NAME

       pkcheck - Check whether a process is authorized

SYNOPSIS

       pkcheck [--version] [--help|-h]

       pkcheck [--list-temp]

       pkcheck [--revoke-temp]

       pkcheck --action-id|-a action {--process|-p { pid | pid,pid-start-time | pid,pid-start-time,uid } |
               --system-bus-name|-s busname} [--allow-user-interaction|-u] [--enable-internal-agent]
               [--detail|-d key value...]

DESCRIPTION

       pkcheck is used to check whether a process, specified by either --process (see below) 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.

       The invocation pkcheck --list-temp will list all temporary authorizations for the current session and
       pkcheck --revoke-temp will revoke all temporary authorizations for the current session.

       This command is a simple wrapper around the polkit 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
           ...

       Octets 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 specified 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 specified 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 the specified process is not authorized because the authentication dialog / request was dismissed by
       the user, pkcheck exits with a return value of 3 and a diagnostic message is printed on standard error.
       Details are printed on standard output.

       If an error occurred 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

       Do not use either the bare pid or pid,start-time syntax forms for --process. There are race conditions in
       both. New code should always use pid,pid-start-time,uid. The value of start-time can be determined by
       consulting e.g. the proc(5) file system depending on the operating system. If fewer than 3 arguments are
       passed, pkcheck will attempt to look up them up internally, but note that this may be racy.

       If your program is a daemon with e.g. a custom Unix domain socket, you should determine the uid parameter
       via operating system mechanisms such as PEERCRED.

AUTHENTICATION AGENT

       pkcheck, like any other polkit application, will use the authentication agent registered for the process
       in question. However, if no authentication agent is available, then pkcheck can register its own textual
       authentication agent if the option --enable-internal-agent is passed.

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
       https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/-/issues/ on how to subscribe.

SEE ALSO

       polkit(8), polkitd(8), pkaction(1), pkexec(1), pkttyagent(1)