PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)	   App. Programmers Manual	  PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)



NAME
       pam_authenticate - authenticate a user

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

       int pam_authenticate(pam_handle_t *pamh, int  flags);



DESCRIPTION
       pam_authenticate

       Use  this  function  to	authenticate  an applicant user.  It is linked
       dynamically to the authentication modules by Linux-PAM.	It is the task
       of these module to perform such an authentication.  The specific nature
       of the authentication is not the concern of the application.

       Following successful completion, the name  of  the  authenticated  user
       will  be  present  in  the  Linux-PAM  item PAM_USER.  This item may be
       recovered with a call to pam_get_item(3).

       The application developer should note that the modules may request that
       the  user  enter  their	username  via  the conversation mechanism (see
       pam_start(3)).  Should this be the case, the user-prompt string can  be
       set via the PAM_USER_PROMPT item (see pam_set_item(3)).


RETURN VALUE
       On  success  PAM_SUCCESS is returned.  All other returns should be con
       sidered authentication failures and will be delayed by an amount speci
       fied  with  prior  calls  to pam_fail_delay(3).	Specific failures that
       demand special attention are the following:

       PAM_ABORT
	      the application should exit immediately. Of  course,  pam_end(3)
	      should be called first.


       PAM_MAXTRIES
	      the  application	has  tried  too many times to authenticate the
	      user, authentication should not be attempted again.


ERRORS
       May be translated to text with pam_strerror(3).


CONFORMING TO
       DCE-RFC 86.0, October 1995.


BUGS
       none known.


SEE ALSO
       pam_start(3), pam_get_item(3) pam_fail_delay(3) and pam_strerror(3).

       Also, see the three Linux-PAM Guides, for System administrators, module
       developers, and application developers.



Linux-PAM 0.55			  1996 Dec 9		   PAM_AUTHENTICATE(3)