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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY COMMANDNAME "usplash">
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<!ENTITY TIMESTAMP "2009-01-04">
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<!ENTITY % common SYSTEM "../common.ent">
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<refentry xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
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<title>Mandos Manual</title>
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<!-- NWalsh’s docbook scripts use this to generate the footer: -->
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<productname>Mandos</productname>
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<productnumber>&version;</productnumber>
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<date>&TIMESTAMP;</date>
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<firstname>Björn</firstname>
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<surname>Påhlsson</surname>
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<email>belorn@fukt.bsnet.se</email>
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<firstname>Teddy</firstname>
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<surname>Hogeborn</surname>
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<email>teddy@fukt.bsnet.se</email>
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<holder>Teddy Hogeborn</holder>
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<holder>Björn Påhlsson</holder>
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<xi:include href="../legalnotice.xml"/>
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<refentrytitle>&COMMANDNAME;</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum>
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<refname><command>&COMMANDNAME;</command></refname>
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<refpurpose>Mandos plugin to use usplash to get a
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password.</refpurpose>
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<command>&COMMANDNAME;</command>
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<refsect1 id="description">
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<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
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This program prompts for a password using <citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry> and outputs any given password to standard
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output. If no <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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process can be found, this program will immediately exit with an
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exit code indicating failure.
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This program is not very useful on its own. This program is
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really meant to run as a plugin in the <application
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>Mandos</application> client-side system, where it is used as a
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fallback and alternative to retrieving passwords from a
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<application >Mandos</application> server.
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If this program is killed (presumably by
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>plugin-runner</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry> because some other
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plugin provided the password), it cannot tell <citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry> to abort requesting a password, because
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> does not support this.
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Therefore, this program will then <emphasis>kill</emphasis> the
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running <citerefentry><refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> process and start a
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<emphasis>new</emphasis> one using the same command line
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arguments as the old one was using.
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<refsect1 id="options">
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<title>OPTIONS</title>
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This program takes no options.
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<refsect1 id="exit_status">
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<title>EXIT STATUS</title>
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If exit status is 0, the output from the program is the password
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as it was read. Otherwise, if exit status is other than 0, the
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program was interrupted or encountered an error, and any output
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so far could be corrupt and/or truncated, and should therefore
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<refsect1 id="environment">
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<title>ENVIRONMENT</title>
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<term><envar>cryptsource</envar></term>
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<term><envar>crypttarget</envar></term>
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If set, these environment variables will be assumed to
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contain the source device name and the target device
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mapper name, respectively, and will be shown as part of
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These variables will normally be inherited from
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>plugin-runner</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry>, which will
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normally have inherited them from
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<filename>/scripts/local-top/cryptroot</filename> in the
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initial <acronym>RAM</acronym> disk environment, which will
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have set them from parsing kernel arguments and
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<filename>/conf/conf.d/cryptroot</filename> (also in the
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initial RAM disk environment), which in turn will have been
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created when the initial RAM disk image was created by
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>/usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/cryptroot</filename>, by
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extracting the information of the root file system from
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<filename >/etc/crypttab</filename>.
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This behavior is meant to exactly mirror the behavior of
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<command>askpass</command>, the default password prompter.
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<refsect1 id="files">
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<term><filename>/dev/.initramfs/usplash_fifo</filename></term>
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This is the <acronym>FIFO</acronym> to where this program
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will write the commands for <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry>. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>fifo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
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<term><filename>/dev/.initramfs/usplash_outfifo</filename></term>
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This is the <acronym>FIFO</acronym> where this program
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will read the password from <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry>. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>fifo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
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<term><filename>/proc</filename></term>
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To find the running <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry>, this directory will be searched for
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numeric entries which will be assumed to be directories.
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In all those directories, the <filename>exe</filename> and
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<filename>cmdline</filename> entries will be used to
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determine the name of the running binary, effective user
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and group <abbrev>ID</abbrev>, and the command line
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arguments. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>proc</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
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<term><filename>/sbin/usplash</filename></term>
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This is the name of the binary which will be searched for
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in the process list. See <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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Killing <citerefentry><refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> and starting a new one
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is ugly, but necessary as long as it does not support aborting a
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<refsect1 id="example">
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<title>EXAMPLE</title>
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Note that normally, this program will not be invoked directly,
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but instead started by the Mandos <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>plugin-runner</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum>
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This program takes no options.
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<userinput>&COMMANDNAME;</userinput>
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<refsect1 id="security">
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<title>SECURITY</title>
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If this program is killed by a signal, it will kill the process
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<abbrev>ID</abbrev> which at the start of this program was
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determined to run <citerefentry><refentrytitle
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>usplash</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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as root (see also <xref linkend="files"/>). There is a very
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slight risk that, in the time between those events, that process
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<abbrev>ID</abbrev> was freed and then taken up by another
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process; the wrong process would then be killed. Now, this
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program can only be killed by the user who started it; see
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>plugin-runner</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry>. This program
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should therefore be started by a completely separate
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non-privileged user, and no other programs should be allowed to
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run as that special user. This means that it is not recommended
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to use the user "nobody" to start this program, as other
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possibly less trusted programs could be running as "nobody", and
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they would then be able to kill this program, triggering the
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killing of the process <abbrev>ID</abbrev> which may or may not
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be <citerefentry><refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
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The only other thing that could be considered worthy of note is
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this: This program is meant to be run by <citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>plugin-runner</refentrytitle><manvolnum
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>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry>, and will, when run
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standalone, outside, in a normal environment, immediately output
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on its standard output any presumably secret password it just
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received. Therefore, when running this program standalone
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(which should never normally be done), take care not to type in
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any real secret password by force of habit, since it would then
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immediately be shown as output.
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<refsect1 id="see_also">
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<title>SEE ALSO</title>
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>crypttab</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>fifo</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>plugin-runner</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8mandos</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>proc</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>usplash</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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