NAME¶

systemd-ask-password - Query the user for a system password

SYNOPSIS¶

DESCRIPTION¶

systemd-ask-password may be used to query a system password or passphrase from the user, using a question message specified on the command line. When run from a TTY it will query a password on the TTY and print it to STDOUT. When run with no TTY or with --no-tty it will query the password system-wide and allow active users to respond via several agents. The latter is only available to privileged processes. The purpose of this tool is to query system-wide passwords -- that is passwords not attached to a specific user account. Examples include: unlocking encrypted hard disks when they are plugged in or at boot, entering an SSL certificate passphrase for web and VPN servers. Existing agents are: a boot-time password agent asking the user for passwords using Plymouth; a boot-time password agent querying the user directly on the console; an agent requesting password input via a wall(1) message; an agent suitable for running in a GNOME session; a command line agent which can be started temporarily to process queued password requests; a TTY agent that is temporarily spawned during systemctl(1) invocations. Additional password agents may be implemented according to the systemd Password Agent Specification[1]. If a password is queried on a tty the user may press TAB to hide the asterisks normally shown for each character typed. Pressing Backspace as first key achieves the same effect.

OPTIONS¶

The following options are understood: --h, --help --icon= --timeout= --no-tty --accept-cached --multiple

EXIT STATUS¶

On success 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.

SEE ALSO¶

systemd(1), systemctl(1), plymouth(8), wall(1)

AUTHOR¶

Lennart Poettering <lennart@poettering.net>

NOTES¶

1.

systemd Password Agent Specification

2.

XDG Icon Naming Specification