PHP pam_auth 0.4 review

PHP pam_auth is a basic extension to allow you to authenticate users using PHP via PAM

License: The PHP License File size: 7K Developer: Chad Cunningham

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PHP pam_auth is a basic extension to allow you to authenticate users using PHP via PAM. PHP pam_auth contains only one function, pam_auth(), which will return true or false. It is meant to provide simple authentication without hassle.

Requirements:
php 4.2 or later
pam capable OS

Installation:

INSTALLATION METHOD 1

The first way to install it is to build it along with php as you would any other extension.

1) copy the pam_auth tarball to the ext directory in your php source tree
2) tar xzf pam_auth-X.tar.gz to uncompress it
3) in the top level of the php source directory, run ./buildconf
4) configure php as usual, using the --with-pam_auth flag
5) there is no step 5

INSTALLATION METHOD 2 and 3

The following methods both build and use a shared module. Basically, a library php can load rather than building it as a part of php. This is useful if you already have php installed and don't wish to reinstall it.

The way you go about getting the shared module can be done two different ways.

METHOD 2 - Preferred

1) unpack the pam_auth tarball anywhere
2) cd pam_auth
3) phpize
4) ./configure
5) make
6) make install

done!

METHOD 3 - If method 2 fails (as it does for me on the stock redhat 8/9 installation of apache and php)

1) obtain the php source for the version of php you are running (must be the same version)
2) unpack it, copy the pam_auth tarball to the ext/ subdirectory and extract it
3) run ./buildconf
4) run ./configure --with-pam_auth=shared
5) make
6) cp ext/pam_auth/pam_auth.so to your php extensions directory (by default this is /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-X but it can be changed in your php.ini. It may also be set to something different with a vendor installed php, such as /usr/lib/php4 for redhat. If in doubt, create a phpinfo() page and check)

What's New in This Release:
pam_auth finally can be built as a standalone shared module, thanks to tips from Alan Knowles!