[hcoop/debian/courier-authlib.git] / README

                         Courier Authentication Library

   Download: [1]http://www.courier-mta.org/download.html#authlib

Overview

   The Courier authentication library provides authentication services for
   other Courier applications. In this context, the term "authentication"
   refers to the following functions:

    1. Take a userid or a loginid, and a password. Determine whether the
       loginid and the password are valid.
    2. Given a userid, obtain the following information about the userid:

         A. The account's home directory.
         B. The numeric system userid and groupid that owns all files
            associated with this account.
         C. The location of the account's maildir.
         D. Any maildir quota defined for this account. See the Courier
            documentation for more information on maildir quotas.
         E. Other miscellaneous account-specific options.

    3. Change the password associated with a loginid.
    4. Obtain a complete list of all login ids.

   The Courier authentication library provides alternative implementations of
   these authentication services:

    1. Use the traditional system password files: /etc/passwd and
       /etc/shadow, possibly in conjunction with the PAM library.
    2. Maintain all this information in a GDBM or a DB database. The GDBM or
       the DB database is compiled from plain text files. Perl scripts
       provide a simple interface for creating and editing the authentication
       information, then a script compiles the plain text files into a
       database.
    3. Use an LDAP server for authentication.
    4. Use a table in a MySQL database for authentication.
    5. Use a table in a PostgreSQL database for authentication.
    6. Use a table in an SQLite file for authentication.

   All Courier components that use this authentication library, therefore,
   will be able to authenticate E-mail accounts using any of the above
   methods.

   Additional information can be found in the [2]INSTALL file.

   The authentication API is [3]documented.

Further resources

   Subscribe to the [4]courier-users mailing list. Go to
   http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/courier-users to subscribe
   to courier-users, or send a message to
   <courier-users-request@lists.sourceforge.net> and put "subscribe" in the
   subject line. Search the list archives at
   [5]http://markmail.org/browse/net.sourceforge.lists.courier-users.
Commit	Line	Data
d9898ee8	1	Courier Authentication Library
d9898ee8	2
b0322a85	3	Download: [1]http://www.courier-mta.org/download.html#authlib
d9898ee8	4
	5	Overview
	6
	7	The Courier authentication library provides authentication services for
	8	other Courier applications. In this context, the term "authentication"
	9	refers to the following functions:
	10
b0322a85	11	1. Take a userid or a loginid, and a password. Determine whether the
d9898ee8	12	loginid and the password are valid.
b0322a85	13	2. Given a userid, obtain the following information about the userid:
d9898ee8	14
b0322a85 CE	15	A. The account's home directory.
b0322a85 CE	16	B. The numeric system userid and groupid that owns all files
d9898ee8	17	associated with this account.
b0322a85 CE	18	C. The location of the account's maildir.
b0322a85 CE	19	D. Any maildir quota defined for this account. See the Courier
d9898ee8	20	documentation for more information on maildir quotas.
b0322a85	21	E. Other miscellaneous account-specific options.
d9898ee8	22
b0322a85 CE	23	3. Change the password associated with a loginid.
b0322a85 CE	24	4. Obtain a complete list of all login ids.
d9898ee8	25
	26	The Courier authentication library provides alternative implementations of
	27	these authentication services:
	28
b0322a85	29	1. Use the traditional system password files: /etc/passwd and
d9898ee8	30	/etc/shadow, possibly in conjunction with the PAM library.
b0322a85	31	2. Maintain all this information in a GDBM or a DB database. The GDBM or
d9898ee8	32	the DB database is compiled from plain text files. Perl scripts
	33	provide a simple interface for creating and editing the authentication
	34	information, then a script compiles the plain text files into a
	35	database.
b0322a85 CE	36	3. Use an LDAP server for authentication.
	37	4. Use a table in a MySQL database for authentication.
	38	5. Use a table in a PostgreSQL database for authentication.
	39	6. Use a table in an SQLite file for authentication.
d9898ee8	40
	41	All Courier components that use this authentication library, therefore,
	42	will be able to authenticate E-mail accounts using any of the above
	43	methods.
	44
b0322a85	45	Additional information can be found in the [2]INSTALL file.
d9898ee8	46
b0322a85	47	The authentication API is [3]documented.
d9898ee8	48
	49	Further resources
	50
b0322a85	51	Subscribe to the [4]courier-users mailing list. Go to
8d138742 CE	52	http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/courier-users to subscribe
	53	to courier-users, or send a message to
	54	<courier-users-request@lists.sourceforge.net> and put "subscribe" in the
	55	subject line. Search the list archives at
b0322a85	56	[5]http://markmail.org/browse/net.sourceforge.lists.courier-users.