Fingerprint Reader Installation

From Knowledge76

Overview

This article describes how to download, compile, and install the driver and management software for Fingerprint Readers on System76 computers. The articles currently applies to all System76 computers with fingerprint readers. Once installed you can use your finger to log in and for sudo commands.

Important Notes

1. Some Administration interfaces will NOT work! Network, Services, Time and Date, and Users and Groups will not Unlock. this is due to PAM (Pluggable Authentication Method) limitations and will take time to re-work. It is relatively easy to switch back to standard username/password authentication when you need to use these applications.
2. We will be creating installable packages for this software. This article is provided for early adopters that want to play with their FP reader.
3. The FP driver was created by the fprint project with a donation from System76. Thanks fprint!

Installation

Open your terminal (System > Applications > Terminal) and cut and paste the following commands.

Install Dependencies

sudo apt-get install build-essential libtool automake1.9 libssl-dev libgtk2.0-dev libmagick++9-dev libpam0g-dev

Create a working directory

mkdir fpreader
cd fpreader

Install libusb-1.0 (Beta)

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/libusb/libusb-0.9.2.tar.bz2?modtime=1216505974&big_mirror=0
tar xjf libusb-0.9.2.tar.bz2
cd libusb-0.9.2/
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
cd ..

Install libfprint

wget http://projects.reactivated.net/snapshots/libfprint/libfprint-20080810-6b8b17f5.tar.bz2
tar xjf libfprint-20080810-6b8b17f5.tar.bz2
cd libfprint-20080810-6b8b17f5/
sh autogen.sh

You can safely ignore the "configure: error: XV is required for X11 examples" warning.

./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
cd ..

Install pam_fprint

wget http://projects.reactivated.net/snapshots/pam_fprint/pam_fprint-20080330-5452ea09.tar.bz2
tar xjf pam_fprint-20080330-5452ea09.tar.bz2
cd pam_fprint-20080330-5452ea09/
sh autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
cd ..

Install fprint_demo

wget http://projects.reactivated.net/snapshots/fprint_demo/fprint_demo-20080319-5d86c3f7.tar.bz2
tar xjf fprint_demo-20080319-5d86c3f7.tar.bz2
cd fprint_demo-20080319-5d86c3f7/
sh autogen.sh
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo make install
cd ..

Fix the fprint_demo Menu Item

Go to System > Preferences > Main Menu.
Click Accessories.
Right click fprint project demo and choose Properties.
Change the command to gksu fprint_demo.

Log Out and Log Back In

Configure PAM

sudo cp /etc/pam.d/common-auth /etc/pam.d/common-auth_orig
sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/common-auth

Change the file from:

auth	 requisite	 pam_unix.so nullok_secure
auth	 optional	 pam_smbpass.so migrate missingok

to:

auth    sufficient      pam_fprint.so
auth	 requisite	 pam_unix.so nullok_secure
auth	 optional	 pam_smbpass.so migrate missingok

Save and close the file. This configuration will first try to read your fingerprint before asking your password. Go to Applications > Accessories > fprint project demo to register and verify your fingerprint. It takes some practice but works well once you get it. You can use your fingerprint reader to log in and for sudo commands.