org.mortbay.jetty.security
Class Credential

java.lang.Object
  extended by org.mortbay.jetty.security.Credential
Direct Known Subclasses:
Credential.Crypt, Credential.MD5, Password

public abstract class Credential
extends 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.

Author:
Greg Wilkins (gregw)
See Also:
Password

Nested Class Summary
static class Credential.Crypt
          Unix Crypt Credentials
static class Credential.MD5
          MD5 Credentials
 
Constructor Summary
Credential()
           
 
Method Summary
abstract  boolean check(Object credentials)
          Check a credential
static Credential getCredential(String credential)
          Get a credential from a String.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

Credential

public Credential()
Method Detail

check

public abstract boolean check(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(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.