---
name: "pkttyagent"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "polkit"
version: "128-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pkttyagent"
---

# pkttyagent(1)

Textual authentication helper

## NAME

pkttyagent - Textual authentication helper

## SYNOPSIS

**pkttyagent** \[**--version**\] \[**--help**\]

**pkttyagent** \[**--process** { *pid* \| *pid,pid-start-time* } \| **--system-bus-name** *busname*\] \[**--notify-fd** *fd*\] \[**--fallback**\]

## DESCRIPTION

**pkttyagent** is used to start a textual authentication agent for the subject specified by either **--process** or **--system-bus-name**. If neither of these options are given, the parent process is used.

To get notified when the authentication agent has been registered either listen to the Changed D-Bus signal or use **--notify-fd** to pass the number of a file descriptor that has been passed to the program. This file descriptor will then be closed when the authentication agent has been successfully registered.

If **--fallback** is used, the textual authentication agent will not replace an existing authentication agent.

## RETURN VALUE

If the authentication agent could not be registered, **pkttyagent** exits with an exit code of 127. Diagnostic messages are printed on standard error.

If one or more of the options passed are malformed, **pkttyagent** exits with an exit code of 126. If stdin is a tty, then this manual page is also shown.

If the authentication agent was successfully registered, **pkttyagent** will keep running, interacting with the user as needed. When its services are no longer needed, the process can be killed.

## NOTES

Since process identifiers can be recycled, the caller should always use *pid,pid-start-time* when using the **--process** option. The value of *pid-start-time* can be determined by consulting e.g. the [**proc**(5)](/proc/5.md) file system depending on the operating system. If only *pid* is passed to the **--process** option, then **pkttyagent** will look up the start time itself but note that this may be racy.

## AUTHOR

Written by David Zeuthen \<davidz@redhat.com\> with a lot of help from many others.

## BUGS

Please send bug reports to either the distribution or the polkit-devel mailing list, see **https://github.com/polkit-org/polkit#bugs-and-development**.

## SEE ALSO

[**polkit**(8)](/polkit/8.md), [**polkitd**(8)](/polkitd/8.md), [**pkaction**(1)](/pkaction/1.md), [**pkcheck**(1)](/pkcheck/1.md), [**pkexec**(1)](/pkexec/1.md)