2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id=
"systemd-ask-password"
7 xmlns:
xi=
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
10 <title>systemd-ask-password
</title>
11 <productname>systemd
</productname>
15 <refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password
</refentrytitle>
16 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
20 <refname>systemd-ask-password
</refname>
21 <refpurpose>Query the user for a system password
</refpurpose>
26 <command>systemd-ask-password
</command> <arg choice=
"opt" rep=
"repeat">OPTIONS
</arg> <arg choice=
"opt">MESSAGE
</arg>
31 <title>Description
</title>
33 <para><command>systemd-ask-password
</command> may be used to query
34 a system password or passphrase from the user, using a question
35 message specified on the command line. When run from a TTY it will
36 query a password on the TTY and print it to standard output. When
37 run with no TTY or with
<option>--no-tty
</option> it will use the
38 system-wide query mechanism, which allows active users to respond via
39 several agents, listed below.
</para>
41 <para>The purpose of this tool is to query system-wide passwords
42 — that is passwords not attached to a specific user account.
43 Examples include: unlocking encrypted hard disks when they are
44 plugged in or at boot, entering an SSL certificate passphrase for
45 web and VPN servers.
</para>
47 <para>Existing agents are:
50 <listitem><para>A boot-time password agent asking the user for
52 <citerefentry project='die-net'
><refentrytitle>plymouth
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
55 <listitem><para>A boot-time password agent querying the user
56 directly on the console —
57 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password-console.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
60 <listitem><para>An agent requesting password input via a
61 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>wall
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
63 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password-wall.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
66 <listitem><para>A TTY agent that is temporarily spawned during
67 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
68 invocations,
</para></listitem>
70 <listitem><para>A command line agent which can be started
71 temporarily to process queued password
72 requests —
<command>systemd-tty-ask-password-agent --query
</command>.
74 </itemizedlist></para>
76 <para>Answering system-wide password queries is a privileged operation, hence
77 all the agents listed above (except for the last one), run as privileged
78 system services. The last one also needs elevated privileges, so
80 <citerefentry project='die-net'
><refentrytitle>sudo
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
83 <para>Additional password agents may be implemented according to
84 the
<ulink url=
"https://systemd.io/PASSWORD_AGENTS/">systemd Password Agent
85 Specification
</ulink>.
</para>
87 <para>If a password is queried on a TTY, the user may press TAB to
88 hide the asterisks normally shown for each character typed.
89 Pressing Backspace as first key achieves the same effect.
</para>
94 <title>Options
</title>
96 <para>The following options are understood:
</para>
100 <term><option>--icon=
</option></term>
102 <listitem><para>Specify an icon name alongside the password
103 query, which may be used in all agents supporting graphical
104 display. The icon name should follow the
<ulink
105 url=
"https://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html">XDG
106 Icon Naming Specification
</ulink>.
</para></listitem>
110 <term><option>--id=
</option></term>
111 <listitem><para>Specify an identifier for this password
112 query. This identifier is freely choosable and allows
113 recognition of queries by involved agents. It should include
114 the subsystem doing the query and the specific object the
115 query is done for. Example:
116 <literal>--id=cryptsetup:/dev/sda5
</literal>.
</para>
118 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v227"/></listitem>
122 <term><option>--keyname=
</option></term>
123 <listitem><para>Configure a kernel keyring key name to use as
124 cache for the password. If set, then the tool will try to push
125 any collected passwords into the kernel keyring of the root
126 user, as a key of the specified name. If combined with
127 <option>--accept-cached
</option>, it will also try to retrieve
128 such cached passwords from the key in the kernel keyring
129 instead of querying the user right away. By using this option,
130 the kernel keyring may be used as effective cache to avoid
131 repeatedly asking users for passwords, if there are multiple
132 objects that may be unlocked with the same password. The
133 cached key will have a timeout of
2.5min set, after which it
134 will be purged from the kernel keyring. Note that it is
135 possible to cache multiple passwords under the same keyname,
136 in which case they will be stored as
<constant>NUL
</constant>-separated list of
138 <citerefentry project='die-net'
><refentrytitle>keyctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
139 to access the cached key via the kernel keyring
140 directly. Example:
<literal>--keyname=cryptsetup
</literal></para>
142 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v227"/></listitem>
146 <term><option>--credential=
</option></term>
147 <listitem><para>Configure a credential to read the password from – if it exists. This may be used in
148 conjunction with the
<varname>ImportCredential=
</varname>,
<varname>LoadCredential=
</varname> and
149 <varname>SetCredential=
</varname> settings in unit files. See
150 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
151 details. If not specified, defaults to
<literal>password
</literal>. This option has no effect if no
152 credentials directory is passed to the program (i.e.
<varname>$CREDENTIALS_DIRECTORY
</varname> is not
153 set) or if the no credential of the specified name exists.
</para>
155 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
159 <term><option>--timeout=
</option></term>
161 <listitem><para>Specify the query timeout in seconds. Defaults
162 to
90s. A timeout of
0 waits indefinitely.
</para></listitem>
166 <term><option>--echo=yes|no|masked
</option></term>
168 <listitem><para>Controls whether to echo user input. Takes a boolean or the special string
169 <literal>masked
</literal>, the default being the latter. If enabled the typed characters are echoed
170 literally, which is useful for prompting for usernames and other non-protected data. If disabled the
171 typed characters are not echoed in any form, the user will not get feedback on their input. If set to
172 <literal>masked
</literal>, an asterisk (
<literal>*
</literal>) is echoed for each character
173 typed. In this mode, if the user hits the tabulator key (
<literal>↹
</literal>), echo is turned
174 off. (Alternatively, if the user hits the backspace key (
<literal>⌫
</literal>) while no data has
175 been entered otherwise, echo is turned off, too).
</para>
177 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
181 <term><option>--echo
</option></term>
182 <term><option>-e
</option></term>
184 <listitem><para>Equivalent to
<option>--echo=yes
</option>, see above.
</para>
186 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v217"/></listitem>
190 <term><option>--emoji=yes|no|auto
</option></term>
192 <listitem><para>Controls whether or not to prefix the query with a
193 lock and key emoji (🔐), if the TTY settings permit this. The default
194 is
<literal>auto
</literal>, which defaults to
<literal>yes
</literal>,
195 unless
<option>--echo=yes
</option> is given.
</para>
197 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
201 <term><option>--no-tty
</option></term>
203 <listitem><para>Never ask for password on current TTY even if
204 one is available. Always use agent system.
</para></listitem>
208 <term><option>--accept-cached
</option></term>
210 <listitem><para>If passed, accept cached passwords, i.e.
211 passwords previously entered.
</para></listitem>
215 <term><option>--multiple
</option></term>
217 <listitem><para>When used in conjunction with
218 <option>--accept-cached
</option> accept multiple passwords.
219 This will output one password per line.
</para></listitem>
223 <term><option>--no-output
</option></term>
225 <listitem><para>Do not print passwords to standard output. This is useful if you want to store a
226 password in kernel keyring with
<option>--keyname=
</option> but do not want it to show up on screen
229 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v230"/></listitem>
233 <term><option>-n
</option></term>
235 <listitem><para>By default, when the acquired password is written to standard output it is suffixed
236 by a newline character. This may be turned off with the
<option>-n
</option> switch, similarly to the
237 switch of the same name of the
<citerefentry
238 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>echo
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
241 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
244 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"help" />
250 <title>Exit status
</title>
252 <para>On success,
0 is returned, a non-zero failure code
257 <title>See Also
</title>
258 <para><simplelist type=
"inline">
259 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
260 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-ask-password-console.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
261 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-tty-ask-password-agent
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
262 <member><citerefentry project='die-net'
><refentrytitle>keyctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
263 <member><citerefentry project='die-net'
><refentrytitle>plymouth
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
264 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>wall
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>