LOGIN(1)                FreeBSD General Commands Manual               LOGIN(1)

NAME
     login - log into the computer

SYNOPSIS
     login [-fp] [-h hostname] [user]

DESCRIPTION
     The login utility logs users (and pseudo-users) into the computer system.

     If no user is specified, or if a user is specified and authentication of
     the user fails, login prompts for a user name.  Authentication of users
     is configurable via pam(8).  Password authentication is the default.

     The following options are available:

     -f      When a user name is specified, this option indicates that proper
             authentication has already been done and that no password need be
             requested.  This option may only be used by the super-user or
             when an already logged in user is logging in as themselves.

     -h      Specify the host from which the connection was received.  It is
             used by various daemons such as telnetd(8).  This option may only
             be used by the super-user.

     -p      By default, login discards any previous environment.  The -p
             option disables this behavior.

     Login access can be controlled via login.access(5) or the login class in
     login.conf(5), which provides allow and deny records based on time, tty
     and remote host name.

     If the file /etc/fbtab exists, login changes the protection and ownership
     of certain devices specified in this file.

     Immediately after logging a user in, login displays the system copyright
     notice, the date and time the user last logged in, the message of the day
     as well as other information.  If the file .hushlogin exists in the
     user's home directory, all of these messages are suppressed.  This is to
     simplify logins for non-human users, such as uucp(1).

     The login utility enters information into the environment (see
     environ(7)) specifying the user's home directory (HOME), command
     interpreter (SHELL), search path (PATH), terminal type (TERM) and user
     name (both LOGNAME and USER).  Other environment variables may be set due
     to entries in the login class capabilities database, for the login class
     assigned in the user's system passwd record.  The login class also
     controls the maximum and current process resource limits granted to a
     login, process priorities and many other aspects of a user's login
     environment.

     Some shells may provide a builtin login command which is similar or
     identical to this utility.  Consult the builtin(1) manual page.

     The login utility will submit an audit record when login succeeds or
     fails.  Failure to determine the current auditing state will result in an
     error exit from login.

FILES
     /etc/fbtab                       changes device protections
     /etc/login.conf                  login class capabilities database
     /var/run/motd                    message-of-the-day
     /var/mail/user                   system mailboxes
     .hushlogin                       makes login quieter
     /etc/pam.d/login                 pam(8) configuration file
     /etc/security/audit_user         user flags for auditing
     /etc/security/audit_control      global flags for auditing

SEE ALSO
     builtin(1), chpass(1), csh(1), newgrp(1), passwd(1), rlogin(1),
     getpass(3), fbtab(5), login.access(5), login.conf(5), environ(7)

HISTORY
     A login utility appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6          July 20, 2019         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6