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pam_systemd(8)

PAM_SYSTEMD(8) pam_systemd PAM_SYSTEMD(8)


.SH "NAME" pam_systemd - Register user sessions in the systemd login manager


.SH "SYNOPSIS"


.PP pam_systemd.so


.SH "DESCRIPTION"


.PP pam_systemd registers user sessions with the systemd login manager systemd-logind.service(8), and hence the systemd control group hierarchy.


.PP The module also applies various resource management and runtime parameters to the new session, as configured in the JSON User Records[1] of the user, when one is defined.


.PP On login, this module — in conjunction with systemd-logind.service — ensures the following:

1.If it does not exist yet, the user runtime directory /run/user/$UID is either created or mounted as new tmpfs file system with quota applied, and its ownership changed to the user that is logging in.

2.The $XDG_SESSION_ID environment variable is initialized. If auditing is available and pam_loginuid.so was run before this module (which is highly recommended), the variable is initialized from the auditing session id (/proc/self/sessionid). Otherwise, an independent session counter is used.

3.A new systemd scope unit is created for the session. If this is the first concurrent session of the user, an implicit per-user slice unit below user.slice is automatically created and the scope placed into it. An instance of the system service user@.service, which runs the systemd user manager instance, is started.

4.The $TZ, $EMAIL and $LANG environment variables are configured for the user, based on the respective data from the user's JSON record (if it is defined). Moreover, any environment variables explicitly configured in the user record are imported, and the umask, nice level, and resource limits initialized.


.PP On logout, this module ensures the following:

1.If enabled in logind.conf(5) (KillUserProcesses=), all processes of the session are terminated. If the last concurrent session of a user ends, the user's systemd instance will be terminated too, and so will the user's slice unit.

2.If the last concurrent session of a user ends, the user runtime directory /run/user/$UID and all its contents are removed, too.


.PP If the system was not booted up with systemd as init system, this module does nothing and immediately returns PAM_SUCCESS.


.SH "OPTIONS"


.PP The following options are understood:


.PP class=


Takes a string argument which sets the session class. The XDG_SESSION_CLASS environment variable (see below) takes precedence. See sd_session_get_class(3) for a way to query the class of a session. The following session classes are defined:


.sp
Table 1. Session Classes

Name Explanation
user A regular interactive user session. This is the default class for sessions for which a TTY or X display is known at session registration time.
user-early Similar to user but sessions of this class are not ordered after systemd-user-sessions.service(8), i.e. may be started before regular sessions are allowed to be established. This session class is the default for sessions of the root user that would otherwise qualify for the user class, see above. (Added in v256.)
user-light Similar to user, but sessions of this class will not pull in the user@.service(5) of the user, and thus possibly have no service manager of the user running. (Added in v258.)
user-early-light Similar to user-early, but sessions of this class will not pull in the user@.service(5) of the user, and thus possibly have no service manager of the user running. (Added in v258.)
user-incomplete Similar to user but for sessions which are not fully set up yet, i.e. have no home directory mounted or similar. This is used by systemd-homed.service(8) to allow users to log in via ssh(1) before their home directory is mounted, delaying the mount until the user provided the unlock password. Sessions of this class are upgraded to the regular user class once the home directory is activated.
greeter Similar to user but for sessions that are spawned by a display manager ephemerally and which prompt the user for login credentials.
lock-screen Similar to user but for sessions that are spawned by a display manager ephemerally and which show a lock screen that can be used to unlock locked user accounts or sessions.
background Used for background sessions, such as those invoked by cron(8) and similar tools. This is the default class for sessions for which no TTY or X display is known at session registration time.
background-light Similar to background, but sessions of this class will not pull in the user@.service(5) of the user, and thus possibly have no service manager of the user running. (Added in v256.)
manager The user@.service(5) service of the user is registered under this session class. (Added in v256.)
manager-early Similar to manager, but for the root user. Compare with the user vs. user-early situation. (Added in v256.)
none Skips registering this session with logind. No session scope will be created, and the user service manager will not be started. (Added in v258.)


If no session class is specified via either the PAM module option or via the $XDG_SESSION_CLASS environment variable, the class is automatically chosen, depending on various session parameters, such as the session type (if known), whether the session has a TTY or X11 display, and the user disposition. Note that various tools allow setting the session class for newly allocated PAM sessions explicitly by means of the $XDG_SESSION_CLASS environment variable. For example, classic UNIX cronjobs support environment variable assignments (see crontab(5)), which may be used to choose between the background and background-light session class individually per cronjob, or run0 --setenv=XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user-light may be used to choose between user and user-light for invoked privileged sessions.


Added in version 197.


.RE


.PP type=


Takes a string argument which sets the session type. The XDG_SESSION_TYPE environment variable (see below) takes precedence. One of unspecified, tty, x11, wayland, mir, or web. See sd_session_get_type(3) for details about the session type.


Added in version 209.


.RE


.PP desktop=


Takes a single, short identifier string for the desktop environment. The XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP environment variable (see below) takes precedence. This may be used to indicate the session desktop used, where this applies and if this information is available. For example: GNOME, or KDE. It is recommended to use the same identifiers and capitalization as for $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, as defined by the Desktop Entry Specification[2]. (However, note that the option only takes a single item, and not a colon-separated list like $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP.) See sd_session_get_desktop(3) for further details.


Added in version 240.


.RE


.PP area=


Takes a filename as parameter. If specified and the user logs into their account the $HOME environment variable will be set to ~/Areas/ suffixed by the specified string, but only if that directory exists. Moreover, the $XDG_AREA variable will be set to the (unprefixed) parameter.


This functionality may be used to maintain multiple separate secondary home directories within the primary home directory of the user. Typically, the area to log into is specified while logging in, if the account permits that (accounts provided by pam_systemd_home(8) do), but this parameter may be used to define a default if that's not provided.


Note that this only adjusts $HOME during login, it does not affect the otherwise reported home directory of the user. Specifically this means that sshd(8) will continue to look for SSH keys of the user only in the primary home directory of the user, not in any of their areas.


Note that the default area to log into can also be configured as part of the user account. The area specified via area= overrides the default area configured there. Also note that if the area is specified explicitly by the user at login time, it overrides both. Also note that setting this parameter to an empty string has the effect of undoing the effect of any default area configured as part of the user record, i.e. ensuring the user logs into the primary home directory of their account.


For details on the area concept see pam_systemd_home(8).


Added in version 258.


.RE


.PP inhibit=


Takes a colon-separated list of inhibitor lock types to acquire for the duration of the session. The XDG_SESSION_INHIBIT environment variable (see below) takes precedence. Inhibitor locks prevent the system from performing certain actions, such as sleeping. The supported lock types are the same as for the systemd-inhibit(1) command, e.g. shutdown, sleep, idle. If not set, no inhibitor lock is acquired. The lock is taken in block mode, the requested actions are fully inhibited as long as the session is active.


Added in version 262.


.RE


.PP inhibit-why=


Takes a short human-readable string describing the reason for the inhibitor lock acquired via inhibit=. The XDG_SESSION_INHIBIT_WHY environment variable (see below) takes precedence. Defaults to Active PAM session if not set. Only has an effect if inhibit= or XDG_SESSION_INHIBIT is set.


Added in version 262.


.RE


.PP default-capability-bounding-set=, default-capability-ambient-set=


Takes a comma-separated list of process capabilities (e.g. CAP_WAKE_ALARM, CAP_BLOCK_SUSPEND, ...) to set for the invoked session's processes, if the user record does not encode appropriate sets of capabilities directly. See capabilities(7) for details on the capabilities concept. If not specified, the default bounding set is left as is (i.e. usually contains the full set of capabilities). The default ambient set is set to CAP_WAKE_ALARM for regular users if the PAM session is associated with a local seat or if it is invoked for the systemd user service user@.service. Otherwise, defaults to the empty set.


Added in version 254.


.RE


.PP debug[=]


Takes an optional boolean argument. If yes or without the argument, the module will log debugging information as it operates.


.RE


.SH "MODULE TYPES PROVIDED"


.PP Only session is provided.


.SH "ENVIRONMENT"


.PP The following environment variables are initialized by the module and available to the processes of the user's session:


.PP $XDG_SESSION_ID


A short session identifier, suitable to be used in filenames. The string itself should be considered opaque, although often it is just the audit session ID as reported by /proc/self/sessionid. Each ID will be assigned only once during machine uptime. It may hence be used to uniquely label files or other resources of this session. Combine this ID with the boot identifier, as returned by sd_id128_get_boot(3), for a globally unique identifier.


.RE


.PP $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR


Path to a user-private user-writable directory that is bound to the user login time on the machine. It is automatically created the first time a user logs in and removed on the user's final logout. If a user logs in twice at the same time, both sessions will see the same $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR and the same contents. If a user logs in once, then logs out again, and logs in again, the directory contents will have been lost in between, but applications should not rely on this behavior and must be able to deal with stale files. To store session-private data in this directory, the user should include the value of $XDG_SESSION_ID in the filename. This directory shall be used for runtime file system objects such as AF_UNIX sockets, FIFOs, PID files and similar. It is guaranteed that this directory is local and fully-featured by the standards of the operating system. For further details, see the XDG Base Directory Specification[3]. $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set if the current user is not the original user of the session.


.RE


.PP $TZ, $EMAIL, $LANG


If a JSON user record is known for the user logging in these variables are initialized from the respective data in the record.


Added in version 245.


.RE


.PP $SHELL_PROMPT_PREFIX, $SHELL_PROMPT_SUFFIX, $SHELL_WELCOME


These environment variables are initialized from the service credentials shell.prompt.prefix, shell.prompt.suffix and shell.welcome if set. They are passed to the invoked session processes, where they are imported into any shell prompt (specifically $SHELL_PROMPT_PREFIX is added as prefix to $PS1, and $SHELL_PROMPT_SUFFIX as suffix) or printed on screen when a shell first initializes.


Added in version 257.


.RE


.PP The following environment variables are read by the module and may be used by the PAM service to pass metadata to the module. If these variables are not set when the PAM module is invoked but can be determined otherwise they are set by the module, so that these variables are initialized for the session and applications if known at all.


.PP $XDG_SESSION_TYPE


The session type. This may be used instead of type= on the module parameter line, and is usually preferred.


Added in version 209.


.RE


.PP $XDG_SESSION_CLASS


The session class. This may be used instead of class= on the module parameter line, and is usually preferred.


Added in version 209.


.RE


.PP $XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP


The desktop identifier. This may be used instead of desktop= on the module parameter line, and is usually preferred.


Added in version 209.


.RE


.PP $XDG_SEAT


The seat name the session shall be registered for, if any.


Added in version 209.


.RE


.PP $XDG_VTNR


The VT number the session shall be registered for, if any. (Only applies to seats with a VT available, such as seat0)


Added in version 209.


.RE


.PP $XDG_AREA


If an area (secondary home directories of the user, within the primary home directory) to log into has been selected this variable is set to the area name (without any path prefix). It is otherwise unset. For details about areas, see above.


Added in version 258.


.RE


.PP $XDG_SESSION_EXTRA_DEVICE_ACCESS


The set of additional hardware devices that the session shall be granted access to. For every ID in the list, the session is granted access to all devices tagged with xaccess-ID in udev.


Added in version 260.


.RE


.PP $XDG_SESSION_INHIBIT


The inhibitor lock types to acquire for the duration of the session, as a colon-separated list. This may be used instead of inhibit= on the module parameter line.


Added in version 262.


.RE


.PP $XDG_SESSION_INHIBIT_WHY


The reason string for the inhibitor lock. This may be used instead of inhibit-why= on the module parameter line.


Added in version 262.


.RE


.PP If not set, pam_systemd will initialize $XDG_SEAT and $XDG_VTNR based on the $DISPLAY variable (if the latter is set).


.SH "SESSION LIMITS"


.PP PAM modules earlier in the stack, that is those that come before pam_systemd.so, can set session scope limits using the PAM context objects. The data for these objects is provided as NUL-terminated C strings and maps directly to the respective unit resource control directives. Note that these limits apply to individual sessions of the user, they do not apply to all user processes as a combined whole. In particular, the per-user user@.service unit instance, which runs the systemd --user manager process and its children, and is tracked outside of any session, being shared by all the user's sessions, is not covered by these limits.


.PP See systemd.resource-control(5) for more information about the resources. Also, see pam_set_data(3) for additional information about how to set the context objects.


.PP systemd.memory_max=


Sets unit MemoryMax=.


Added in version 239.


.RE


.PP systemd.tasks_max=


Sets unit TasksMax=.


Added in version 239.


.RE


.PP systemd.cpu_weight=


Sets unit CPUWeight=.


Added in version 239.


.RE


.PP systemd.io_weight=


Sets unit IOWeight=.


Added in version 239.


.RE


.PP systemd.runtime_max_sec=


Sets unit RuntimeMaxSec=.


Added in version 244.


.RE


.PP Example data as can be provided from an another PAM module:

pam_set_data(handle, "systemd.memory_max", (void *)"200M", cleanup);
pam_set_data(handle, "systemd.tasks_max",  (void *)"50",   cleanup);
pam_set_data(handle, "systemd.cpu_weight", (void *)"100",  cleanup);
pam_set_data(handle, "systemd.io_weight",  (void *)"340",  cleanup);
pam_set_data(handle, "systemd.runtime_max_sec", (void *)"3600", cleanup);


.SH "EXAMPLE"


.PP Here's an example PAM configuration fragment that allows users sessions to be managed by systemd-logind.service:

#%PAM-1.0
-auth     [success=done authtok_err=bad perm_denied=bad maxtries=bad default=ignore] pam_systemd_home.so
auth      sufficient pam_unix.so
auth      required   pam_deny.so
account   required   pam_nologin.so
-account  [success=done authtok_expired=bad new_authtok_reqd=bad maxtries=bad acct_expired=bad default=ignore] pam_systemd_home.so
account   required   pam_unix.so
-password sufficient pam_systemd_home.so
password  sufficient pam_unix.so sha512 shadow try_first_pass
password  required   pam_deny.so
-session  optional   pam_keyinit.so revoke
-session  optional   pam_loginuid.so
-session  optional   pam_systemd_home.so
-session  optional   pam_systemd.so
session   required   pam_unix.so


.SH "SEE ALSO"


.PP systemd(1), systemd-user-sessions.service(8), user@.service(5), systemd-logind.service(8), logind.conf(5), loginctl(1), pam_systemd_home(8), systemd-inhibit(1), pam.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(8), pam_loginuid(8), systemd.scope(5), systemd.slice(5), systemd.service(5)

1.
JSON User Records
https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD
2.
Desktop Entry Specification
https://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/
3.
XDG Base Directory Specification
https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html
systemd 262.2

systemd 262.2-r1 · os · ingested 2026-11-06