How to enable integrated fingerprint reader with BioAPI

2006-05-28T18:16:07Z

Fanagame: /* Installing pam_bioapi */

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This page describes the process of getting the [[Integrated Fingerprint Reader|integrated fingerprint reader]] to work under Linux. It is based on experiences in {{Ubuntu}} on a T43. The same works on {{Fedora}} 4 and 5, RHEL4, SuSE 9.3, SuSE 10, and {{Gentoo}}.
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==Basic installation==
===Installing the bioapi framework===
====Automated installation script====
The [[Script for enabling the fingerprint reader]] automates the installation of most components (bioapi framework, driver, pam_bioapi, pam setup, device permissions, pamtester and enrolling), for some Linux distributions.

====Binary packages====

Note that these packages only take care of this one section. If you can use one, you should do so and then proceed to the section entitled, Installing and Configuring the Driver.

=====Debian=====
*If you're using {{Debian}} Sid (the unstable branch) you can try the packages from Michael R. Crusoe's site, either [http://www.qrivy.net/~michael/temp/ version 1.2.3] (recommended) or [http://www.qrivy.net/~michael/debs/unstable/ older versions] which might not work with the steps in this howto.
*This seems to work for {{Ubuntu}} Breezy/Dapper too, so save yourself some trouble and grab it.
=====Gentoo=====
You can either grab the [http://www.qrivy.net/~michael/blua/bioapi/bioapi-1.2.2.ebuild.tar.bz2 ebuild], or use the source-install procedure below.

Also see [http://toe.ch/~tsa/ibm-fingerprint/ http://toe.ch/~tsa/ibm-fingerprint/] for alternative documentation on installing on Gentoo including ebuilds for all the packages used.
=====Fedora Core=====
RPM packages for Fedora Core and installation instructions are available [[Installing Fedora Core 5 on a ThinkPad X41 Tablet#Fingerprint_Reader|here]]

====Installing from source====
*Get the bioapi source:
:{{cmduser|wget http://www.qrivy.net/~michael/blua/bioapi/bioapi-latest.tar.bz2}}
*I could not compile bioapi with the graphical Qt tools. To do it manually, do the following:
:{{cmduser|tar xjf bioapi-latest.tar.bz2}}
:{{cmduser|cd bioapi-1.2.2}}
:{{cmduser|1=./configure --with-Qt-dir=no}}
:{{cmduser|make}}
:and then as root
:{{cmdroot|make install}}
:If make install fails, be sure you're root and then:
:{{cmdroot|1=export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib}}
:{{cmdroot|make install}}
:and if you want to compile pam_bioapi for auth later
:{{cmdroot|cp include/bioapi_util.h include/installdefs.h imports/cdsa/v2_0/inc/cssmtype.h /usr/include}}
:Be aware that checkinstall will not work!
:(I got through configure with Qt, but got a cryptic build error. It all worked fine with Qt disabled as above)
:buzz: This is due to a wrong qt include path, set it manually in configure and everything should work.
*Bioapi (at least version 1.2.2) doesn't compile with GCC4. You need to patch it:
:{{cmduser|wget http://upir.cz/linux/patches/bioapi-1.2.2-gcc4.patch}}
:{{cmduser|patch -p1 < bioapi-1.2.2-gcc4.patch}}
*Patch for gcc 4.1 is available here - http://cvs.pld-linux.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/SOURCES/bioapi-c++.patch
* By default, bioapi will install numerous files in {{path|/usr/local/<nowiki>{</nowiki>bin,lib,include<nowiki>}</nowiki>}}, including files with "self-explanatory" names such as {{path|/usr/local/bin/Sample}}. To prevent this pollution:
:Create a dedicated directory, for example {{path|/opt/bioapi}} .
:Append <tt>--prefix=/opt/bioapi</tt> to the above <tt>./configure</tt> command.
:Append {{path|/opt/bioapi/bin}} to <tt>$PATH</tt> and {{path|/opt/bioapi/lib}} to <tt>$LD_LIBRARY_PATH</tt>.
:When installing the driver (below), tell it the new install path: {{cmdroot|sh install.sh /opt/bioapi/lib}}

====Adjusting ldconfigs library search path====
At least on {{Fedora}} or {{Aurox}} 11, you may need to add {{path|/usr/local/lib}} to the library path so that the libraries referenced from <tt>pam_bioapi.so</tt> get picked up properly. The usual way to do this is adding it to the ldconfig configuration:
:{{cmdroot|echo '/usr/local/lib' > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/bioapi.conf}}
:{{cmdroot|ldconfig}}
Alternatively you can add it to the LD_LIBRARY variable.

If you see bioapi libs in the output of
:{{cmdroot|ldconfig -p | grep bioapi}}
then it should work.

===Installing and configuring the driver===
====Installing the driver====
*Download {{path|TFMESS_BSP_LIN_1.0.zip}} from the [http://www.upek.com/support/dl_linux_bsp.asp UPEK support site] and unzip it into a seperate folder, as it will not create one.
*Change to that folder and do as root:
:{{cmdroot|sh install.sh}}
:If you're running Gentoo, use
:{{cmdroot|sh install.sh /usr/lib}}
:If that fails, it may be that make install failed up above -- try setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH, do the make install again, and come back here and try this again. You also need {{cmd|mod_install|}} from bioapi in your PATH.
:May there still occures and error, which means mod_install: command not found.
:Then login as root - not su!
:Do this:
:{{cmdroot|sh install.sh}}
:again. It should work. SU to root does not work since then the /usr/local/bin directory is not used per default.

====Configuring permissions for non-root use====
If you want to use PAM-aware applications like xscreensaver that are NOT running with root permissions (as opposed to login, gdm or other authentication mechanisms), you may need to do all or at least some of the things in this section. More details on what is necessary on which distributions would be greately appreciated.
*Create two groups, one for access to BioAPI files and the other for access to the usb files. (This is done for full generality; i.e., you may have other USB devices which you want accessable to other users, without exposing your BioAPI configuration to them). Add your normal user (the one you wish to use PAM-aware applications with) to both of these groups.
On {{Debian}} this is done with
:{{cmdroot|addgroup --system bioapi}}
:{{cmdroot|addgroup --system usbfs}}
:{{cmdroot|adduser yournormaluser bioapi}}
:{{cmdroot|adduser yournormaluser usbfs}}
On {{SUSE}} this is done with
:{{cmdroot|groupadd --system bioapi}}
:{{cmdroot|groupadd --system usbfs}}
:{{cmdroot|groupmod -A yournormaluser bioapi}}
:{{cmdroot|groupmod -A yournormaluser usbfs}}
On {{Mandriva}} this is done with
:{{cmdroot|groupadd -r bioapi}}
:{{cmdroot|groupadd -r usbfs}}
:{{cmdroot|usermod -G bioapi,usbfs yournormaluser}}

:(where {{cmd|yournormaluser|}} is your normal user name). You will need to log out and log back in for this to take effect.
*Set permissions on the BioAPI config/registry directory:
:{{cmdroot|chown -R root:bioapi /usr/local/var/bioapi/}}
:{{cmdroot|chmod -R 770 /usr/local/var/bioapi/}}
:(change this path if you used an alternate BioAPI install directory above)
*Set permissions on the files in {{path|/proc/bus/usb}}:
:{{cmdroot|chown -R root:usbfs /proc/bus/usb}}
:{{cmdroot|chmod -R g+X /proc/bus/usb}}
:{{cmdroot|chown root:usbfs /proc/bus/usb/`lsusb <nowiki>|</nowiki> sed -ne "/0483:2016/s/Bus\ $.*$\ Device\ $.*$:\ .*/\1\/\2/p"`}}
:{{cmdroot|chmod 660 /proc/bus/usb/`lsusb <nowiki>|</nowiki> sed -ne "/0483:2016/s/Bus\ $.*$\ Device\ $.*$:\ .*/\1\/\2/p"`}}
:You may need to replace {{cmd|lsusb|}} with its full path, which is something like {{cmd|/sbin/lsusb|}} or {{cmd|/usr/bin/lsusb|}} depending on your distro. It might be necessary to put these lines into a script which is run at startup and resume from suspend/hibernate.
*As an alternative to the {{cmd|chown|}}/{{cmd|chmod|}} commands above, you can set mount options for usbfs with a line in {{path|/etc/fstab|}}; an example would be
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults,devgid=108,devmode=0660,busgid=108,busmode=0770,listgid=108,listmode=0660 0 0
:where 108 is replaced with the numerical group ID of the usbfs group (you can determine this with something like {{cmd|cat /etc/group <nowiki>|</nowiki> grep usbfs <nowiki>|</nowiki> cut -d':' -f 3|}}). Make sure you only have one {{path|/proc/bus/usb}} entry in {{path|/etc/fstab}}. See the {{cmd|mount(8)|}} manpage for more information on these options. This is "cleaner" but seems to have a few weird issues -- see the talk page for details.
*You may also have files in {{path|/dev/bus/usb}}, which the driver will try before {{path|/proc/bus/usb}}. If this is another usbfs mount point ({{cmd|mount|}} shows a line containing {{cmdresult|/dev/bus/usb type usbfs}}), then simply follow the above instructions with {{path|/dev/bus/usb}} rather than {{path|/proc/bus/usb}}. Otherwise, you may be running a new kernel (i.e. 2.6.15) that makes usbfs-like files available through {{path|/dev/bus/usb}}. On systems running udev these files are dynamically created; you can configure their permissions by editing a udev config file. On Debian this is done by changing the <tt>usb_device</tt> line of {{path|/etc/udev/permissions.rules}} to read
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0660", GROUP="usbfs"
*For the beta versions only, there is a logfile, which needs to exist with the proper permissions:
:{{cmdroot|touch /var/log/BSP.log && chown root:bioapi /var/log/BSP.log && chmod 660 /var/log/BSP.log}}

====Miscellaneous configuration====
* To increase the security level (minimize false accept rate), set this in {{path|/etc/tfmessbsp.cfg}}:
security-level="5"

===Testing the driver and enrolling a fingerprint===
To test the driver and generate the file containing your fingerprint information, you need a sample program included with the driver. The compilation steps below were discovered by trial and error; if they don't work for you, try the binary {{cmd|Sample|}} utility that came with the beta versions of the driver (i.e., {{path|TFMESS_BSP_LIN_1.0beta2.zip}} as mentioned above).
Go to the folder where you extracted {{path|TFMESS_BSP_LIN_1.0.zip}} and do:
:{{cmdroot|cd NonGUI_Sample}}
:Edit {{path|main.c|}} and remove (or comment out) the line
#include "port/bioapi_port.h"
:{{cmdroot|gcc -o Sample main.c -L/usr/local/lib -lbioapi100 -DUNIX -DLITTLE_ENDIAN}}
:{{cmdroot|./Sample}}
:Note that Sample may only run as root, unless you've already configured the usbfs file permissions.
:You can try to "e"nroll (to record a fingerprint for an account) and then "v"erify (to test a fingerprint against the one it expects for an account).
:You'll save a step later if you use your own login username as the username to enroll here.

==Login via pam_bioapi==

The following explains how to add fingerprint authentiation to programs that use the PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) framework, such as Gnome's GDM and KDE's KDM and screensaver.

===Getting required libs & tools===
====Installing pam_bioapi====
*Prerequisites
:On SuSE 10, I needed to install the pam-devel RPM
:In general, you will need pam itself (standard for most distros) as well as the pam development files (probably an optional package for your distro).
*Get and compile the pam_bioapi module.
:{{cmduser|wget http://www.qrivy.net/~michael/blua/pam_bioapi/pam_bioapi-latest.tar.bz2}}
:{{cmduser|tar xjf pam_bioapi-latest.tar.bz2}}
:{{cmduser|cd pam_bioapi-0.2.1}}
:{{cmduser|wget http://badcode.de/downloads/fingerprint.patch}}
:{{cmduser|patch -p0 < fingerprint.patch}}
:If you want to, review the patch. In general you should review all code you download and compile, if possible. The patch comes from [http://linuxbiometrics.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&topic_id=80&forum=1 this thread].
:{{cmduser|./configure && make}}
:and as root
:{{cmdroot| make install}}
:{{cmdroot| cp /usr/local/lib/security/* /lib/security/}}
{{NOTE|If you get a 'rpl_malloc' error in /var/log/auth.log when trying to use the fingerprint reader, redo these steps and remove the related term from Makefile after running ./configure. (FC3, Debian etch)}}
*If you get 'configure: error: cannot find required header: security/_pam_macros.h' and are on a Debian-like system, do "apt-get install libpam0g-dev" and try again. If you are using a Mandriva distribution, do "urpmi libpam0-devel" instead.
*If you get 'PAM [dlerror: /lib/security/pam_bioapi.so: undefined symbol: BioAPIMemoryFuncs]' error in your syslog, replace 'LIBS = ' line in {{path|libpam_bioapi/makefile}} with the following (of course, replace {{path|/opt/bioapi/}} with the path where you installed bioapi):
LIBS = -L/opt/bioapi/lib -lbioapi100 -lbioapi_mds300 -lmds_util
*Use the sample tool from the fingerprint reader to create {{path|<username>.bir}} (<tt><username></tt> '''must''' be the username you want to login with. gdm will probably break for any login name that has no .bir file).
*As root do:
:{{cmdroot|SERIAL<nowiki>=`BioAPITest | sed -ne "/Fingerprint/{n;n;s/^.*: $.\{9\}$$.\{4\}$$.\{4\}$$.\{4\}$$.*$/\1-\2-\3-\4-\5/gp}"` </nowiki>}}
:{{cmdroot|echo $SERIAL}} should print something like {{cmdresult|<nowiki>{5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350}</nowiki>}} now.
:If it does, do:
:{{cmdroot|mkdir -p /etc/bioapi/pam/$SERIAL}}
:{{cmdroot|cp <username>.bir /etc/bioapi/pam/$SERIAL}}
:If not, you might just try
:{{cmdroot|SERIAL<nowiki>={5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350}</nowiki>}}
:as this value is hardcoded into the UPEK docs.

===Configuring pam===
The following part is distribution specific. On {{Ubuntu}} or {{SUSE}} you can modify {{path|/etc/pam.d/common-auth}} (on {{Gentoo}} and {{Fedora}} it is {{path|/etc/pam.d/system-auth}}) to look like this:

#
# /etc/pam.d/common-auth - authentication settings common to all services
#
# This file is included from other service-specific PAM config files,
# and should contain a list of the authentication modules that define
# the central authentication scheme for use on the system
# (e.g., /etc/shadow, LDAP, Kerberos, etc.). The default is to use the
# traditional Unix authentication mechanisms.
#
auth sufficient pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/
password sufficient pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/
auth required pam_unix.so nullok_secure

----
For '''Gentoo'''-Users - this allows you to attempt a password first. If you simply press enter, it then prompts for a fingerprints. Create a file named {{path|/etc/pam.d/bioapi}}. This also means that remote services, such as SSH keep working:

auth required pam_env.so
auth sufficient pam_unix.so likeauth nullok
auth sufficient pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/
auth required pam_deny.so

account required pam_unix.so

session required pam_limits.so
session required pam_unix.so

----

Now, simply replace "auth include system-auth" in all services that you wish to use fingerprint for with "auth include bioapi". For example, {{path|/etc/pam.d/kde}} by default contains

auth include system-auth
auth required pam_nologin.so

account include system-auth

password include system-auth

session include system-auth

Simply replace the first "system-auth" with bioapi and you can also get rid of KDE desktop lock with a fingerprint. If you do not wish to allow for "password fallback" then remove

auth sufficient pam_unix.so likeauth nullok

from {{path|/etc/pam.d/bioapi}}.

{{WARN|If su/sudo expects to receive the root password (SuSE 10), you need to have fingerprint settings for root (that is, copy in a root.bir as well as a your-username.bir). Otherwise, they get a segmentation fault. Which is a little unfortunate, given that you need to su or sudo to change your settings... }}
{{WARN|Not only SuSE 10 requires root.bir to be available for su to work. Just make sure you have root.bir when su is not working with your fingerprint reader but other applications are...}}
Note that sshd may pick up the fingerprint settings from {{path|/etc/pam.d/common-auth}}. I didn't want that, so I removed the "auth include common-auth" line from {{path|/etc/pam.d/sshd}} and replaced it with the lines that were originally in my {{path|/etc/pam.d/common-auth}}. That way most local services use the fingerprint reader, but sshd does not.

Another way to do this is to create a file ({{path|/etc/pam.d/bioapi|}} for example) which contains the {{cmd|pam_bioapi.so|}} lines, and explicitly {{cmd|@include|}} this '''before''' {{path|/etc/pam.d/common-auth|}} in the files for services which should use the fingerprint reader. In this case you should leave {{path|/etc/pam.d/common-auth|}} alone.

{{NOTE|This was discovered through trial and success, if it is plain wrong, wikorrect it, please.}}

In {{Fedora}} the original 'session' terms in {{path|/etc/pam.d/system-auth}} need to be kept.

{{HINT|The setup described above will/could affect remote ssh logins to also use biometric logins, which is a bit silly (who wants to remote ssh to the laptop, and then have to walk over to it and swipe your finger)<br />To avoid that you can copy the default <tt>/etc/pam.d/system-auth</tt> to <tt>/etc/pam.d/sshd</tt> which will allow the sshd service to use the standard authentication procedure.}}

You can do some useful testing with [http://pamtester.sourceforge.net/ {{cmd|pamtester|}}], which calls the pam modules as if it were a program of your choice. Examples:
:{{cmdroot|pamtester xdm yourusername authenticate}}
:{{cmduser|pamtester xscreensaver yourusername authenticate}}
where {{cmd|yourusername|}} is your username. Note that {{cmd|pamtester|}} should run as root if and only if the program in question does.

===Application support===
The implementation of fingerprint scanning support in the relevant applications varies.

Here is the behaviour of the most common ones:
* In gdm enter your username and there should pop up an (ugly) image to swipe your finger and... magic - you can login without a password.
* kdm doesn't give any visual indication, other than that the cursor stops blinking. Just swipe your finger and hope it lets you log in.
* In xdm, enter your username and a blank password, then swipe (there is no popup as well).
* The KDE screen saver in SUSE 10 requires you to enter an empty password (or select the correct user and then enter an empty password) in order to get the fingerprint prompt.
* For Fedora users, the redhat-config tools will crash if no root.bir presents. Also, there won't be any visual idication unless X server is properly configured for root to access. Just swipe your finger when the HDD stopped blinking or issue the following command in advance:
:{{cmduser|xhost +local:}}
* For RHEL4 users gdm, console (virtual terminal) logins and the xscreensaver all work

===kdm support===
To add graphical popup to kdm, you need following:
* Patch for pam_bioapi. This patch adds third parameter to {{path|pam_bioapi.so}} module, which is a name of file with additional environment variables that will be supplied to the UPEK driver.
:{{cmdroot|wget http://upir.cz/linux/patches/pam_bioapi-0.2.1-alter-environ.patch}}
:{{cmdroot|patch -p1 < pam_bioapi-0.2.1-alter-environ.patch}}
* Edit your {{path|Xsetup}} file (on SUSE 10 it's {{path|/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup}}) and add these lines:
echo "XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY" > /var/lib/xdm/kdm_env
echo "DISPLAY=$DISPLAY" >> /var/lib/xdm/kdm_env
* In {{path|/etc/pam.d/xdm}} file, add {{path|/var/lib/xdm/kdm_env}} as a third parameter for {{path|pam_bioapi.so}} module:
auth sufficient pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/ /var/lib/xdm/kdm_env

Please note, that this won't work if you have more than one Xserver.

==Make xscreensaver use the scanner==
*Get the needed xscreensaver sources:
:{{cmduser|wget http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/xscreensaver-4.23.tar.gz}}
:{{cmduser|tar xzf xscreensaver-4.23.tar.gz}}
:{{cmduser|cd xscreensaver-4.23}}
:{{cmduser|wget http://nax.hn.org/pub/bioapi/xscreensaver-4.22_alternativeAuth.diff<br/>This site seems to be down, use this mirror: http://zepan.org/files/xscreensaver-4.22_alternativeAuth.diff}}
*After reviewing the patch (it's small and straightforward), do
:{{cmduser|patch -p1 < xscreensaver-4.22_alternativeAuth.diff}}<br />The patch prevents xscreensaver from opening an authentification window and dispatches the authentification request to another program, in our case <tt>pam</tt> and <tt>pam_bioapi</tt>. It should apply with some offset, don't mind that. If it says something about rejected though, then there's a problem.
*Compile with
:{{cmduser|./configure --with-pam && make}}<br />
*If you receive an error like "Couldn't find X11 headers/libs" and are running a Debian-like system, try "apt-get install xlibs-dev"
*If you receive an error like "undefined reference to `XmuPrintDefaultErrorMessage'" then install the libxmu-dev package and run the previous line again and then install as root with
:{{cmduser|su -c make install}} .
*Make sure that the newly compiled xscreensaver is used:
:{{cmduser|which xscreensaver}} should return
:{{cmdresult|/usr/local/bin/xscreensaver}} .
*In case it doesn't, try adjusting your PATH.

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How to enable integrated fingerprint reader with BioAPI