libloginhelper(3) C Library Functions libloginhelper(3)NAMElibloginhelper - Login-Helper library for assistive technologies
DESCRIPTION
An interface for use by assistive technologies by which they can access
system information and services on a 'need to know' basis while the
screen is locked, during user authentication, or during other sensitive
operations.
This interface is intended for use by assistive technologies and
related user-enabling services, and by applications and utilities which
may wish to restrict access to certain system devices and services dur‐
ing security-sensitive states, e.g. when the screen is locked or during
authentication into some secure service.
Such 'applications' (for instance, screen lock dialogs and security-
enabled web browsers) use the LoginHelper client interfaces, and the
bonobo-activation query service, to query for assistive technologies
which advertise the LoginHelper service. The client then queries these
assistive technologies for their device I/O requirements, via the get‐
DeviceReqs call. The client may then issue the advisory request setSafe
(TRUE), which requests that the LoginHelper-implementing service make a
best-effort attempt to make itself more secure (for instance, an
onscreen keyboard might turn off word prediction, and a screenreader
may turn off keyboard echo via speech). The return value of setSafe is
an advisory indication of whether this attempt was successful (no spe‐
cific guarantees are implied). Once the 'security sensitive' state is
exited, the client should call setSafe (FALSE).
The return values from getDeviceReqs inform the client of which ser‐
vices the LoginHelper service (e. g. assistive technology) needs in
order to do its job. The client may use this information to loosen any
restrictions on access which it may currently have in place (for
instance, keyboard grabs, etc.). If it does not do so, the likely out‐
come is that the end-user will experience loss of access to the system.
Additional information is also available from the following site:
http://www.gnome.org/~billh/at-spi-idl/html/classAccessibil‐
ity_1_1LoginHelper.html
FILES
The following files are used by this library:
/usr/lib/libloginhelper.so
Login-Helper library for assistive technologies
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │gnome/accessibility/gnome-a11y-libs │
├─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│Interface stability │Volatile │
└─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOlibatk-1.0(3), libcspi(3), attributes(5), gnome-interfaces(5)NOTES
login-helper module is in at-spi package.
SunOS 5.11 7 Aug 2008 libloginhelper(3)
