Subject: Fwd: PAM may cause issues on system updates

From: Felix Lechner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2023 11:44:21 -0700

[an earlier version was sent to the wrong bug]

Hi,

There is another bug that was probably a reason why some folks
hesitated to accept this patch:

  https://issues.guix.gnu.org/32182

In that bug, Ludo' proposed to refer from Shepherd services to PAM
services by absolute paths. I believe it is a viable and worthy
solution.

(By contrast, this bug makes PAM services refer to PAM modules by
absolute paths.)

Another solution could be to make all PAM modules and services Guile
scripts. While admittedly a more comprehensive effort, I believe such
an upgrade might be popular in the broader community, which is
generally tired of PAM. The only prerequisite to execute those scripts
would be a working copy of GNU Guile (i.e. no libpam or libc).

Kind regards
Felix