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# "Restful Authentication Generator":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication

This widely-used plugin provides a foundation for securely managing user
authentication:
* Login / logout
* Secure password handling
* Account activation by validating email
* Account approval / disabling by admin
* Rudimentary hooks for authorization and access control.

Several features were updated in May, 2008.
* "Stable newer version":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication/tree/master
* "'Classic' (backward-compatible) version":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication/tree/classic
* "Experimental version":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication/tree/modular (Much more modular, needs testing & review)

> IMPORTANT: if you upgrade your site, existing user account
> passwords will stop working unless you use --old-passwords
***************************************************************************

## Issue Tracker

Please submit any bugs or annoyances on the lighthouse tracker at
* "http://rails_security.lighthouseapp.com/projects/15332-restful_authentication/overview":http://rails_security.lighthouseapp.com/projects/15332-restful_authentication/overview

For anything simple enough, please github message both maintainers: Rick Olson
("technoweenie":http://github.com/technoweenie) and Flip Kromer
("mrflip":http://github.com/mrflip).

***************************************************************************

## Documentation

This page has notes on
* "Installation":#INSTALL
* "New Features":#AWESOME
* "After installing":#POST-INSTALL

See the "wiki":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication/wikis/home
(or the notes/ directory) if you want to learn more about:

* "Extensions, Addons and Alternatives":addons such as HAML templates
* "Security Design Patterns":security-patterns with "snazzy diagram":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication/tree/master/notes/SecurityFramework.png
* Authentication -- Lets a visitor identify herself (and lay claim to her corresponding Roles and measure of Trust)
* "Trust Metrics":Trustification -- Confidence we can rely on the outcomes of this visitor's actions.
* Authorization and Policy -- Based on trust and identity, what actions may this visitor perform?
* Access Control -- How the Authorization policy is actually enforced in your code (A: hopefully without turning it into a spaghetti of if thens)
* Rails Plugins for Authentication, Trust, Authorization and Access Control
* Tradeoffs -- for the paranoid or the curious, a rundown of tradeoffs made in the code
* CHANGELOG -- Summary of changes to internals
* TODO -- Ideas for how you can help

These best version of the release notes are in the notes/ directory in the
"source code":http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication/tree/master
-- look there for the latest version. The wiki versions are taken (manually)
from there.

***************************************************************************

<a id="AWESOME"/> </a>

## Exciting new features

### Stories

There are now "Cucumber":http://wiki.github.com/aslakhellesoy/cucumber/home features that allow expressive, enjoyable tests for the
authentication code. The flexible code for resource testing in stories was
extended from "Ben Mabey's.":http://www.benmabey.com/2008/02/04/rspec-plain-text-stories-webrat-chunky-bacon/

### Modularize to match security design patterns:

* Authentication (currently: password, browser cookie token, HTTP basic)
* Trust metric (email validation)
* Authorization (stateful roles)
* Leave a flexible framework that will play nicely with other access control / policy definition / trust metric plugins

### Other

* Added a few helper methods for linking to user pages
* Uniform handling of logout, remember_token
* Stricter email, login field validation
* Minor security fixes -- see CHANGELOG

***************************************************************************

## Non-backwards compatible Changes

Here are a few changes in the May 2008 release that increase "Defense in Depth"
but may require changes to existing accounts

* If you have an existing site, none of these changes are compelling enough to
warrant migrating your userbase.
* If you are generating for a new site, all of these changes are low-impact.
You should apply them.

### Passwords

The new password encryption (using a site key salt and stretching) will break
existing user accounts' passwords. We recommend you use the --old-passwords
option or write a migration tool and submit it as a patch. See the
[[Tradeoffs]] note for more information.

### Validations

By default, email and usernames are validated against a somewhat strict pattern; your users' values may be now illegal. Adjust to suit.

***************************************************************************

<a id="INSTALLATION"/> </a>

## Installation

This is a basic restful authentication generator for rails, taken from
acts as authenticated. Currently it requires Rails 1.2.6 or above.

**IMPORTANT FOR RAILS > 2.1 USERS** To avoid a @NameError@ exception ("lighthouse tracker ticket":http://rails_security.lighthouseapp.com/projects/15332-restful_authentication/tickets/2-not-a-valid-constant-name-errors#ticket-2-2), check out the code to have an _underscore_ and not _dash_ in its name:
* either use <code>git clone git://github.com/technoweenie/restful-authentication.git restful_authentication</code>
* or rename the plugin's directory to be <code>restful_authentication</code> after fetching it.

To use the generator:

./script/generate authenticated user sessions \
--include-activation \
--stateful \
--rspec \
--skip-migration \
--skip-routes \
--old-passwords

* The first parameter specifies the model that gets created in signup (typically
a user or account model). A model with migration is created, as well as a
basic controller with the create method. You probably want to say "User" here.

* The second parameter specifies the session controller name. This is the
controller that handles the actual login/logout function on the site.
(probably: "Session").

* --include-activation: Generates the code for a ActionMailer and its respective
Activation Code through email.

* --stateful: Builds in support for acts_as_state_machine and generates
activation code. (@--stateful@ implies @--include-activation@). Based on the
idea at [[http://www.vaporbase.com/postings/stateful_authentication]]. Passing
@--skip-migration@ will skip the user migration, and @--skip-routes@ will skip
resource generation -- both useful if you've already run this generator.
(Needs the "acts_as_state_machine plugin":http://elitists.textdriven.com/svn/plugins/acts_as_state_machine/,
but new installs should probably run with @--aasm@ instead.)

* --aasm: Works the same as stateful but uses the "updated aasm gem":http://github.com/rubyist/aasm/tree/master

* --rspec: Generate RSpec tests and Stories in place of standard rails tests.
This requires the
"RSpec and Rspec-on-rails plugins":http://rspec.info/
(make sure you "./script/generate rspec" after installing RSpec.) The rspec
and story suite are much more thorough than the rails tests, and changes are
unlikely to be backported.

* --old-passwords: Use the older password scheme (see [[#COMPATIBILITY]], above)

* --skip-migration: Don't generate a migration file for this model

* --skip-routes: Don't generate a resource line in @config/routes.rb@

***************************************************************************
<a id="POST-INSTALL"/> </a>

## After installing

The below assumes a Model named 'User' and a Controller named 'Session'; please
alter to suit. There are additional security minutae in @notes/README-Tradeoffs@
-- only the paranoid or the curious need bother, though.

* Add these familiar login URLs to your @config/routes.rb@ if you like:

<pre><code>
map.signup '/signup', :controller => 'users', :action => 'new'
map.login '/login', :controller => 'session', :action => 'new'
map.logout '/logout', :controller => 'session', :action => 'destroy'
</code></pre>

* With @--include-activation@, also add to your @config/routes.rb@:

<pre><code>
map.activate '/activate/:activation_code', :controller => 'users', :action => 'activate', :activation_code => nil
</code></pre>

and add an observer to @config/environment.rb@:

<pre><code>
config.active_record.observers = :user_observer
</code></pre>

Pay attention, may be this is not an issue for everybody, but if you should
have problems, that the sent activation_code does match with that in the
database stored, reload your user object before sending its data through email
something like:

<pre><code>
class UserObserver < ActiveRecord::Observer
def after_create(user)
user.reload
UserMailer.deliver_signup_notification(user)
end
def after_save(user)
user.reload
UserMailer.deliver_activation(user) if user.recently_activated?
end
end
</code></pre>


* With @--stateful@, add an observer to config/environment.rb:

<pre><code>
config.active_record.observers = :user_observer
</code></pre>

and modify the users resource line to read

map.resources :users, :member => { :suspend => :put,
:unsuspend => :put,
:purge => :delete }

* If you use a public repository for your code (such as github, rubyforge,
gitorious, etc.) make sure to NOT post your site_keys.rb (add a line like
'/config/initializers/site_keys.rb' to your .gitignore or do the svn ignore
dance), but make sure you DO keep it backed up somewhere safe.

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