Keymgr Configuration

keymgr uses a subdirectory named .keymgr in your home directory for its own files. Inside there, it looks for an rc file called, funnily enough, rc.

The syntax of this file is reasonably limited. It only supports a single directive, being load. Demonstration by example is probably the easiest way to describe it, so here's one I prepared earlier.

load null
load ssh
load gtk
load ow

This file loads all of the modules that keymgr supports. In order, here's what they do.

• null. This is a null-console module. It sets up a fifo through which it will accept configuration commands, and places the path to it in $KEYMGR_CONSOLE.
• ssh. This is the ssh-agent compatibility module. It turns keymgr into a drop-in replacement for ssh-agent.
• gtk. This is the gtk console module. It provides a graphical console for invoking module functions, and provides you with pop-up windows to confirm key authentications.
• ow. This module provides an interface to a Java Ring based keystore. More information here.

The function and utility of most of these is probably quite obvious, with the possible exception of the null console. The only real use for it is in the situation where you run your X session as a child of keymgr, using a command like:

      keymgr startx
      

In this situation, the GTK module will not initialize, due to libgtk's over-reaction to events when it doesn't have a $DISPLAY. Instead, it registers a trigger named 'gtk-init', which you can invoke through the null console to tell it what display to attach to. You do that like so:

      echo "gtk-init $DISPLAY" >> $KEYMGR_CONSOLE