1 The server uses a protocol provided by libassuan to communicate with the
2 client. An OK response is returned when a command succeeds or ERR along with
3 an error code and description, if not. When a command requests data for
4 retrieval (e.g., GET) the output is prefixed with D then a single SPACE then
5 the actual data followed by a response. Read the libassuan docs for more info
11 OPEN [--lock] [--inquire | --pinentry=[0|1]] [--base64] <filename> [<key>]
12 Opens <filename> using <key>. When the filename is not found on the
13 file-system a new document will be created. If the file is found, it is
14 looked for in the file cache for an existing key. When found and no key
15 was specified, the cached key will be used for decryption (if encrypted).
16 When not found, pinentry(1) will be used to retrieve the key (see OPTIONS
19 When the --lock option is passed then the file mutex will be locked as if
20 the LOCK command had been sent after the file had been opened.
22 The --inquire option disables pinentry usage and uses a server inquire to
23 retrieve the filename and key arguments.
25 Using pinentry for passphrase retrieval can be enabled or disabled by
26 specifying the --pinentry option with the value 1 or 0 respectively. When
27 no value is specified then the configuration file value will be used. If
28 the passphrase is invalid then it is up to the client whether to retry or
29 not. To decrypt an encrypted file with an empty passphrase and avoid the
30 pinentry dialog, use --pinentry=0.
32 When a "key_file" configuration parameter has been set for the current
33 file and there is no cache entry, then an --inquire must be used to
36 The --base64 option specifies that the key is Base64 encoded. It will be
37 decoded before doing decryption. This allows for binary keys and may also
38 be used with --inquire.
41 SAVE [--reset] [--inquire | --pinentry=[0|1]] [--cipher=[<string>]]
42 [--iterations=[N]] [--base64] [<key>]
43 Writes the XML document to disk. The file written to is the file that was
44 opened using the OPEN command. If <key> is not specified then the
45 currently cached key will be used. If the file is a new file or the file
46 isn't found in the file cache then <key> will be used. If both <key> is
47 not specified and the file is not cached then pinentry(1) will be used to
48 retrieve the key (see below) unless the configured number of iterations is
49 0 in which case the file will be saved unencrypted.
51 Note that when both <key> is specified and the configured number of
52 iterations is 0 the iterations for the current filename will be reset to
53 1. This is to be on the safe side and prevent misuse.
55 The --iterations option can be used to change the number of encryption
56 iterations for the opened file. When 0 no encryption will be performed.
57 When this option is either not passed or is specified without a value then
58 previous setting obtained from the file header will be used.
60 You can specify an alternate cipher to encrypt with by specifying a cipher
61 string with the --cipher option. Omitting the string uses the current
62 cipher of the opened file or the default if the file is a new one. The
63 default is specified in the configuration file. See pwmd(1) for available
66 Using pinentry for passphrase retrieval can be enabled or disabled by
67 specifying the --pinentry option with the value 1 or 0, respectively. When
68 no value is specified then the configuration file value will be used.
69 When enabled and the passphrase confirmation fails, the pinentry process
70 is started over again until either the passphrases match or until the
71 input is canceled by the user. To save with encryption and with an empty
72 passphrase, use --pinentry=0.
74 When --reset is specified then the cached passphrase for the opened file
75 will be cleared before doing the actual SAVE as if the CLEARCACHE command
78 The --inquire option disables pinentry usage and uses a server inquire to
81 When a "key_file" configuration parameter has been set for the current
82 file and there is no cache entry, then an --inquire must be used to
85 The --base64 option specifies that the key is Base64 encoded. It will be
86 decoded before doing encryption. This allows for binary keys and may also
87 be used with --inquire.
91 An OK response is returned if the specified file is found in the file
92 cache. If not found in the cache but exists on the filesystem,
93 GPG_ERR_NOT_FOUND is returned. Otherwise a filesystem error is returned.
96 CLEARCACHE [<filename>]
97 Clears a file cache entry. This will forget the timeout and key for all or
98 the specified file. Always returns an OK response.
101 CACHETIMEOUT <filename> <seconds>
102 Specify the number of seconds the specified file will be cached. -1 will
103 keep the cache entry forever, 0 will require the key each time the OPEN or
104 SAVE commands are used. Also see the "cache_timeout" configuration
105 parameter. Returns ERR if the filename isn't cached or if the timeout is
106 invalid. OK otherwise.
109 LIST [--no-recurse] [--verbose] [[!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]]
110 If no element path is given then a newline separated list of root elements
111 is returned with the data response. If given, then all reachable elements
112 for the specified element path are returned unless the --no-recurse option
113 is specified. If specified, only the child elements of the element path
114 are returned without recursing into grandchildren. Each element in the
115 path is prefixed with the literal '!' character when the element contains
116 no "target" attribute. See THE TARGET ATTRIBUTE below.
118 When the --verbose option is passed then each element path returned in the
119 list will have a single space character followed by either a 0 or 1
120 appended to it. When 0, the element path has no children, otherwise it
121 does have children. When used with the --no-recurse option this may be
122 useful to limit the amount of data transferred to the client.
125 REALPATH [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
126 Resolves all "target" attributes of the specified element path and returns
127 the result with a data response.
130 STORE [!]element[[<TAB>[!]element[...]]<TAB>[content]]
131 Creates a new element tree or modifies the content of an existing element
132 path. If only a single element is specified, a new root element is
133 created. Otherwise, elements are TAB delimited and the content will be set
134 to the last TAB delimited argument. If no content is specified after the
135 last TAB then the content for the last specified element will be removed
136 or empty when creating a new element.
138 The only restriction of an element name is that it not contain whitespace
139 or begin with the literal element character '!' unless specifying a
140 literal element. There is no whitespace between the TAB delimited
141 elements. It is recommended that the value or content be base 64 encoded
142 when it contains control or TAB characters to prevent XML and pwmd parsing
145 PWMD reads the element path from the client via the Assuan INQUIRE
146 protocol response: the STORE command is sent by itself without arguments,
147 then the server responds with INQUIRE. The client then sends the element
148 path prefixed with a "D " data response. The element path may extend
149 multiple lines but each must be prefixed with the data "D " response. When
150 finished, the client sends "END" on an empty line. This is needed so an
151 element path and value can be more than 1000 bytes long, the Assuan
155 RENAME [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]] <value>
156 Renames the specified element to the new value. If an element of the same
157 name as the value exists then it will be overwritten.
160 COPY [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]] [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
161 Copies the entire element tree starting from the child node of the source
162 element path, to the destination element path. If the destination element
163 path doesn't exist then it is created; otherwise it is overwritten.
165 Note that attributes from the source element path are merged into the
166 destination element path when the destination element path exists. When an
167 attribute of the same name exists in both the source and destination
168 element paths then the destination attribute will be updated to the source
172 MOVE [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]] [[!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]]
173 Moves the source element path to the destination element path. If the
174 destination is not specified then it will be moved to the root of the
175 document. If the destination is specified and exists then it will be
176 overwritten; otherwise it will be created.
179 DELETE [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
180 Removes the specified element path from the XML document.
183 GET [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
184 Retrieves the content or XML text node of the specified element path. The
185 data is returned with a data response.
188 ATTR SET|GET|DELETE|LIST [<attribute>] [!]<arg1> [!][arg2]
189 ATTR SET attribute [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]] [attribute_value]
190 Stores or updates an attribute name and optional value of an element
193 ATTR DELETE attribute [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
194 Removes an attribute from an element path.
196 ATTR LIST [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
197 Gets a newline separated list of attributes from an element path.
199 ATTR GET attribute [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]
200 Gets the value of an attribute from an element path.
202 The "_name" attribute (case sensitive) cannot be removed with ATTR DELETE
203 if the element path is the root element. Although it can be SET to change
204 the element name but only if the destination element name doesn't exist.
205 Use the RENAME command for that instead.
207 There is another special attribute "_mtime" which is updated each time an
208 element is modified: either by storing content, editing attributes or
209 deleting a child element.
211 Also see THE TARGET ATTRIBUTE below.
214 XPATH <expression>[<TAB>[value]]
215 Evaluates an XPath expression. If no value argument is specified, it is
216 assumed the expression is a request to return a result. Otherwise, the
217 result is set to the value argument and the document is updated. If there
218 is no value after the <TAB> character, the value is assumed to be empty
219 and the document is updated.
222 XPATHATTR SET|DELETE <name> <expression>[<TAB>[<value>]]
223 Like the XPATH command but operates on element attributes and won't return
224 a result. For the SET operation the <value> is optional but the field is
225 required in which case the value will be empty.
228 IMPORT <content>[<TAB>[!]element[<TAB>[!]element[...]]]
229 Like the STORE command (an INQUIRE), but the content argument is raw XML
230 data. The content is created as a child of the specified element path. If
231 an element of the element path does not exist then it is created. If no
232 element path is specified then the content must begin with an pwmd DTD
235 Note that the new content must begin with an XML element node. Also note
236 that an existing child node of the same element name as the root node of
237 the imported content will be overwritten.
241 Shows the in memory XML document with indenting. To dump a specific
242 element tree, use the XPATH command.
246 Locks the mutex associated with the opened file. This prevents other
247 clients from sending commands to the same opened file until the client
248 that sent this command either disconnects or sends the UNLOCK command.
252 Unlocks the file mutex which was locked with the LOCK command.
256 Retrieves the process id of the server.
259 GETCONFIG [filename] <parameter>
260 Returns the value of a pwmd configuration variable with a data response.
261 If no file has been opened then the value for the specified file or the
262 default from the "global" section will be returned. If a file has been
263 opened and no filename is specified, the value previously set with the SET
264 command, if any, will be returned.
266 If there is no such configuration parameter defined, GPG_ERR_NO_VALUE is
271 Returns the server version number with a data response.
275 Sets an option NAME to VALUE. See OPTIONS below for available options.
279 Resets option NAME to the value specified in the server configuration
280 file. Some options have no default and will be reset to NULL or 0
281 depending on the type.
285 Lists the contents of the configured data_directory. The result is a
286 newline separated list of filenames.
290 Closes the connection disconnecting the client. Unless the SAVE command
291 had been sent, any changes to the document will be lost.
296 Below are the available client options:
298 NAME |VALUE |Description
299 -----------------|----------|----------------------------------------------
300 ENABLE_PINENTRY 0|1 When 0, disable use of pinentry. The default
302 * Deprecated. Use --pinentry instead.
304 PINENTRY_TIMEOUT <integer> The number of seconds before the pinentry
305 process will terminate while waiting for a
306 passphrase. The default is 20, 0 disables.
308 PINENTRTY_PATH <string> Full path to the pinentry binary. The default
309 is specified at compile time.
311 TTYNAME <string> Same as the --ttyname option to pinentry(1).
313 TTYTYPE <string> Same as the --ttytype option to pinentry(1).
315 DISPLAY <string> Same as the --display option to pinentry(1).
317 TITLE <string> Sets the title string of the pinentry dialog.
319 PROMPT <string> Sets the prompt string of the pinentry dialog.
321 DESC <string> Sets the error or description string of the
324 LC_CTYPE <string> Same as the --lc-ctype option to pinentry(1).
326 LC_MESSAGES <string> Same as the --lc-messages option to
329 NAME <string> Associates the thread ID of the connection
330 with the specified textual representation.
331 Useful for debugging log messages.
333 CIPHER <string> The cipher to use for the next SAVE.
334 * Deprecated. Use --cipher instead.
336 ITERATIONS <integer> The number of encryption iterations to do
337 when the SAVE command is sent. An opened file
338 is needed when setting this option. The
339 CONFIG status message is sent after receiving
341 *Deprecated. Use --iterations instead.
343 LOCK_ON_OPEN 0|1 If enabled then the file mutex will be locked
344 after a successful OPEN as if the LOCK
345 command had been sent.
346 * Deprecated. Use --lock instead.
348 RC_ON_LOCKED 0|1 If enabled then return an error code instead
349 of a status message when the file mutex is
350 locked by another thread.
352 To reset an option to its default value, use the UNSET command.
357 Some commands send a status message to the client when successful or as a
358 progress indicator. Status messages begin with a KEYWORD followed by the
359 status description. What messages are sent, when, and how often, depend on
360 configuration settings:
363 -------------|-------------
387 KEYWORD |OUTPUT FORMAT
388 -----------|--------------------
390 Sent to each client after the file cache changes.
392 ENCRYPT <iterations so far> <total iterations>
394 DECRYPT <iterations so far> <total iterations>
396 COMPRESS <bytes so far> <total bytes>
398 DECOMPRESS <bytes so far> <total bytes>
400 XFER <bytes so far> <total bytes>
402 LOCKED When another thread owns a mutex lock that the current thread
403 needs, this is status message is sent and the thread will
404 block until the lock can be obtained.
406 KEEPALIVE Sent to each client after every configured amount of
407 seconds. It is important that this status message be sent to
408 test for client connectivity.
410 CONFIG Sent to each client after the configuration file has
411 been reloaded or has had a value changed that may affect other
415 Sent to each client after a client connects or disconnects.
420 There is a special attribute "target" (case sensitive) that can be set with
421 ATTR SET. The value of this attribute is an element path that is located
422 somewhere else in the XML document and are alot like how XPath treats
423 entities, but is needed do to how pwmd commands are implemented. The syntax
426 ATTR SET target [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[..]] [!]element[<TAB>[!]element[..]]
427 arg1^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ arg2^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
429 If the element path of where the "target" attribute (arg1) is to be stored
430 doesn't exist then it will be created. This is the only time the ATTR command
431 will create elements.
433 When a protocol command requests <arg1> as the element path then the path will
434 be modified to use <arg2>. This is useful if you need elements to share the
435 same data. If the target is modified, the other elements "pointing" to the
436 target will have the same content. To get the real or literal element and
437 ignore any "target" attributes, prefix the element with a '!' character.
438 Another way to think of this attribute is that it's like a symbolic link in a
439 filesystem. Here's an example XML document:
443 <element _name="child">value a</element>
445 <element _name="b" target="a">
446 <element _name="element_b">value b</element>
448 <element _name="c" target="b"/>
449 <element name="d" target="!b"/>
457 Notice that there is not an <element_b> listed. This is because of the
458 "target" attribute. The target attribute is recursive too, meaning that it can
459 point to other elements with a "target" attibute:
465 To get the value of an element with a "target" attribute without resolving the
466 target, prefix the element with the literal element character '!':
472 A "target" attribute value may also contain the literal element character:
478 The value of the "target" attribute isn't limited to only one element. It can
479 be a full element path with literal element characters placed where needed.
480 Use the REALPATH command to resolve all "target" attributes.
482 The "target" attribute is considered for all commands that support an element
483 path. If the target element has been renamed or deleted afterwards, the
486 Clients should be careful of creating target loops or targets which resolve to
487 themselves. See the "recursion_depth" configuration parameter for details.
490 XML DOCUMENT STRUCTURE
491 ----------------------
492 When importing an XML data file with the -I command line option, the document
493 should have the following DTD:
495 <?xml version="1.0"?>
497 <!ELEMENT pwmd (element*)>
498 <!ATTLIST element _name CDATA #REQUIRED>
501 The "pwmd" element is the document root node while all other elements of the
502 document have the name "element" with an attribute "_name" which is used as
503 the reference to the current "element". It's done this way so commonly used
504 characters that would normally cause the XML parser to throw an error while
505 parsing an XML element won't because the element name is stored as an XML
506 attribute which has more loose restrictions in their values. See THE TARGET
507 ATTRIBUTE for an example document.
510 Ben Kibbey <bjk@luxsci.net>
511 http://bjk.sourceforge.net/pwmd/