Pam_mount introduction

[W. Michael Petullo]

I would like to formally introduce a package I have been working on to
the Fedora community.  Pam_mount has been in the Fedora.us QA process for
about three months:

https://bugzilla.fedora.us/show_bug.cgi?id=1013

What is it?  Pam_mount is a PAM module that allows one to transparently
mount password-protected volumes upon logging in to a system.  It mounts
using one's system password and it supports CIFS, SMB, NCP and loopback
encrypted volumes out of the box.  Other volume types could easily be
configured.  It can mount volumes that share the same password as your
system account and even, with a little trickery, transparently mount
volumes with unique passwords.

Why do I think it is important?  Several people have told me that they
find pam_mount very useful for integrating Linux desktops into Windows/SMB
desktop networks.  I hope that this is a more common occurance in the
next few years.  I think pam_mount may be able to help.

I have been working hard to get pam_mount to easily fit into Fedora.
For example, I have written a patch for authconfig that allows one to
configure pam_mount using the tool:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=97561&action=view

In addition, I have filed several bug reports in GNOME and Red Hat's
bugzilla databases (and submitted patches in several cases).  Many of
these issues are now fixed:

Bug 67605: shut down gconfd on logout
	https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=67605

Bug 97361: improve exit-gconfd-on-logout chances
	http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97361

Bug 126071: Gdm does not ensure user's programs exit before calling 
pam_close_session
	http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=126071

What do I want from you?  If you are interested in pam_mount then I would
love your help with the pam_mount QA process.  In addition, I would like to
have people test my authconfig patch (and submit comments to Bugzilla).
If you work for Red Hat, please consider pam_mount for Fedora Core 3
(or even 2 if possible)!

Thank you -- I look forward to getting your feedback!

-- 
Mike

:wq