PKCHECK(1)                          pkcheck                         PKCHECK(1)



NAME
       pkcheck - Check whether a process is authorized

SYNOPSIS
       pkcheck [--version] [--help]

       pkcheck [--list-temp]

       pkcheck [--revoke-temp]

       pkcheck --action-id action
               {--process { pid | pid,pid-start-time | pid,pid-start-time,uid }
               | --system-bus-name busname} [--allow-user-interaction]
               [--enable-internal-agent] [--detail key value...]

DESCRIPTION
       pkcheck is used to check whether a process, specified by either
       --process (see below) or --system-bus-name, is authorized for action.
       The --detail option can be used zero or more times to pass details
       about action. If --allow-user-interaction is passed, pkcheck blocks
       while waiting for authentication.

       The invocation pkcheck --list-temp will list all temporary
       authorizations for the current session and pkcheck --revoke-temp will
       revoke all temporary authorizations for the current session.

       This command is a simple wrapper around the PolicyKit D-Bus interface;
       see the D-Bus interface documentation for details.

RETURN VALUE
       If the specified process is authorized, pkcheck exits with a return
       value of 0. If the authorization result contains any details, these are
       printed on standard output as key/value pairs using environment style
       reporting, e.g. first the key followed by a an equal sign, then the
       value followed by a newline.

           KEY1=VALUE1
           KEY2=VALUE2
           KEY3=VALUE3
           ...

       Octects that are not in [a-zA-Z0-9_] are escaped using octal codes
       prefixed with \. For example, the UTF-8 string fl,  will be printed as
       f\303\270l\54\344\275\240\345\245\275.

       If the specificied process is not authorized, pkcheck exits with a
       return value of 1 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard
       error. Details are printed on standard output.

       If the specificied process is not authorized because no suitable
       authentication agent is available or if the --allow-user-interaction
       wasn't passed, pkcheck exits with a return value of 2 and a diagnostic
       message is printed on standard error. Details are printed on standard
       output.

       If the specificied process is not authorized because the authentication
       dialog / request was dismissed by the user, pkcheck exits with a return
       value of 3 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error.
       Details are printed on standard output.

       If an error occured while checking for authorization, pkcheck exits
       with a return value of 127 with a diagnostic message printed on
       standard error.

       If one or more of the options passed are malformed, pkcheck exits with
       a return value of 126. If stdin is a tty, then this manual page is also
       shown.

NOTES
       Do not use either the bare pid or pid,start-time syntax forms for
       --process. There are race conditions in both. New code should always
       use pid,pid-start-time,uid. The value of start-time can be determined
       by consulting e.g. the proc(5) file system depending on the operating
       system. If fewer than 3 arguments are passed, pkcheck will attempt to
       look up them up internally, but note that this may be racy.

       If your program is a daemon with e.g. a custom Unix domain socket, you
       should determine the uid parameter via operating system mechanisms such
       as PEERCRED.

AUTHENTICATION AGENT
       pkcheck, like any other PolicyKit application, will use the
       authentication agent registered for the process in question. However,
       if no authentication agent is available, then pkcheck can register its
       own textual authentication agent if the option --enable-internal-agent
       is passed.

AUTHOR
       Written by David Zeuthen <davidz@redhat.com> with a lot of help from
       many others.

BUGS
       Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the polkit-devel
       mailing list, see the link
       http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/polkit-devel on how to
       subscribe.

SEE ALSO
       polkit(8), pkaction(1), pkexec(1), pkttyagent(1)



polkit                             May 2009                         PKCHECK(1)
