. Sorry again...


Haven't been here in a while. Still rocking Arch. smile

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#29 2007-02-17 21:35:31

mutlu_inek
Member
From: all over the place
Registered: 2006-11-18
Posts: 683

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

Master One wrote:

Hopefully this issue can be fixed somehow, because otherwise thinkfinger would be pretty useless when using KDM+KDE, and I would have to revert to the proprietary way as explained in thinkwiki (I'd prefer OSS over the proprietary stuff, although the proprietary driver has the advantage of showing this nice little popup for the fingerprint-swipe).

Well, thinkfinger is doing it correctly. The programs that should be fixed are those that call pam and have not been doing it according to the specifications, but some way that also works (or rather used to work). But I think things are starting to move. xdm has just been made fully pam compatibe with version 1.1.4. You could get it from cvs. Reportedly, gdm also works. If you do not mind switching from kdm, then only kdesu would be left.

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#30 2007-02-17 21:52:48

Master One
Member
From: Europe
Registered: 2007-01-21
Posts: 249

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

mutlu_inek, surely you are right. I am in no way a PAM expert, and my knowledge about the proper setup of these files in /etc/pam.d is pretty poor, so if there would be a workaround for the mentioned problems when using KDM+KDE, I'd stick with this OSS solution, but right now I just want it to work the way I'm used to it (and I had the proprietary driver + bioapi + pam_bioapi working correctly on my Gentoo / Kubuntu setup for a very long time). Hopefully the KDE devs are also on the way to make things fully PAM compatible.

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#31 2007-03-01 00:01:22

Sigi
Member
From: Thurgau, Switzerland
Registered: 2005-09-22
Posts: 1,131

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

I have updated thinkfinger-svn to rev 88. Don't worry, I'm not going to announce every update in this thread.
There is something you should be aware of. TF revisions above rev 72 need the module uinput to be loaded, so put uinput into the module array of /etc/rc.conf.

Cheers Sigi


Haven't been here in a while. Still rocking Arch. smile

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#32 2007-03-01 00:43:03

hacosta
Member
From: Mexico
Registered: 2006-10-22
Posts: 423

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

@sigi
good. btw.. are you sure /etc/pam.d/other is arch's equivalent to common-auth?

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#33 2007-03-01 02:15:49

Sigi
Member
From: Thurgau, Switzerland
Registered: 2005-09-22
Posts: 1,131

Re: [Req] Thinkfinger [Done]

hacosta wrote:

@sigi
good. btw.. are you sure /etc/pam.d/other is arch's equivalent to common-auth?

No, absolutely not. I first assumed so, but I think this isn't the case.
1. Does someone now more about /etc/pam.d/other?
2. Should this better be changed to /etc/pam.d/login in the wiki?


Haven't been here in a while. Still rocking Arch. smile

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