PAM Library Functions                      pamopensession(3PAM)



NAME
     pamopensession, pamclosesession -  perform  PAM  session
     creation and termination operations

SYNOPSIS
     cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lpam [ library ... ]
     #include 



     int pamopensession(pamhandlet *pamh, int flags);


     int pamclosesession(pamhandlet *pamh, int flags);


DESCRIPTION
     The pamopensession() function is called after a  user  has
     been successfully authenticated. See  pamauthenticate(3PAM)
     and pamacctmgmt(3PAM). It is used to  notify  the  session
     modules  that  a  new session  has been initiated.  All pro-
     grams  that  use  the   pam(3PAM)  library   should   invoke
     pamopensession() when beginning a new session. Upon termi-
     nation  of  this  activity,  pamclosesession()  should  be
     invoked to inform pam(3PAM) that the session has terminated.


     The pamh argument is an authentication handle obtained by  a
     prior  call to pamstart(). The following flag may be set in
     the    flags    field     for     pamopensession()     and
     pamclosesession():

     PAMSILENT    The session service should  not  generate  any
                   messages.


RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion,  PAMSUCES  is  returned.   In
     addition to the return values defined in pam(3PAM), the fol-
     lowing value may be returned on error:

     PAMSESIONER    Cannot make or remove an  entry  for  the
                        specified session.


ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for description of  the  following  attri-
     butes:







SunOS 5.11          Last change: 13 Oct 1998                    1






PAM Library Functions                      pamopensession(3PAM)



     
           ATRIBUTE TYPE               ATRIBUTE VALUE       
    
     Interface Stability           Stable                     
    
     MT-Level                     MT-Safe with exceptions     
    


SEE ALSO
     getutxent(3C),        pam(3PAM),        pamacctmgmt(3PAM),
     pamauthenticate(3PAM), pamstart(3PAM), attributes(5)

NOTES
     In    many    instances,    the    pamopensession()    and
     pamclosesession()   calls   may   be   made  by  different
     processes. For example, in UNIX the login  process  opens  a
     session, while the init process closes the session.  In this
     case, UTMP/WTMP entries may be used  to  link  the  call  to
     pamclosesession()     with     an    earlier    call    to
     pamopensession().  This  is  possible  because   UTMP/WTMP
     entries  are  uniquely identified by a combination of attri-
     butes, including the user login name and device name,  which
     are  accessible  through  the  PAM handle, pamh. The call to
     pamopensession() should precede  UTMP/WTMP  entry  manage-
     ment,  and  the  call  to  pamclosesession() should follow
     UTMP/WTMP exit management.


     The interfaces in  libpam are MT-Safe only  if  each  thread
     within  the multithreaded application uses its own  PAM han-
     dle.























SunOS 5.11          Last change: 13 Oct 1998                    2