pkcheck

May 2009
polkit
pkcheck 1
pkcheck Check whether a process is authorized
`pkcheck` `--version` `--help` `pkcheck` `--action-id` action `--process` pid pid,pid-start-time `--system-bus-name` busname `--allow-user-interaction` `--detail` key value

## DESCRIPTION

`pkcheck` is used to check whether a process, specified by either `--process` 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.

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 føl,你好 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 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

Since process identifiers can be recycled, the caller should always use pid,pid-start-time to specify the process to check for authorization when using the `--process` option. The value of pid-start-time can be determined by consulting e.g. the proc 5 file system depending on the operating system. If only pid is passed to the `--process` option, then `pkcheck` will look up the start time itself but note that this may be racy.

## 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 on how to subscribe.

## SEE ALSO

polkit 8 , pkaction 1 , pkexec 1