freebsd-dev/contrib/libpam/doc/modules/pam_mail.sgml

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$Id: pam_mail.sgml,v 1.2 1997/02/15 18:25:44 morgan Exp $
This file was written by Andrew G. Morgan <morgan@parc.power.net>
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<sect1>The mail module
<sect2>Synopsis
<p>
<descrip>
<tag><bf>Module Name:</bf></tag>
<tt/pam_mail/
<tag><bf>Author:</bf></tag>
Andrew G. Morgan &lt;morgan@parc.power.net&gt;
<tag><bf>Maintainer:</bf></tag>
Author
<tag><bf>Management groups provided:</bf></tag>
auth
<tag><bf>Cryptographically sensitive:</bf></tag>
<tag><bf>Security rating:</bf></tag>
<tag><bf>Clean code base:</bf></tag>
<tag><bf>System dependencies:</bf></tag>
Default mail directory <tt>/var/spool/mail/</tt>
<tag><bf>Network aware:</bf></tag>
</descrip>
<sect2>Overview of module
<p>
This module looks at the user's mail directory and indicates
whether the user has any mail in it.
<sect2>Authentication component
<p>
<descrip>
<tag><bf>Recognized arguments:</bf></tag>
<tt/debug/; <tt/dir=/<em/direcory-name/; <tt/nopen/; <tt/close/;
<tt/noenv/; <tt/empty/
<tag><bf>Description:</bf></tag>
This module provides the ``you have new mail'' service to the user. It
can be plugged into any application that has credential hooks. It gives a
single message indicating the <em/newness/ of any mail it finds in the
user's mail folder. This module also sets the <bf/Linux-PAM/
environment variable, <tt/MAIL/, to the user's mail directory.
<p>
Although the module supplies functions for the authentication
management group of functions, it cannot be used to authenticate a
user; its authentication function instructs <tt/libpam/ to simply
ignore it when authenticating the user.
<p>
The behavior of this module can be modified with one of the following
flags:
<p>
<itemize>
<item><tt/debug/
- write more information to <tt/syslog(3)/.
<item><tt/dir=/<em/pathname/
- look for the users' mail in an alternative directory given by
<em/pathname/. The default location for mail is
<tt>/var/spool/mail</tt>. Note, if the supplied <em/pathname/ is
prefixed by a `<tt/&tilde;/', the directory is interpreted as
indicating a file in the user's home directory.
<item><tt/nopen/
- instruct the module to <em/not/ print any mail information when the
user's credentials are acquired. This flag is useful to get the <tt/MAIL/
environment variable set, but to not display any information about it.
<item><tt/close/
- instruct the module to indicate if the user has any mail at the as
the user's credentials are revoked.
<item><tt/noenv/
- do not set the <tt/MAIL/ environment variable.
<item><tt/empty/
- indicate that the user's mail directory is empty if this is found to
be the case.
</itemize>
<tag><bf>Examples/suggested usage:</bf></tag>
This module can be used to indicate that the user has new mail when
they <em/login/ to the system. Here is a sample entry for your
<tt>/etc/pam.conf</tt> file:
<tscreen>
<verb>
#
# do we have any mail?
#
login auth optional pam_mail.so
</verb>
</tscreen>
<p>
Note, some applications may perform this function themselves. In such
cases, this module is not necessary.
</descrip>
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