raket

raket is what stands between boot finishing and a shell being usable. every session boots to a login prompt, username then password, and only gets handed to the shell once that succeeds. the accounts are root and guest on a fresh boot, and passwd and adduser in the shell change that.

logging in

an unknown username still goes on to the password prompt, so a failed login does not say whether the user exists. an account with no password logs in on an empty password line. password characters echo as * and never enter the shell's history.

raket is not a task of its own. the shell's line handler sends a completed line to raket while the session is logged out and to the shell once it is in, so editing a login field works exactly like editing a command.

windows and sessions

a newly opened window starts at the login prompt. a window made with skalman's split from a logged-in session takes over its user and working directory, so you log in once per boot, not once per window.