what does “-session …” mean in /etc/pam.d/system-session?

https://serverfault.com/questions/765556/what-does-session-mean-in-etc-pam-d-system-session

Asked 9 years, 9 months ago Modified 9 years, 9 months ago Viewed 2k times 3

In Red Hat 7 I see

-session optional pam_systemd.so in /etc/pam.d/system-session.

I also see that the - prefix is mentioned in LFS docs: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/7.6-systemd/general/systemd.html

Please help me understand what does -session means here as opposed to simple session.

linuxpamsystemd Share Improve this question Follow asked Mar 23, 2016 at 10:19 cstamas’s user avatar cstamas 6,9372828 silver badges4242 bronze badges Add a comment 1 Answer Sorted by:

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Citing man pam.conf:

If the type value from the list above is prepended with a - character the PAM library will not log to the system log if it is not possible to load the module because it is missing in the system. This can be useful especially for modules which are not always installed on the system and are not required for correct authentication and authorisation of the login session. Share Improve this answer Follow answered Mar 23, 2016 at 10:26 Sven’s user avatar Sven 101k1515 gold badges188188 silver badges231231 bronze badges 1 Thanks, exactly what i was looking for. I have been there, but completely overlooked this section. – cstamas CommentedMar 23, 2016 at 10:55 Exactly same situation here lol :) – intika CommentedJul 11, 2018 at 1:38

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