Application Authentication

[tituspurdin]

How does Ubuntu (Hardy) construct (encrypt) passwords. I am, of
course, used to crypt(). I want to do application level authentication;
but cannot puzzle out how to do what I have done using crypt() in
the past. I think it is using MD5 with salt, but I cannot reconstruct
the way in which the salt is being added or determine if there is a
system tool that will do the job for me. Thanks.

[bodhi.zazen]

That is a very broad question. passwords for what ? login ? what type of authentication ?

Passwords for ecryptfs ? LUKS ? seahorse ?

[tituspurdin]

You are correct. It is a broad question. I was a bit frustrated
when I posted it. What I want to do is emulate login(), For
example, like a screen saver that wants the user's password to
unlock the screen. User types in their password and I need to
convert it to an appropriate encrypted string to compare it to
the user's password as stored in /etc/shadow.