org.mortbay.util
Class Credential

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--org.mortbay.util.Credential

Direct Known Subclasses:

Credential.Crypt, Credential.MD5, Password

public abstract class Credential

extends java.lang.Object

Credentials. The Credential class represents an abstract mechanism for checking authentication credentials. A credential instance either represents a secret, or some data that could only be derived from knowing the secret.

Often a Credential is related to a Password via a one way algorithm, so while a Password itself is a Credential, a UnixCrypt or MD5 digest of a a password is only a credential that can be checked against the password.

This class includes an implementation for unix Crypt an MD5 digest.

Version:

$Id: Credential.java,v 1.1 2002/07/31 19:07:04 gregwilkins Exp $

Author:

Greg Wilkins (gregw)

See Also:

Password

Nested Class Summary

static class	Credential.Crypt Unix Crypt Credentials
static class	Credential.MD5 Unix Crypt Credentials

Constructor Summary

Credential()

Method Summary

abstract boolean	check(java.lang.Object credentials) Check a credential
static Credential	getCredential(java.lang.String credential) Get a credential from a String.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

Credential

public Credential()

Method Detail

check

public abstract boolean check(java.lang.Object credentials)

Check a credential

Parameters:

credentials - The credential to check against. This may either be another Credential object, a Password object or a String which is interpreted by this credential.

Returns:

True if the credentials indicated that the shared secret is known to both this Credential and the passed credential.

getCredential

public static Credential getCredential(java.lang.String credential)

Get a credential from a String. If the credential String starts with a known Credential type (eg "CRYPT:" or "MD5:" ) then a Credential of that type is returned. Else the credential is assumed to be a Password.

Parameters:

credential - String representation of the credential

Returns:

A Credential or Password instance.