LOGIN(8)

NAME
login - authenticate users and run personal session

SYNOPSIS
login

DESCRIPTION
login interactively authenticates users by asking them to enter their username and password. The passwords are checked against the password hashes in /etc/passwd as described in passwd(5). login creates a session as the requested user upon successful authentication.

login has a graphical interface if the display is graphical and uses a textual interface otherwise. The textual interface is forced if /etc/login.conf.textual exists. The process remains running in the background and takes over again when the user session exits.

The user's session(5) is created upon login by running the user's ~/.session script if it exists and is executable, otherwise attempting /etc/session, and ultimately falling back on the user's shell from passwd(5). It can be overriden by suffixing the username with a colon and the name of the program to launch. If the program name is skipped, the login shell is launched.

Type a special username to perform special options:

exit
    alias for poweroff
poweroff
    exit asking for powering off the computer
reboot
    exit asking for rebooting the computer
halt
    exit asking for halting the computer
reinit
    exit asking for reinitializing the system

SECURITY
There is currently no method to confirm the login screen is in fact real other than witnessing a pristine boot. Local users can log in and show a counterfeit login screen that look and behave like the real login program and trick the next user into revealing their password.

ENVIRONMENT
login sets the following environment variables to match the authenticated user:

HOME
    home directory

LOGNAME
    username

SHELL
    shell

USER
    username

FILES
~/.session
    user session script run upon login (see session(5))
/etc/login.conf.textual
    textual interface is forced if this file exists
/etc/passwd
    user database (see passwd(5))
/etc/session
    fallback session script run upon login (see session(5))

EXIT STATUS
login exits 0 if the computer should power off, exits 1 if the computer should reboot, exits 2 on fatal failure and the boot should halt, or exits 3 if the system should reinitialize.

SEE ALSO
passwd(1), crypt_checkpass(3), passwd(5), session(5), init(8), login(8)

BUGS
login only supports a single monitor. The mouse code is less than perfect.