systemd Developer Lennart Poettering lennart@poettering.net systemd-ask-password 1 systemd-ask-password Query the user for a system password systemd-ask-password OPTIONS MESSAGE systemd-ask-password may be used to query a system password or passphrase from the user, using a question message specified on the command line. When run from a TTY it will query a password on the TTY and print it to standard output. When run with no TTY or with --no-tty it will query the password system-wide and allow active users to respond via several agents. The latter is only available to privileged processes. The purpose of this tool is to query system-wide passwords -- that is passwords not attached to a specific user account. Examples include: unlocking encrypted hard disks when they are plugged in or at boot, entering an SSL certificate passphrase for web and VPN servers. Existing agents are: a boot-time password agent asking the user for passwords using Plymouth; a boot-time password agent querying the user directly on the console; an agent requesting password input via a wall1 message; an agent suitable for running in a GNOME session; a command line agent which can be started temporarily to process queued password requests; a TTY agent that is temporarily spawned during systemctl1 invocations. Additional password agents may be implemented according to the systemd Password Agent Specification. If a password is queried on a TTY, the user may press TAB to hide the asterisks normally shown for each character typed. Pressing Backspace as first key achieves the same effect. The following options are understood: --icon= Specify an icon name alongside the password query, which may be used in all agents supporting graphical display. The icon name should follow the XDG Icon Naming Specification. --timeout= Specify the query timeout in seconds. Defaults to 90s. A timeout of 0 waits indefinitely. --echo Echo the user input instead of masking it. This is useful when using systemd-ask-password to query for usernames. --no-tty Never ask for password on current TTY even if one is available. Always use agent system. --accept-cached If passed, accept cached passwords, i.e. passwords previously typed in. --multiple When used in conjunction with --accept-cached accept multiple passwords. This will output one password per line. On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise. systemd1, systemctl1, plymouth8, wall1