CONSOLEHELPER(8)                                 CONSOLEHELPER(8)

NAME
       consolehelper  -  A  wrapper  that helps console users run
       system programs

SYNOPSIS
       progname [ options ]

DESCRIPTION
       consolehelper is a tool that makes  it  easy  for  console
       users to run system programs, doing authentication via PAM
       (which can be set up to trust all console users or to  ask
       for  a password at the system administrator's discretion).
       When possible, the  authentication  is  done  graphically;
       otherwise,  it  is done within the text console from which
       consolehelper was started.

       It is intended to be completely transparent.   This  means
       that  the  user  will  never run the consolehelper program
       directly.   Instead,  programs  like  /sbin/shutdown   are
       paired with a link from /usr/bin/shutdown to /usr/bin/con-
       solehelper.  Then when non-root users (specifically, users
       without /sbin in their path, or /sbin after /usr/bin) call
       the "shutdown" program, consolehelper will be  invoked  to
       authenticate  the  action  and then invoke /sbin/shutdown.
       (consolehelper itself has no  priviledges;  it  calls  the
       userhelper(8) program do the real work.)

       consolehelper  requires that a PAM configuration for every
       managed  program  exist.   So   to   make   /sbin/foo   or
       /usr/sbin/foo  managed,  you  need  to  create a link from
       /usr/bin/foo to /usr/bin/consolehelper and create the file
       /etc/pam.d/foo, normally using the pam_console(8) PAM mod-
       ule.

OPTIONS
       This program has no command line options of  its  own;  it
       passes  all  command  line options on to the program it is
       calling.

SEE ALSO
       userhelper(8)

BUGS
       No known bugs.   Report  any  you  find  at  http://devel-
       oper.redhat.com/ at the BugTrack link.

AUTHOR
       Michael K. Johnson <johnsonm@redhat.com>

Red Hat Software          18 March 1999                         1