Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:28486
Mailing-List: contact internals-help@lists.php.net; run by ezmlm
Received-SPF: error (pb1.pair.com: domain php.net from 140.211.166.39 cause and error)
DomainKey-Status: good
DomainKey-Signature: q=dns; a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;
	s=mx; d=php.net;
	h=From:Subject:To:Date;
	b=KVxvvgfxKJ4oVe2Iffvt0zRQzxVMQyKfAiFby19lue7R4dWKlg6zxYaZRQflbqvX
	M0PbxkCSDj5OXhy5v08xRrpody6V8Lf6qu8/cu2Uy3jNP7z6fJ/Hi1Bm9Q6TTMbY
Message-ID: <46002299.9030100@php.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:06:17 -0700
User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.10 (Windows/20070221)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Daniel Rozsnyo <daniel@rozsnyo.com>
CC:  internals@lists.php.net
References: <7D.10.33476.19FAEF54@pb1.pair.com>
In-Reply-To: <7D.10.33476.19FAEF54@pb1.pair.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Re: getpass() wrapper
From: pollita@php.net (Sara Golemon)

>   I am working on a command line client (written in php, run by php-cli) 
> and I'd like to use a password entry as in mysql client - with no 
> echoing etc. I've found the function which I need:
> 
>       #include <unistd.h>
>       char *getpass( const char * prompt );
> 
> But in man getpass it is marked as "This function is obsolete. Do not 
> use it.". More from the manpage: "Present in SUSv2, but marked LEGACY. 
> Removed in POSIX.1-2001."
> 
>   Can this function be somehow included in next release of PHP, at least 
> in coditional way so I can check its availability with function_exists? 
> (a). Or I should patch my instance of PHP (b) or stick forever to a 
> small binary written in C which then I call with backtick operator (c).
> 
>   What you recommend, developers of PHP ?
> 
For one thing, I *don't* recommend wrapping obsoleted functions as a 
builtin.  You're welcome to do this in an extension, it'll even be 
welcomed in PECL, but it's not something which belongs in the mainline 
distribution.

Note that since this function produces output (to stdout -- bypassing 
PHP's output layer), you may run into problems using this with any SAPI 
other than cgi or cli (not that you would use it elsewhere anyway), and 
it'll be completely out-of-band of any uses of ob_start() and family.

I also would be inclined to doubt that this integrates with PAM, so god 
help you if you're using a distributed authentication scheme such as 
LDAP, kerberos, etc...

Anyway, in case it wasn't obvious from my steadily darkening tone,
-1 from me.

-Sara