[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Does Evergreen support externalauthentication/identification modules?

[Lyons, Cyrus 2]

Hi David,

Good question. There is no existing module for LDAP authentication for
Evergreen, as far as I know, though I remember reading that it was
planned. If I'm wrong, I'll kick myself, because I just made the (very
difficult) decision to abandon Evergreen for the project I'm working
on at the moment and code my own ILS in PHP; partly to address the
need for LDAP authentication, and partly to address some other needs
the project managers laid out. It hasn't exactly been easy! I think
I'm right, however, and if I am, the only thing it needs is for
someone to actually write it (hint, hint).

That said, writing an LDAP module for Evergreen (which I did consider
quite carefully) shouldn't be that difficult - perl has, if I remember
rightly, well-documented and powerful LDAP functions just as PHP has -
you may have to grab the relevant module from CPAN. The main
difficulty I expect you'd run into would be working out where to add
hooks and how to best integrate the module with the existing
framework. I'm afraid I didn't closely enough examine the way the
software is constructed to be of much help with this, but you're
definitely on the right list to get all the help you need.

That's a fairly amateur assessment - other input warmly welcomed!


Best,

Cyrus


-----Original Message-----
From: open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org
[mailto:open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of
David Fiander
Sent: 10 September 2008 15:12
To: Evergreen Development Discussion List
Subject: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] Does Evergreen support
externalauthentication/identification modules?

I know that in the original PINES environment, users have the option
of creating their own user names and passwords and that they can use
that to authenticate when doing things, once they've entered their
library barcode and everything matches up.

My library uses the centrally managed LDAP server to authenticate
users, and I suspect that there are academic libraries out there that
might like to hook the ILS up to the local Shibboleth single sign-on
service. How hard would it be to disable the "create your own ID" part
of Evergreen and hook it into an existing institutional authentication
system like that?

- David

Email has been scanned for spam and viruses by Altman Technologies'
email management service - www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems/
Any queries regarding these services should be emailed to
ICTemail at lsbu.ac.uk or you can check our web site at
www.lsbu.ac.uk/email/ for up todate information about this service.
--
Email has been scanned for spam and viruses by Altman Technologies' email management service

Copyright in this email and in any attachments belongs to London South Bank University. This email, and its attachments if any, may be confidential or legally privileged and is intended to be seen only by the person to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please note the following: (1) You should take immediate action to notify the sender and delete the original email and all copies from your computer systems; (2) You should not read copy or use the contents of the email nor disclose it or its existence to anyone else.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and should not be taken as those of London South Bank University, unless this is specifically stated.

London South Bank University is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales. The following details apply to London South Bank University: Company number - 00986761; Registered office and trading address - 103 Borough Road London SE1 0AA; VAT number - 778 1116 17; Email address - lsbuinfo at lsbu.ac.uk