#NAME

Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Password - Authenticate a user with a password.

#SYNOPSIS

use Catalyst qw/
  Authentication
  /;

package MyApp::Controller::Auth;

sub login : Local {
    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;

    $c->authenticate( { username => $c->req->param('username'),
                        password => $c->req->param('password') });
}

#DESCRIPTION

This authentication credential checker takes authentication information (most often a username) and a password, and attempts to validate the password provided against the user retrieved from the store.

#CONFIGURATION

# example
__PACKAGE__->config('Plugin::Authentication' =>
            {
                default_realm => 'members',
                realms => {
                    members => {

                        credential => {
                            class => 'Password',
                            password_field => 'password',
                            password_type => 'hashed',
                            password_hash_type => 'SHA-1'
                        },
                        ...

The password module is capable of working with several different password encryption/hashing algorithms. The one the module uses is determined by the credential configuration.

Those who have used Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication prior to the 0.10 release should note that the password field and type information is no longer part of the store configuration and is now part of the Password credential configuration.

#class

The classname used for Credential. This is part of Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication and is the method by which Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Password is loaded as the credential validator. For this module to be used, this must be set to 'Password'.

#password_field

The field in the user object that contains the password. This will vary depending on the storage class used, but is most likely something like 'password'. In fact, this is so common that if this is left out of the config, it defaults to 'password'. This field is obtained from the user object using the get() method. Essentially: $user->get('passwordfieldname'); NOTE If the password_field is something other than 'password', you must be sure to use that same field name when calling $c->authenticate().

#password_type

This sets the password type. Often passwords are stored in crypted or hashed formats. In order for the password module to verify the plaintext password passed in, it must be told what format the password will be in when it is retreived from the user object. The supported options are:

#none

No password check is done. An attempt is made to retrieve the user based on the information provided in the $c->authenticate() call. If a user is found, authentication is considered to be successful.

#clear

The password in user is in clear text and will be compared directly.

#self_check

This option indicates that the password should be passed to the check_password() routine on the user object returned from the store.

#crypted

The password in user is in UNIX crypt hashed format.

#salted_hash

The password in user is in salted hash format, and will be validated using Crypt::SaltedHash. If this password type is selected, you should also provide the password_salt_len config element to define the salt length.

#hashed

If the user object supports hashed passwords, they will be used in conjunction with Digest. The following config elements affect the hashed configuration:

#password_hash_type: The hash type used, passed directly to "new" in Digest.
#password_pre_salt: Any pre-salt data to be passed to "add" in Digest before processing the password.
#password_post_salt: Any post-salt data to be passed to "add" in Digest after processing the password.

#USAGE

The Password credential module is very simple to use. Once configured as indicated above, authenticating using this module is simply a matter of calling $c->authenticate() with an authinfo hashref that includes the password element. The password element should contain the password supplied by the user to be authenticated, in clear text. The other information supplied in the auth hash is ignored by the Password module, and simply passed to the auth store to be used to retrieve the user. An example call follows:

if ($c->authenticate({ username => $username,
                       password => $password} )) {
    # authentication successful
} else {
    # authentication failed
}

#METHODS

There are no publicly exported routines in the Password module (or indeed in most credential modules.) However, below is a description of the routines required by Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication for all credential modules.

#new( $config, $app, $realm )

Instantiate a new Password object using the configuration hash provided in $config. A reference to the application is provided as the second argument. Note to credential module authors: new() is called during the application's plugin setup phase, which is before the application specific controllers are loaded. The practical upshot of this is that things like $c->model(...) will not function as expected.

#authenticate( $authinfo, $c )

Try to log a user in, receives a hashref containing authentication information as the first argument, and the current context as the second.

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