PAM_START(3)

NAME
pam_start - initiate a PAM transaction

SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <security/pam_appl.h>
int
pam_start(const char *service, const char *user, const struct pam_conv *pam_conv, pam_handle_t **pamh);

DESCRIPTION
The pam_start() function creates and initializes a PAM context.

The service argument specifies the name of the policy to apply, and is stored in the PAM_SERVICE item in the created context.

The user argument specifies the name of the target user - the user the created context will serve to authenticate. It is stored in the PAM_USER item in the created context.

The pam_conv argument points to a struct pam_conv describing the conversation function to use; see pam_conv for details.

RETURN VALUES
The pam_start() function returns one of the following values:

[PAM_SUCCESS]
    Success.

[PAM_BAD_ITEM]
    Unrecognized or restricted item.

[PAM_BUF_ERR]
    Memory buffer error.

[PAM_SYSTEM_ERR]
    System error.

SEE ALSO
pam(3), pam_end(3), pam_get_item(3), pam_set_item(3), pam_strerror(3)

STANDARDS
X/Open Single Sign-On Service (XSSO) - Pluggable Authentication Modules, June 1997.

AUTHORS
The pam_start() function and this manual page were developed for the FreeBSD Project by ThinkSec AS and Network Associates Laboratories, the Security Research Division of Network Associates, Inc. under DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035 (“CBOSS”), as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.

The OpenPAM library is maintained by Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no>.