Beyond Linux® From Scratch - Version 2012-01-16

Chapter 4. Security

polkit-0.102

Introduction to polkit

The polkit package is an application-level toolkit for defining and handling the policy that allows unprivileged processes to speak to privileged processes.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.0 platform.

Package Information

polkit Dependencies

Required

expat-2.0.1, intltool-0.50.0, and pkg-config-0.26

Optional

DocBook XML DTD-4.5, DocBook XSL Stylesheets-1.76.1, gobject-introspection-1.30.0, GTK-Doc-1.18, libxslt-1.1.26, and Linux-PAM-1.1.5

[Note]

Note

If libxslt-1.1.26 is installed then DocBook XML DTD-4.5 and DocBook XSL Stylesheets-1.76.1 are required.

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/polkit

Installation of polkit

It is a requirement to have a dedicated user and group for polkit to function correctly. Issue the following commands as the root user: 

groupadd -fg 27 polkituser &&
useradd -c "Policy Kit Daemon User" -d /dev/null -u 27 \
    -g polkituser -s /bin/false polkituser || [ $? == 9 ]

Install polkit by running the following commands as an unprivileged user: 

./configure --prefix=/usr \
            --sysconfdir=/etc \
            --libexecdir=/usr/lib/polkit-1 \
            --localstatedir=/var \
            --with-authfw=shadow &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

Command Explanations

--with-authfw=shadow: This parameter will use the Shadow rather than the Linux-PAM Authentication framework. Remove it if you would like to use Linux-PAM.

--enable-gtk-doc: Use this parameter if GTK-Doc is installed and you wish to rebuild and install the API documentation.

Contents

Installed Programs: pk-example-frobnicate, pkaction, pkcheck, pkexec, polkit-agent-helper-1, and polkitd
Installed Libraries: libnullbackend.{so,a}, libpolkit-agent-1.{so,a}, libpolkit-backend-1.{so,a}, and libpolkit-gobject-1.{so,a}
Installed Directories: /etc/polkit-1/{localauthority.conf.d,localauthority/{10-vendor.d, 20-org.d,30-site.d,50-local.d,90-mandatory.d},nullbackend.conf.d}, /usr/{include/polkit-1/{polkitagent,polkitbackend}, lib/polkit-1/extensions,share/polkit-1/actions}, /var/lib/polkit-1/localauthority/{10-vendor.d,20-org.d,30-site.d, 50-local.d,90-mandatory.d}

Short Descriptions

pkaction

is used to obtain information about registered PolicyKit actions.

pkcheck

is used to check whether a process is authorized for action.

pkexec

allows an authorized user to execute a command as another user.

polkitd

provides the org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 D-Bus service on the system message bus.

libnullbackend.{so,a}

contains functions that .....

libpolkit-agent-1.{so,a}

contains the polkit authentication agent API functions.

libpolkit-backend-1.{so,a}

contains the polkit backend API functions.

libpolkit-gobject-1.{so,a}

contains the polkit authorization API functions.

Last updated on 2011-11-29 12:24:08 +0000