Thinkfinger under Debian Lenny

Written in 01.03.2009
You should maybe use fprint instead, see bottom.

* Install thinkfinger tools *

load module uinput
permanent with:
 echo uinput | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_enable_the_fingerprint_reader_with_ThinkFinger
http://sourceforge.net/projects/thinkfinger

Debian Packages from experimental installed with no problems under debian
lenny, just fetch the files from:
ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/pool/main/t/thinkfinger
for your architecture (4 debs there) and install them by putting them into
a folder mentioned in /etc/apt/sources.list or install by the old way
 dpkg -i *.deb

sudo adduser markus plugdev

Wow!

First success, with the 2 commands:

sudo tf-tool --acquire
sudo tf-tool --verify

I could acquire my biodata (and of course don't give it anybody else)
and also verify it. Another finger and finger of another person did
*not* match :-)


* Enable for pam *

I use kdm for login, so here I describe what I achieve.

make /etc/pam.d/common-auth look like:
auth	sufficient	pam_thinkfinger.so
auth	required	pam_unix.so nullok_secure try_first_pass


You may add "debug" as option for pam_thinkfinger.so.

sudo cp .thinkfinger.bir /etc/pam_thinkfinger/markus.bir

There should be no heating problem, the power level was on auto here.


* sudo *

sudo worked perfectly out of the box
sudo -K removes the timestamp to test it

Best add following file using sudo visudo:

Defaults	timestamp_timeout=0

Then you will always be prompted for a password, which is no
problem because auth goes much faster.

* Enable for kde *

To avoid restarting of kdm over and over, I first tried kdesudo,
that worked.

But anything else did not... So for loggin in with kdm and screen
saver, you still need a password.


* Security *

The security is of course much less, because fingertips are
everywhere on the laptop and let someone login in some minutes.

But there is a gain of security when you let sudo always prompt
for password and always lock your screen because the password
auth goes faster.



* Open Issues *

- auth should be combined with password (both should be necessary)
- kde maybe works with fprint, see:
http://www.fedorawiki.de/index.php/Fprint
http://www.reactivated.net/fprint/wiki/Main_Page