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273 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
273 lines
14 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: User/Group Record Lookup API via Varlink
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category: Users, Groups and Home Directories
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layout: default
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SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
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---
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# User/Group Record Lookup API via Varlink
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JSON User/Group Records (as described in the [JSON User Records](/USER_RECORD)
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and [JSON Group Records](/GROUP_RECORD) documents) that are defined on the
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local system may be queried with a [Varlink](https://varlink.org/) API.
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This API takes both the role of what
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[`getpwnam(3)`](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/getpwnam.3.html) and
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related calls are for `struct passwd`, as well as the interfaces modules
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implementing the [glibc Name Service Switch
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(NSS)](https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Name-Service-Switch.html) expose.
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Or in other words, it both allows applications to efficiently query
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user/group records from local services, and allows local subsystems to provide
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user/group records efficiently to local applications.
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The concepts described here define an IPC interface.
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Alternatively, user/group records may be dropped in number of drop-in directories as files where they are
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picked up in addition to the users/groups defined by this IPC logic.
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See
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[`nss-systemd(8)`](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/nss-systemd.html)
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for details.
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This simple API only exposes only three method calls, and requires only a small
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subset of the Varlink functionality.
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## Why Varlink?
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The API described in this document is based on a simple subset of the
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mechanisms described by [Varlink](https://varlink.org/).
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The choice of preferring Varlink over D-Bus and other IPCs in this context was made for three reasons:
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1. User/Group record resolution should work during early boot and late shutdown
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without special handling.
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This is very hard to do with D-Bus, as the broker service for D-Bus generally runs as regular system daemon and is hence only
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available at the latest boot stage.
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2. The JSON user/group records are native JSON data, hence picking an IPC
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system that natively operates with JSON data is natural and clean.
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3. IPC systems such as D-Bus do not provide flow control and are thus unusable
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for streaming data.
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They are useful to pass around short control messages, but as soon as potentially many and large objects shall be transferred,
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D-Bus is not suitable, as any such streaming of messages would be considered
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flooding in D-Bus' logic, and thus possibly result in termination of communication.
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Since the APIs defined in this document need to support enumerating potentially large numbers of users and groups,
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D-Bus is simply not an appropriate option.
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## Concepts
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Each subsystem that needs to define users and groups on the local system is
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supposed to implement this API, and offer its interfaces on a Varlink
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`AF_UNIX`/`SOCK_STREAM` file system socket bound into the
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`/run/systemd/userdb/` directory.
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When a client wants to look up a user or group record, it contacts all sockets bound in this directory in parallel,
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and enqueues the same query to each.
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The first positive reply is then returned to the application, or if all fail the last seen error is returned instead.
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(Alternatively a special Varlink service is available,
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`io.systemd.Multiplexer` which acts as frontend and will do the parallel
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queries on behalf of the client, drastically simplifying client development.
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This service is not available during earliest boot and final shutdown phases.)
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Unlike with glibc NSS there's no order or programmatic expression language
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defined in which queries are issued to the various services.
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Instead, all queries are always enqueued in parallel to all defined services, in order to
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make look-ups efficient, and the simple rule of "first successful lookup wins"
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is unconditionally followed for user and group look-ups (though not for
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membership lookups, see below).
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This simple scheme only works safely as long as every service providing
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user/group records carefully makes sure not to answer with conflicting records.
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This API does not define any mechanisms for dealing with user/group
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name/ID collisions during look-up nor during record registration.
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It assumes the various subsystems that want to offer user and group records to the rest of
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the system have made sufficiently sure in advance that their definitions do not
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collide with those of other services.
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Clients are not expected to merge multiple definitions for the same user or group,
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and will also not be able to detect conflicts and suppress such conflicting records.
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It is recommended to name the sockets in the directory in reverse domain name
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notation, but this is neither required nor enforced.
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## Well-Known Services
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Any subsystem that wants to provide user/group records can do so, simply by
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binding a socket in the aforementioned directory.
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By default two services are listening there, that have special relevance:
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1. `io.systemd.NameServiceSwitch` → This service makes the classic UNIX/glibc
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NSS user/group records available as JSON User/Group records.
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Any such records are automatically converted as needed, and possibly augmented with
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information from the shadow databases.
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2. `io.systemd.Multiplexer` → This service multiplexes client queries to all other running services.
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It's supposed to simplify client development: in order to look up or enumerate user/group records it's sufficient to talk to
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one service instead of all of them in parallel.
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Note that it is not available during earliest boot and final shutdown phases, hence for programs running
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in that context it is preferable to implement the parallel lookup themselves.
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Both these services are implemented by the same daemon
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`systemd-userdbd.service`.
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Note that these services currently implement a subset of Varlink only.
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For example, introspection is not available, and the resolver logic is not used.
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## Other Services
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The `systemd` project provides three other services implementing this
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interface. Specifically:
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1. `io.systemd.DynamicUser` → This service is implemented by the service
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manager itself, and provides records for the users and groups synthesized
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via `DynamicUser=` in unit files.
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2. `io.systemd.Home` → This service is implemented by `systemd-homed.service`
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and provides records for the users and groups defined by the home
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directories it manages.
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3. `io.systemd.Machine` → This service is implemented by
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`systemd-machined.service` and provides records for the users and groups used
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by local containers that use user namespacing.
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Other projects are invited to implement these services too.
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For example, it would make sense for LDAP/ActiveDirectory projects to implement these
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interfaces, which would provide them a way to do per-user resource management
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enforced by systemd and defined directly in LDAP directories.
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## Compatibility with NSS
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Two-way compatibility with classic UNIX/glibc NSS user/group records is provided.
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When using the Varlink API, lookups into databases provided only via
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NSS (and not natively via Varlink) are handled by the `io.systemd.NameServiceSwitch` service (see above).
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When using the NSS API (i.e. `getpwnam()` and friends) the `nss-systemd` module will automatically
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synthesize NSS records for users/groups natively defined via a Varlink API.
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Special care is taken to avoid recursion between these two compatibility mechanisms.
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Subsystems that shall provide user/group records to the system may choose
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between offering them via an NSS module or via a this Varlink API, either way
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all records are accessible via both APIs, due to the bidirectional forwarding.
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It is also possible to provide the same records via both APIs
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directly, but in that case the compatibility logic must be turned off.
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There are mechanisms in place for this, please contact the systemd project for
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details, as these are currently not documented.
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## Caching of User Records
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This API defines no concepts for caching records.
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If caching is desired it should be implemented in the subsystems that provide the user records,
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not in the clients consuming them.
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## Method Calls
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```
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interface io.systemd.UserDatabase
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method GetUserRecord(
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uid : ?int,
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userName : ?string,
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service : string
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) -> (
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record : object,
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incomplete : bool
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)
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method GetGroupRecord(
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gid : ?int,
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groupName : ?string,
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service : string
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) -> (
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record : object,
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incomplete : bool
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)
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method GetMemberships(
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userName : ?string,
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groupName : ?string,
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service : string
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) -> (
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userName : string,
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groupName : string
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)
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error NoRecordFound()
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error BadService()
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error ServiceNotAvailable()
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error ConflictingRecordFound()
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error EnumerationNotSupported()
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```
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The `GetUserRecord` method looks up or enumerates a user record.
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If the `uid` parameter is set it specifies the numeric UNIX UID to search for.
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If the `userName` parameter is set it specifies the name of the user to search for.
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Typically, only one of the two parameters are set, depending whether a
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look-up by UID or by name is desired.
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However, clients may also specify both parameters, in which case a record matching both will be returned, and if only
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one exists that matches one of the two parameters but not the other an error of `ConflictingRecordFound` is returned.
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If neither of the two parameters are set the whole user database is enumerated.
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In this case the method call needs to be made with `more` set, so that multiple method call replies may be generated as
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effect, each carrying one user record.
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The `service` parameter is mandatory and should be set to the service name
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being talked to (i.e. to the same name as the `AF_UNIX` socket path, with the
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`/run/systemd/userdb/` prefix removed). This is useful to allow implementation
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of multiple services on the same socket (which is used by
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`systemd-userdbd.service`).
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The method call returns one or more user records, depending which type of query is
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used (see above). The record is returned in the `record` field.
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The `incomplete` field indicates whether the record is complete.
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Services providing user record lookup should only pass the `privileged` section of user records to
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clients that either match the user the record is about or to sufficiently
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privileged clients, for all others the section must be removed so that no sensitive data is leaked this way.
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The `incomplete` parameter should indicate whether the record has been modified like this or not (i.e. it is `true` if a
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`privileged` section existed in the user record and was removed, and `false` if
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no `privileged` section existed or one existed but hasn't been removed).
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If no user record matching the specified UID or name is known the error
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`NoRecordFound` is returned (this is also returned if neither UID nor name are
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specified, and hence enumeration requested but the subsystem currently has no
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users defined).
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If a method call with an incorrectly set `service` field is received
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(i.e. either not set at all, or not to the service's own name) a `BadService` error is generated.
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Finally, `ServiceNotAvailable` should be returned when the backing subsystem is not operational for some reason and hence no information
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about existence or non-existence of a record can be returned nor any user record at all.
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(The `service` field is defined in order to allow implementation of daemons that provide multiple distinct user/group services over the same
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`AF_UNIX` socket: in order to correctly determine which service a client wants
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to talk to, the client needs to provide the name in each request.)
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The `GetGroupRecord` method call works analogously but for groups.
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The `GetMemberships` method call may be used to inquire about group memberships.
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The `userName` and `groupName` arguments take what the name suggests.
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If one of the two is specified all matching memberships are returned,
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if neither is specified all known memberships of any user and any group are returned.
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The return value is a pair of user name and group name, where the user is a member of the group.
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If both arguments are specified the specified membership will be tested for, but no others, and the pair is returned if it is
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defined. Unless both arguments are specified the method call needs to be made
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with `more` set, so that multiple replies can be returned (since typically
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there are multiple members per group and also multiple groups a user is member of).
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As with `GetUserRecord` and `GetGroupRecord` the `service`
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parameter needs to contain the name of the service being talked to, in order to
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allow implementation of multiple services within the same IPC socket.
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In case no matching membership is known `NoRecordFound` is returned.
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The other two errors are also generated in the same cases as for `GetUserRecord` and
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`GetGroupRecord`.
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Unlike with `GetUserRecord` and `GetGroupRecord` the lists of memberships
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returned by services are always combined.
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Thus unlike the other two calls a membership lookup query has to wait for the last simultaneous query to complete
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before the complete list is acquired.
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Note that only the `GetMemberships` call is authoritative about memberships of users in groups.
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i.e. it should not be considered sufficient to check the
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`memberOf` field of user records and the `members` field of group records to
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acquire the full list of memberships.
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The full list can only be determined by `GetMemberships`, and as mentioned requires merging of these lists of all local services.
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Result of this is that it can be one service that defines a user A,
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and another service that defines a group B, and a third service that declares that A is a member of B.
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Looking up explicit users/groups by their name or UID/GID, or querying
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user/group memberships must be supported by all services implementing these interfaces.
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However, supporting enumeration (i.e. user/group lookups that may
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result in more than one reply, because neither UID/GID nor name is specified) is optional.
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Services which are asked for enumeration may return the `EnumerationNotSupported` error in this case.
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And that's really all there is to it.
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