Re: SASL related files in gnus/

["Daiki Ueno" <ueno@unixuser.org>]

2007/11/12, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>:

>     I think these files should be moved outside of gnus.  I'm sure that
>     they have been mature for years and do not depend on other components
>     of Gnus.
>
> Ok let's think about it.
> What does each of these packages do?

Since there are several layers, I reordered these packages in
top-to-bottom order.

[SASL related packages]

SASL (Simple Authentication and Security Layer, RFC2222) is an
abstraction of "challenge and response" authentication mechanisms.  It
provides a simple method for adding authentication support to various
application protocols such as IMAP, SMTP, POP3, Jabber, etc.

>     > sasl.el:;; Author: Daiki Ueno <ueno@unixuser.org>

This is the top-level interface which allow elisp programs to use SASL.

>     > sasl-cram.el:;; Author: Daiki Ueno <ueno@unixuser.org>

This adds the CRAM-MD5 authentication mechanism to sasl.el.

>     > sasl-digest.el:;; Author: Daiki Ueno <ueno@unixuser.org>

This adds the DIGEST-MD5 authentication mechanism to sasl.el.

>     > sasl-ntlm.el:;; Author: Taro Kawagishi <tarok@transpulse.org>

This adds the NTLM authentication mechanism to sasl.el.

[HMAC related packages]

HMAC (RFC2104) is MAC (message authentication code) mechanism based on
cryptographic hash functions such as MD5, SHA1, etc.  MAC provides a
way to check the integrity of information transmitted over or stored
in an unreliable medium using a secret-key. HMAC is also used by some
SASL authentication mechanisms.

>     > hmac-md5.el:;; Author: Shuhei KOBAYASHI <shuhei@aqua.ocn.ne.jp>

This provides the HMAC-MD5 function which is based on the MD5 hash function.

>     > hmac-def.el:;; Author: Shuhei KOBAYASHI <shuhei@aqua.ocn.ne.jp>

This provides a macro to define new HMAC functions based on other
cryptographic hash functions.

[Other packages]

>     > ntlm.el:;; Author: Taro Kawagishi <tarok@transpulse.org>

This provides the raw NTLM authentication mechanism, which is used by
sasl-ntlm.el.

>     > md4.el:;; Author: Taro Kawagishi <tarok@transpulse.org>

This provides the MD4 hash function, which is used by ntlm.el.

BTW, I noticed that a couple of files are missing in gnus.  The
original sasl*.el and hmac*.el distribution contains the following 2
files:

sasl-scram.el:;; Author: Shuhei KOBAYASHI <shuhei@aqua.ocn.ne.jp>

  This adds the SCRAM-MD5 authentication mechanism to sasl.el.

hmac-sha1.el:;; Author: Shuhei KOBAYASHI <shuhei@aqua.ocn.ne.jp>

  This provides the HMAC-SHA1 function which is based on the SHA1 hash function.

Found at
http://cvs.m17n.org/viewcvs/*checkout*/root/flim/Attic/sasl-scram.el?rev=1.1.4.2
http://cvs.m17n.org/viewcvs/*checkout*/root/flim/Attic/hmac-sha1.el?rev=1.1.6.4

Regards,
-- 
Daiki Ueno