3 package Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication;
5 use base qw/Class::Accessor::Fast Class::Data::Inheritable/;
8 __PACKAGE__->mk_accessors(qw/_user/);
17 # this optimization breaks under Template::Toolkit
18 # use user_exists instead
21 # constant->import(have_want => eval { require Want });
24 our $VERSION = "0.09999_01";
26 sub set_authenticated {
27 my ( $c, $user, $realmname ) = @_;
30 $c->request->{user} = $user; # compatibility kludge
33 $realmname = 'default';
36 if ( $c->isa("Catalyst::Plugin::Session")
37 and $c->config->{authentication}{use_session}
38 and $user->supports("session") )
40 $c->save_user_in_session($user, $realmname);
42 $user->auth_realm($realmname);
44 $c->NEXT::set_authenticated($user, $realmname);
47 sub _should_save_user_in_session {
48 my ( $c, $user ) = @_;
50 $c->_auth_sessions_supported
51 and $c->config->{authentication}{use_session}
52 and $user->supports("session");
55 sub _should_load_user_from_session {
56 my ( $c, $user ) = @_;
58 $c->_auth_sessions_supported
59 and $c->config->{authentication}{use_session}
60 and $c->session_is_valid;
63 sub _auth_sessions_supported {
65 $c->isa("Catalyst::Plugin::Session");
75 if ( defined($c->_user) ) {
78 return $c->auth_restore_user;
82 # change this to allow specification of a realm - to verify the user is part of that realm
83 # in addition to verifying that they exist.
86 return defined($c->_user) || defined($c->_user_in_session);
89 # works like user_exists - except only returns true if user
90 # exists AND is in the realm requested.
92 my ($c, $realmname) = @_;
94 if (defined($c->_user)) {
95 return ($c->_user->auth_realm eq $realmname);
96 } elsif (defined($c->_user_in_session)) {
97 return ($c->session->{__user_realm} eq $realmname);
103 sub save_user_in_session {
104 my ( $c, $user, $realmname ) = @_;
106 $c->session->{__user_realm} = $realmname;
108 # we want to ask the store for a user prepared for the session.
109 # but older modules split this functionality between the user and the
110 # store. We try the store first. If not, we use the old method.
111 my $realm = $c->get_auth_realm($realmname);
112 if ($realm->{'store'}->can('for_session')) {
113 $c->session->{__user} = $realm->{'store'}->for_session($c, $user);
115 $c->session->{__user} = $user->for_session;
125 $c->isa("Catalyst::Plugin::Session")
126 and $c->config->{authentication}{use_session}
127 and $c->session_is_valid
129 delete @{ $c->session }{qw/__user __user_realm/};
132 $c->NEXT::logout(@_);
136 my ( $c, $userinfo, $realmname ) = @_;
138 $realmname ||= 'default';
139 my $realm = $c->get_auth_realm($realmname);
140 if ( $realm->{'store'} ) {
141 return $realm->{'store'}->find_user($userinfo, $c);
143 $c->log->debug('find_user: unable to locate a store matching the requested realm');
148 sub _user_in_session {
151 return unless $c->_should_load_user_from_session;
153 return $c->session->{__user};
156 sub auth_restore_user {
157 my ( $c, $frozen_user, $realmname ) = @_;
159 $frozen_user ||= $c->_user_in_session;
160 return unless defined($frozen_user);
162 $realmname ||= $c->session->{__user_realm};
163 return unless $realmname; # FIXME die unless? This is an internal inconsistency
165 my $realm = $c->get_auth_realm($realmname);
166 $c->_user( my $user = $realm->{'store'}->from_session( $c, $frozen_user ) );
168 # this sets the realm the user originated in.
169 $user->auth_realm($realmname);
174 # we can't actually do our setup in setup because the model has not yet been loaded.
175 # So we have to trigger off of setup_finished. :-(
179 $app->_authentication_initialize();
180 $app->NEXT::setup(@_);
183 ## the actual initialization routine. whee.
184 sub _authentication_initialize {
187 if ($app->_auth_realms) { return };
191 my $cfg = $app->config->{'authentication'} ||= {};
193 $cfg->{use_session} = 1;
195 ## make classdata where it is used.
196 $app->mk_classdata( _auth_realms => {});
200 if (exists($cfg->{'realms'})) {
201 foreach my $realm (keys %{$cfg->{'realms'}}) {
202 $app->setup_auth_realm($realm, $cfg->{'realms'}{$realm});
204 # if we have a 'default-realm' in the config hash and we don't already
205 # have a realm called 'default', we point default at the realm specified
206 if (exists($cfg->{'default_realm'}) && !$app->get_auth_realm('default')) {
207 $app->_set_default_auth_realm($cfg->{'default_realm'});
211 ## BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY - if realm is not defined - then we are probably dealing
212 ## with an old-school config. The only caveat here is that we must add a classname
214 foreach my $storename (keys %{$cfg->{'stores'}}) {
216 store => $cfg->{'stores'}{$storename},
218 $app->setup_auth_realm($storename, $realmcfg);
225 sub setup_auth_realm {
226 my ($app, $realmname, $config) = @_;
228 $app->log->debug("Setting up $realmname");
229 if (!exists($config->{'store'}{'class'})) {
230 Carp::croak "Couldn't setup the authentication realm named '$realmname', no class defined";
234 my $storeclass = $config->{'store'}{'class'};
236 ## follow catalyst class naming - a + prefix means a fully qualified class, otherwise it's
237 ## taken to mean C::P::A::Store::(specifiedclass)
238 if ($storeclass !~ /^\+(.*)$/ ) {
239 $storeclass = "Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::${storeclass}";
245 # a little niceness - since most systems seem to use the password credential class,
246 # if no credential class is specified we use password.
247 $config->{credential}{class} ||= "Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::Password";
249 my $credentialclass = $config->{'credential'}{'class'};
251 ## follow catalyst class naming - a + prefix means a fully qualified class, otherwise it's
252 ## taken to mean C::P::A::Credential::(specifiedclass)
253 if ($credentialclass !~ /^\+(.*)$/ ) {
254 $credentialclass = "Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::${credentialclass}";
256 $credentialclass = $1;
259 # if we made it here - we have what we need to load the classes;
260 Catalyst::Utils::ensure_class_loaded( $credentialclass );
261 Catalyst::Utils::ensure_class_loaded( $storeclass );
263 # BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY - if the store class does not define find_user, we define it in terms
264 # of get_user and add it to the class. this is because the auth routines use find_user,
265 # and rely on it being present. (this avoids per-call checks)
266 if (!$storeclass->can('find_user')) {
268 *{"${storeclass}::find_user"} = sub {
269 my ($self, $info) = @_;
270 my @rest = @{$info->{rest}} if exists($info->{rest});
271 $self->get_user($info->{id}, @rest);
275 $app->auth_realms->{$realmname}{'store'} = $storeclass->new($config->{'store'}, $app);
276 $app->auth_realms->{$realmname}{'credential'} = $credentialclass->new($config->{'credential'}, $app);
281 return($self->_auth_realms);
285 my ($app, $realmname) = @_;
286 return $app->auth_realms->{$realmname};
290 # Very internal method. Vital Valuable Urgent, Do not touch on pain of death.
291 # Using this method just assigns the default realm to be the value associated
292 # with the realmname provided. It WILL overwrite any real realm called 'default'
293 # so can be very confusing if used improperly. It's used properly already.
294 # Translation: don't use it.
295 sub _set_default_auth_realm {
296 my ($app, $realmname) = @_;
298 if (exists($app->auth_realms->{$realmname})) {
299 $app->auth_realms->{'default'} = $app->auth_realms->{$realmname};
301 return $app->get_auth_realm('default');
305 my ($app, $userinfo, $realmname) = @_;
308 $realmname = 'default';
311 my $realm = $app->get_auth_realm($realmname);
313 ## note to self - make authenticate throw an exception if realm is invalid.
315 if ($realm && exists($realm->{'credential'})) {
316 my $user = $realm->{'credential'}->authenticate($app, $realm->{store}, $userinfo);
318 $app->set_authenticated($user, $realmname);
322 $app->log->debug("The realm requested, '$realmname' does not exist," .
323 " or there is no credential associated with it.")
328 ## BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY -- Warning: Here be monsters!
330 # What follows are backwards compatibility routines - for use with Stores and Credentials
331 # that have not been updated to work with C::P::Authentication v0.10.
332 # These are here so as to not break people's existing installations, but will go away
333 # in a future version.
335 # The old style of configuration only supports a single store, as each store module
336 # sets itself as the default store upon being loaded. This is the only supported
337 # 'compatibility' mode.
341 my ( $c, $uid, @rest ) = @_;
343 return $c->find_user( {'id' => $uid, 'rest'=>\@rest }, 'default' );
347 ## this should only be called when using old-style authentication plugins. IF this gets
348 ## called in a new-style config - it will OVERWRITE the store of your default realm. Don't do it.
349 ## also - this is a partial setup - because no credential is instantiated... in other words it ONLY
350 ## works with old-style auth plugins and C::P::Authentication in compatibility mode. Trying to combine
351 ## this with a realm-type config will probably crash your app.
352 sub default_auth_store {
355 if ( my $new = shift ) {
356 $self->auth_realms->{'default'}{'store'} = $new;
357 my $storeclass = ref($new);
359 # BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY - if the store class does not define find_user, we define it in terms
360 # of get_user and add it to the class. this is because the auth routines use find_user,
361 # and rely on it being present. (this avoids per-call checks)
362 if (!$storeclass->can('find_user')) {
364 *{"${storeclass}::find_user"} = sub {
365 my ($self, $info) = @_;
366 my @rest = @{$info->{rest}} if exists($info->{rest});
367 $self->get_user($info->{id}, @rest);
372 return $self->get_auth_realm('default')->{'store'};
375 ## BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
376 ## this only ever returns a hash containing 'default' - as that is the only
377 ## supported mode of calling this.
378 sub auth_store_names {
381 my %hash = ( $self->get_auth_realm('default')->{'store'} => 'default' );
385 my ( $self, $name ) = @_;
387 if ($name ne 'default') {
388 Carp::croak "get_auth_store called on non-default realm '$name'. Only default supported in compatibility mode";
390 $self->default_auth_store();
394 sub get_auth_store_name {
395 my ( $self, $store ) = @_;
399 # sub auth_stores is only used internally - here for completeness
403 my %hash = ( 'default' => $self->get_auth_realm('default')->{'store'});
414 Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication - Infrastructure plugin for the Catalyst
415 authentication framework.
424 $c->authenticate({ username => 'myusername',
425 password => 'mypassword' });
426 my $age = $c->user->get('age');
431 The authentication plugin provides generic user support for Catalyst apps. It
432 is the basis for both authentication (checking the user is who they claim to
433 be), and authorization (allowing the user to do what the system authorises
436 Using authentication is split into two parts. A Store is used to actually
437 store the user information, and can store any amount of data related to the
438 user. Credentials are used to verify users, using information from the store,
439 given data from the frontend. A Credential and a Store are paired to form a
440 'Realm'. A Catalyst application using the authentication framework must have
441 at least one realm, and may have several.
443 To implement authentication in a Catalyst application you need to add this
444 module, and specify at least one realm in the configuration.
446 Authentication data can also be stored in a session, if the application
447 is using the L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session> module.
449 B<NOTE> in version 0.10 of this module, the interface to this module changed.
450 Please see L</COMPATIBILITY ROUTINES> for more information.
454 =head2 The Authentication/Authorization Process
456 Web applications typically need to identify a user - to tell the user apart
457 from other users. This is usually done in order to display private information
458 that is only that user's business, or to limit access to the application so
459 that only certain entities can access certain parts.
461 This process is split up into several steps. First you ask the user to identify
462 themselves. At this point you can't be sure that the user is really who they
465 Then the user tells you who they are, and backs this claim with some piece of
466 information that only the real user could give you. For example, a password is
467 a secret that is known to both the user and you. When the user tells you this
468 password you can assume they're in on the secret and can be trusted (ignore
469 identity theft for now). Checking the password, or any other proof is called
470 B<credential verification>.
472 By this time you know exactly who the user is - the user's identity is
473 B<authenticated>. This is where this module's job stops, and your application
474 or other plugins step in.
476 The next logical step is B<authorization>, the process of deciding what a user
477 is (or isn't) allowed to do. For example, say your users are split into two
478 main groups - regular users and administrators. You want to verify that the
479 currently logged in user is indeed an administrator before performing the
480 actions in an administrative part of your application. These decisions may be
481 made within your application code using just the information available after
482 authentication, or it may be facilitated by a number of plugins.
484 =head2 The Components In This Framework
488 Configuration of the Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication framework is done in
489 terms of realms. In simplest terms, a realm is a pairing of a Credential
490 verifier and a User storage (Store) backend.
492 An application can have any number of Realms, each of which operates
493 independant of the others. Each realm has a name, which is used to identify it
494 as the target of an authentication request. This name can be anything, such as
495 'users' or 'members'. One realm must be defined as the default_realm, which is
496 used when no realm name is specified. More information about configuring
497 realms is available in the configuration section.
499 =head3 Credential Verifiers
501 When user input is transferred to the L<Catalyst> application (typically via
502 form inputs) the application may pass this information into the authentication
503 system through the $c->authenticate() method. From there, it is passed to the
504 appropriate Credential verifier.
506 These plugins check the data, and ensure that it really proves the user is who
509 =head3 Storage Backends
511 The authentication data also identifies a user, and the Storage backend modules
512 use this data to locate and return a standardized object-oriented
513 representation of a user.
515 When a user is retrieved from a store it is not necessarily authenticated.
516 Credential verifiers accept a set of authentication data and use this
517 information to retrieve the user from the store they are paired with.
519 =head3 The Core Plugin
521 This plugin on its own is the glue, providing realm configuration, session
522 integration, and other goodness for the other plugins.
526 More layers of plugins can be stacked on top of the authentication code. For
527 example, L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session::PerUser> provides an abstraction of
528 browser sessions that is more persistent per users.
529 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles> provides an accepted way to separate
530 and group users into categories, and then check which categories the current
535 Let's say we were storing users in a simple perl hash. Users are
536 verified by supplying a password which is matched within the hash.
538 This means that our application will begin like this:
546 __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication} =
548 default_realm => 'members',
553 password_field => 'password',
554 password_type => 'clear'
560 password => "s00p3r",
562 roles => [qw/edit delete/],
565 password => "s3cr3t",
566 roles => [qw/comment/],
575 This tells the authentication plugin what realms are available, which
576 credential and store modules are used, and the configuration of each. With
577 this code loaded, we can now attempt to authenticate users.
579 To show an example of this, let's create an authentication controller:
581 package MyApp::Controller::Auth;
584 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
586 if ( my $user = $c->req->param("user")
587 and my $password = $c->req->param("password") )
589 if ( $c->authenticate( { username => $user,
590 password => $password } ) ) {
591 $c->res->body( "hello " . $c->user->get("name") );
601 This code should be very readable. If all the necessary fields are supplied,
602 call the "authenticate" method from the controller. If it succeeds the
605 The credential verifier will attempt to retrieve the user whose details match
606 the authentication information provided to $c->authenticate(). Once it fetches
607 the user the password is checked and if it matches the user will be
608 B<authenticated> and C<< $c->user >> will contain the user object retrieved
611 In the above case, the default realm is checked, but we could just as easily
612 check an alternate realm. If this were an admin login, for example, we could
613 authenticate on the admin realm by simply changing the $c->authenticate()
616 if ( $c->authenticate( { username => $user,
617 password => $password }, 'admin' )l ) {
618 $c->res->body( "hello " . $c->user->get("name") );
622 Now suppose we want to restrict the ability to edit to a user with an
623 'editor' value of yes.
625 The restricted action might look like this:
628 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
630 $c->detach("unauthorized")
631 unless $c->user_exists
632 and $c->user->get('editor') eq 'yes';
634 # do something restricted here
637 (Note that if you have multiple realms, you can use $c->user_in_realm('realmname')
638 in place of $c->user_exists(); This will essentially perform the same
639 verification as user_exists, with the added requirement that if there is a
640 user, it must have come from the realm specified.)
642 The above example is somewhat similar to role based access control.
643 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::Minimal> treats the roles field as
644 an array of role names. Let's leverage this. Add the role authorization
653 my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
655 $c->detach("unauthorized") unless $c->check_roles("edit");
657 # do something restricted here
660 This is somewhat simpler and will work if you change your store, too, since the
661 role interface is consistent.
663 Let's say your app grew, and you now have 10000 users. It's no longer
664 efficient to maintain a hash of users, so you move this data to a database.
665 You can accomplish this simply by installing the DBIx::Class Store and
666 changing your config:
668 __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication} =
670 default_realm => 'members',
675 password_field => 'password',
676 password_type => 'clear'
679 class => 'DBIx::Class',
680 user_class => 'MyApp::Users',
681 role_column => 'roles'
687 The authentication system works behind the scenes to load your data from the
688 new source. The rest of your application is completely unchanged.
696 __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication} =
698 default_realm => 'members',
703 password_field => 'password',
704 password_type => 'clear'
707 class => 'DBIx::Class',
708 user_class => 'MyApp::Users',
709 role_column => 'roles'
715 password_field => 'password',
716 password_type => 'clear'
719 class => '+MyApp::Authentication::Store::NetAuth',
720 authserver => '192.168.10.17'
729 Whether or not to store the user's logged in state in the session, if the
730 application is also using L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session>. This
731 value is set to true per default.
735 This defines which realm should be used as when no realm is provided to methods
736 that require a realm such as authenticate or find_user.
740 This contains the series of realm configurations you want to use for your app.
741 The only rule here is that there must be at least one. A realm consists of a
742 name, which is used to reference the realm, a credential and a store.
744 Each realm config contains two hashes, one called 'credential' and one called
745 'store', each of which provide configuration details to the respective modules.
746 The contents of these hashes is specific to the module being used, with the
747 exception of the 'class' element, which tells the core Authentication module the
748 classname to instantiate.
750 The 'class' element follows the standard Catalyst mechanism of class
751 specification. If a class is prefixed with a +, it is assumed to be a complete
752 class name. Otherwise it is considered to be a portion of the class name. For
753 credentials, the classname 'B<Password>', for example, is expanded to
754 Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::B<Password>. For stores, the
755 classname 'B<storename>' is expanded to:
756 Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::B<storename>.
766 =item authenticate( $userinfo, $realm )
768 Attempts to authenticate the user using the information in the $userinfo hash
769 reference using the realm $realm. $realm may be omitted, in which case the
770 default realm is checked.
774 Returns the currently logged in user or undef if there is none.
778 Returns true if a user is logged in right now. The difference between
779 user_exists and user is that user_exists will return true if a user is logged
780 in, even if it has not been yet retrieved from the storage backend. If you only
781 need to know if the user is logged in, depending on the storage mechanism this
782 can be much more efficient.
784 =item user_in_realm ( $realm )
786 Works like user_exists, except that it only returns true if a user is both
787 logged in right now and was retrieved from the realm provided.
791 Logs the user out, Deletes the currently logged in user from $c->user and the session.
793 =item find_user( $userinfo, $realm )
795 Fetch a particular users details, matching the provided user info, from the realm
800 =head1 INTERNAL METHODS
802 These methods are for Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication B<INTERNAL USE> only.
803 Please do not use them in your own code, whether application or credential /
804 store modules. If you do, you will very likely get the nasty shock of having
805 to fix / rewrite your code when things change. They are documented here only
810 =item set_authenticated ( $user, $realmname )
812 Marks a user as authenticated. This is called from within the authenticate
813 routine when a credential returns a user. $realmname defaults to 'default'
815 =item auth_restore_user ( $user, $realmname )
817 Used to restore a user from the session. In most cases this is called without
818 arguments to restore the user via the session. Can be called with arguments
819 when restoring a user from some other method. Currently not used in this way.
821 =item save_user_in_session ( $user, $realmname )
823 Used to save the user in a session. Saves $user in session, marked as
824 originating in $realmname. Both arguments are required.
828 Returns a hashref containing realmname -> realm instance pairs. Realm
829 instances contain an instantiated store and credential object as the 'store'
830 and 'credential' elements, respectively
832 =item get_auth_realm ( $realmname )
834 Retrieves the realm instance for the realmname provided.
842 This list might not be up to date. Below are modules known to work with the updated
843 API of 0.10 and are therefore compatible with realms.
845 =head2 User Storage Backends
847 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::Minimal>,
848 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class>,
850 =head2 Credential verification
852 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::Password>,
856 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::ACL>,
857 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles>
859 =head2 Internals Documentation
861 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Internals>
865 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session>,
866 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Session::PerUser>
868 =head1 DON'T SEE ALSO
870 This module along with its sub plugins deprecate a great number of other
871 modules. These include L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Simple>,
872 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::CDBI>.
874 At the time of writing these plugins have not yet been replaced or updated, but
875 should be eventually: L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::OpenID>,
876 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::LDAP>,
877 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::CDBI::Basic>,
878 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Basic::Remote>.
880 =head1 INCOMPATABILITIES
882 The realms based configuration and functionality of the 0.10 update
883 of L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication> required a change in the API used by
884 credentials and stores. It has a compatibility mode which allows use of
885 modules that have not yet been updated. This, however, completely mimics the
886 older api and disables the new realm-based features. In other words you can
887 not mix the older credential and store modules with realms, or realm-based
888 configs. The changes required to update modules are relatively minor and are
889 covered in L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Internals>. We hope that most
890 modules will move to the compatible list above very quickly.
892 =head1 COMPATIBILITY ROUTINES
894 In version 0.10 of L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication>, the API
895 changed. For app developers, this change is fairly minor, but for
896 Credential and Store authors, the changes are significant.
898 Please see the documentation in version 0.09 of
899 Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication for a better understanding of how the old API
902 The items below are still present in the plugin, though using them is
903 deprecated. They remain only as a transition tool, for those sites which can
904 not yet be upgraded to use the new system due to local customizations or use
905 of Credential / Store modules that have not yet been updated to work with the
908 These routines should not be used in any application using realms
909 functionality or any of the methods described above. These are for reference
916 This method is used to initiate authentication and user retrieval. Technically
917 this is part of the old Password credential module and it still resides in the
918 L<Password|Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Credential::Password> class. It is
919 included here for reference only.
921 =item default_auth_store
923 Return the store whose name is 'default'.
925 This is set to C<< $c->config->{authentication}{store} >> if that value exists,
926 or by using a Store plugin:
928 # load the Minimal authentication store.
929 use Catalyst qw/Authentication Authentication::Store::Minimal/;
931 Sets the default store to
932 L<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::Minimal>.
934 =item get_auth_store $name
936 Return the store whose name is $name.
938 =item get_auth_store_name $store
940 Return the name of the store $store.
944 A hash keyed by name, with the stores registered in the app.
946 =item register_auth_stores %stores_by_name
948 Register stores into the application.
956 Yuval Kogman, C<nothingmuch@woobling.org>
958 Jay Kuri, C<jayk@cpan.org>
965 =head1 COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
967 Copyright (c) 2005 the aforementioned authors. All rights
968 reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute
969 it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.