[horde] Login (su) authentication fails with Apache error "su: must be run from a terminal"

[Eric Jon Rostetter]

Quoting Rob Eyre <rob.eyre at oxtrust.org.uk>:

> I'm trying to get Horde to authenticate local users on my Gentoo box
> running Horde 3.1.1.  I've tried Login (su) authentication but the
> apache error_log shows "su: must be run from a terminal".  I also tried
> pam authentication but that gave me a php warning saying that the dll
> wasn't found (even though I changed it to something I know is in
> /etc/pam.d and works).

I'd guess this is a pam issue, not a Horde issue.  It is common for pam+su
to fail if there is no terminal associated with the process doing su.
I can reproduce this on most systems by using pam+su, setting a restriction
in /etc/security/access.conf (or similar file), and trying to do an su
with stdin redirected to /dev/null.

> This is a fresh install which I'm trying to get off the ground.  Any
> help much appreciated.

Best bet, use some other authentication method.  Next best bet, debug why
su is failing, and work around it...

-- 
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

Go Longhorns!