01: /*
02: * Copyright 2001-2007 Geert Bevin <gbevin[remove] at uwyn dot com>
03: * Distributed under the terms of either:
04: * - the common development and distribution license (CDDL), v1.0; or
05: * - the GNU Lesser General Public License, v2.1 or later
06: * $Id: Credentials.java 3643 2007-01-12 15:29:45Z gbevin $
07: */
08: package com.uwyn.rife.authentication;
09:
10: import com.uwyn.rife.site.Validated;
11:
12: /**
13: * This interface defines the methods that classes with
14: * {@code Credentials} functionalities have to implement.
15: * <p>Credentials contain the information that is required to verify if a user
16: * is valid and known to the system. They are the basic building blocks of the
17: * authentication mechanism.
18: * <p>{@code Credentials} can contain any data, they just have to be able
19: * to validate the contents of the provided data. For example enforce limits
20: * on the length of passwords, verify the accepted characters in logins, check
21: * the numeric requirements of identifiers, and so on.
22: * <p>This is different from the validation of the credentials themselves (ie.
23: * checking if they're known by the system and can be authenticated) since
24: * that is performed by a {@code CredentialsManager}.
25: *
26: * @author Geert Bevin (gbevin[remove] at uwyn dot com)
27: * @version $Revision: 3643 $
28: * @see CredentialsManager
29: * @since 1.0
30: */
31: public interface Credentials extends Validated {
32: }
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