libpam-thinkfinger no longer works

[Ken Pratt]

After installing libpam-thinkfinger and thinkfinger-tools, properly recording "enrolling" and confirming the enrollment with the tf-tool command, I can not log in using gdm and my enrolled finger.

I did execute the command: sudo /usr/lib/pam-thinkfinger/pam-thinkfinger-enable and my common-auth file looks like:

#
# /etc/pam.d/common-auth - authentication settings common to all services
#
# This file is included from other service-specific PAM config files,
# and should contain a list of the authentication modules that define
# the central authentication scheme for use on the system
# (e.g., /etc/shadow, LDAP, Kerberos, etc.). The default is to use the
# traditional Unix authentication mechanisms.
#
# As of pam 1.0.1-6, this file is managed by pam-auth-update by default.
# To take advantage of this, it is recommended that you configure any
# local modules either before or after the default block, and use
# pam-auth-update to manage selection of other modules. See
# pam-auth-update(8) for details.

# here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block)
auth sufficient pam_thinkfinger.so
auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so try_first_pass nullok_secure
# here's the fallback if no module succeeds
auth requisite pam_deny.so
# prime the stack with a positive return value if there isn't one already;
# this avoids us returning an error just because nothing sets a success code
# since the modules above will each just jump around
auth required pam_permit.so
# and here are more per-package modules (the "Additional" block)
# end of pam-auth-update config

The GDM prompt shows the enter password or swipe finger prompt. It does not recognized my finger swipe. I am sure it is not my performing a bad swipe as I can use the tf-tool and successfully match. I have been using thinkfinger on Karmic and Jaunty without problems. This seems to be a regression.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 21 12:47:44 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta amd64 (20100318)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: libpam-thinkfinger 0.3+r118-0ubuntu4
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: thinkfinger
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic x86_64

[Ludo Sauge (ludovic-sauge)]

Same issue after upgrading form 9.10 (karmic) to 10.04 (lucid).
You need to press enter after performing the scan under X. Works flawlessly under a tty.

Problem also reported on the following page : http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_enable_the_fingerprint_reader_with_ThinkFinger

[Ludo Sauge (ludovic-sauge)]

Please, see Bug #256429 (Intrepid regression: carriage-return required after finger scan). It seems to be a recurrent issue with thinkfinger.

[Maui Muc (stefan-mauerberger)]

I can confirm this on Lucid as well.
Hopefully this bug will be fixed soon!

[Lazy (ubuntu-bugs-oittaa)]

This is also broken on my Lenovo T61 laptop after upgrading from Karmic.

[Woonjas (woonjas)]

Pressing Enter after scanning works for me in X/gdm, this is not required when on tty console :-)
Would've been nice to have a hint that this is required if this is intended behavior, if it isn't, to have it revert to the previous behavior.

(upgraded from 64 bit Karmic to Lucid)

[Maui Muc (stefan-mauerberger)]

There is a PPA of Martin, which should solve the problem. https://launchpad.net/~martin-meltin/+archive/ppa

Do you have any idea when the problem will be solved in Lucid without the PPAs of Martin?