---
name: "calife.auth"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "calife"
version: "1:3.0.1-6"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/calife.auth"
---

# calife.auth(5)

format of the calife authorization file

## NAME

**calife.auth** – format of the calife authorization file

## DESCRIPTION

The **calife.auth** files are files consisting of newline separated records, one per user, containing three colon (\`\`:'') separated fields.  These fields are as follows:

- *name*

  User's login name / *@group*.

- *shell*

  User's shell

- *user1,user2,...,usern*

  List of logins allowed for the user name

The *name* field is the login used to access the computer account.

The login name must never begin with a hyphen (\`\`-''); also, it is strongly suggested that neither upper-case characters or dots (\`\`.'') be part of the name, as this tends to confuse mailers.  No field may contain a colon (\`\`:'') as this has been used historically to separate the fields in the user database.

One alternative syntax is to use *@group* to specify that any user in the given *group* is allowed to use **calife** to become root.

The *shell* field is the command interpreter the user prefers. If there is nothing in the *shell* field, the user's current shell as found in the (*/etc/passwd*) file is assumed.

If the *shell* field is '\*', then the account is considered as *locked* and access is denied.

If the third parameter is specified, it is assumed to be the list of login the current user has the right to become. It enables use of **calife** for non-root only accounts.

**calife.auth** is placed in */etc*.

## EXAMPLE

```
# calife.auth-dist
#
# Format
#
# name[:shell_to_be_run][:user1,user2,usern]
#
fcb
roberto:/bin/tcsh
pb::guest,blaireau
```

## SEE ALSO

[calife(1)](/calife/1.md), [su(1)](/su/1.md)

## HISTORY

A **calife.auth** file format appeared in DG/UX and SunOS, written for Antenne 2 in 1991. It has evolved with the extra shell specification. The login list was reintroduced in 2.7.

## AUTHOR

Ollivier Robert \<roberto@keltia.frmug.fr.net\>