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KINIT(1)			 MIT Kerberos			      KINIT(1)

NAME
       kinit - obtain and cache	Kerberos ticket-granting ticket

SYNOPSIS
       kinit  [-V] [-l lifetime] [-s start_time] [-r renewable_life] [-p | -P]
       [-f | -F] [-a] [-A] [-C]	[-E] [-v] [-R] [-k [-i | -t keytab_file]]  [-c
       cache_name]  [-n] [-S service_name] [-I input_ccache] [-T armor_ccache]
       [-X attribute[=value]] [--request-pac | --no-request-pac] [principal]

DESCRIPTION
       kinit obtains and caches	an initial ticket-granting ticket for  princi-
       pal.   If  principal  is	absent,	kinit chooses an appropriate principal
       name based on existing credential cache contents	or the local  username
       of  the user invoking kinit.  Some options modify the choice of princi-
       pal name.

OPTIONS
       -V     display verbose output.

       -l lifetime
	      (Time duration string.)  Requests	a  ticket  with	 the  lifetime
	      lifetime.

	      For example, kinit -l 5:30 or kinit -l 5h30m.

	      If  the  -l option is not	specified, the default ticket lifetime
	      (configured by each site)	is used.  Specifying a ticket lifetime
	      longer than the maximum  ticket  lifetime	 (configured  by  each
	      site) will not override the configured maximum ticket lifetime.

       -s start_time
	      (Time duration string.)  Requests	a postdated ticket.  Postdated
	      tickets are issued with the invalid flag set, and	need to	be re-
	      submitted	to the KDC for validation before use.

	      start_time specifies the duration	of the delay before the	ticket
	      can become valid.

       -r renewable_life
	      (Time  duration string.)	Requests renewable tickets, with a to-
	      tal lifetime of renewable_life.

       -f     requests forwardable tickets.

       -F     requests non-forwardable tickets.

       -p     requests proxiable tickets.

       -P     requests non-proxiable tickets.

       -a     requests tickets restricted to the host's	local address[es].

       -A     requests tickets not restricted by address.

       -C     requests canonicalization	of the principal name, and allows  the
	      KDC  to reply with a different client principal from the one re-
	      quested.

       -E     treats the principal name	as an enterprise name.

       -v     requests that the	ticket-granting	ticket in the cache (with  the
	      invalid  flag  set) be passed to the KDC for validation.	If the
	      ticket is	within its requested time range, the cache is replaced
	      with the validated ticket.

       -R     requests renewal of the ticket-granting ticket.	Note  that  an
	      expired  ticket  cannot  be renewed, even	if the ticket is still
	      within its renewable life.

	      Note that	renewable tickets that have  expired  as  reported  by
	      klist  may  sometimes  be	renewed	using this option, because the
	      KDC applies a grace period to account for	client-KDC clock skew.
	      See krb5.conf clockskew setting.

       -k [-i |	-t keytab_file]
	      requests a ticket, obtained from	a  key	in  the	 local	host's
	      keytab.  The location of the keytab may be specified with	the -t
	      keytab_file  option, or with the -i option to specify the	use of
	      the default client keytab; otherwise the default keytab will  be
	      used.   By  default,  a  host  ticket  for the local host	is re-
	      quested, but any principal may be	specified.  On a KDC, the spe-
	      cial keytab location KDB:	can be used  to	 indicate  that	 kinit
	      should open the KDC database and look up the key directly.  This
	      permits an administrator to obtain tickets as any	principal that
	      supports authentication based on the key.

       -n     Requests	anonymous  processing.	Two types of anonymous princi-
	      pals are supported.

	      For fully	anonymous Kerberos, configure pkinit on	 the  KDC  and
	      configure	 pkinit_anchors	 in  the client's krb5.conf.  Then use
	      the -n option with a principal of	 the  form  @REALM  (an	 empty
	      principal	 name  followed	 by the	at-sign	and a realm name).  If
	      permitted	by the KDC, an anonymous ticket	will be	returned.

	      A	second form of anonymous tickets is supported; these realm-ex-
	      posed tickets hide the  identity	of  the	 client	 but  not  the
	      client's realm.  For this	mode, use kinit	-n with	a normal prin-
	      cipal  name.   If	 supported  by the KDC,	the principal (but not
	      realm) will be replaced by the anonymous principal.

	      As of release 1.8, the MIT  Kerberos  KDC	 only  supports	 fully
	      anonymous	operation.

       -I input_ccache
	  Specifies  the  name	of a credentials cache that already contains a
	  ticket.  When	obtaining that ticket, if information about  how  that
	  ticket  was  obtained	was also stored	to the cache, that information
	  will be used to affect how new credentials are  obtained,  including
	  preselecting the same	methods	of authenticating to the KDC.

       -T armor_ccache
	      Specifies	 the name of a credentials cache that already contains
	      a	ticket.	 If supported by the KDC, this cache will be  used  to
	      armor the	request, preventing offline dictionary attacks and al-
	      lowing  the use of additional preauthentication mechanisms.  Ar-
	      moring also makes	sure that the response from  the  KDC  is  not
	      modified in transit.

       -c cache_name
	      use  cache_name as the Kerberos 5	credentials (ticket) cache lo-
	      cation.  If this option is not used, the default cache  location
	      is used.

	      The  default  cache  location  may vary between systems.	If the
	      KRB5CCNAME environment variable is set, its value	is used	to lo-
	      cate the default cache.  If a principal name  is	specified  and
	      the type of the default cache supports a collection (such	as the
	      DIR  type),  an  existing	 cache	containing credentials for the
	      principal	is selected or a new one is created  and  becomes  the
	      new  primary cache.  Otherwise, any existing contents of the de-
	      fault cache are destroyed	by kinit.

       -S service_name
	      specify an alternate service name	to use	when  getting  initial
	      tickets.

       -X attribute[=value]
	      specify  a  pre-authentication  attribute	and value to be	inter-
	      preted by	pre-authentication modules.  The acceptable  attribute
	      and value	values vary from module	to module.  This option	may be
	      specified	 multiple times	to specify multiple attributes.	 If no
	      value is specified, it is	assumed	to be "yes".

	      The following attributes are recognized by  the  PKINIT  pre-au-
	      thentication mechanism:

	      X509_user_identity=value
		     specify where to find user's X509 identity	information

	      X509_anchors=value
		     specify where to find trusted X509	anchor information

	      disable_freshness[=yes]
		     disable  sending  freshness  tokens (for testing purposes
		     only)

       --request-pac | --no-request-pac
	      mutually exclusive.  If --request-pac is set, ask	the KDC	to in-
	      clude a PAC in authdata; if --no-request-pac is set, ask the KDC
	      not to include a PAC; if neither are set,	 the KDC  will	follow
	      its  default, which is typically is to include a PAC if doing so
	      is supported.

ENVIRONMENT
       See kerberos for	a description of Kerberos environment variables.

FILES
       @CCNAME@
	      default location of Kerberos 5 credentials cache

       @KTNAME@
	      default location for the local host's keytab.

SEE ALSO
       klist, kdestroy,	kerberos

AUTHOR
       MIT

COPYRIGHT
       1985-2025, MIT

1.22.1								      KINIT(1)

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