[fprint] Using fprint for logging into user or root

[Igor Filatov]

Hi Brian,

> how long does it take to identify a fingerprint (setting new fingerprint for user) ? Speed is essential as it needs to happen fresh every bootup.

5 distinct images need to be captured, so I'd say no longer than 15
seconds if the scanner works well. But it's best to set up and see for
yourself whether you find the procedure acceptable or not. Personally
if I had to use such live cd I'd like fingerprint auth to be opt-in.

> can it be used to identify the user / root at all (su command ?)

it it currently not possible to *identify* a user by a fingerprint
(e.g. "find a user and log them in using this fp"). But it is possible
to su <user>/sudo with fp auth (via a PAM module) because there is
always a pair of (<user>, fingerprint) at the input.

> how "heavy" is gentoo's fprintd package (and what are the dependencies)

This is something I don't have in detail, esp. for Gentoo, but on the
high level you need libfprint (the drivers), fprintd (auth daemon) and
fprint PAM module. That shouldn't be too heavy.


On Tue, Jul 2, 2019 at 2:10 PM Brian Peregrine <peregrinebrian at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Hadess,
>
> On my linux system (live cd), I need to make a new password on bootup
> for any users, root, ....
> I was thinking of the possibility to use fingerprint identification
> instead, to make this a bit safer and also more convenient.
> Some questions though:
>
> * how long does it take to identify a fingerprint (setting new
> fingerprint for user) ? Speed is essential as it needs to happen fresh
> every bootup.
> * can it be used to identify the user / root at all (su command ?)
> * how "heavy" is gentoo's fprintd package (and what are the dependencies) ?
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