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Re: [Shib-Dev] Return of the Java SP... again


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  • From: Chad La Joie <>
  • To:
  • Subject: Re: [Shib-Dev] Return of the Java SP... again
  • Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:41:10 -0400
  • Organization: Itumi, LLC

Thanks Andrew,

And just to be clear, I say it's a questionable idea not because I necessarily think it's bad (I don't), but because there are still a lot of work outside the SP that would have to be done and it's questionable to me whether people would do that work. Some would, the question is how many.

On 8/25/10 2:36 PM, Andrew Petro wrote:
Chad,

Yes, I do think a Java SP would be used, and I predict that I personally
would be able to use it on (Unicon) consulting projects, and I predict
that more generally Unicon would be able to use it on projects.

I also think it would have a lot of potential for enabling better
support for Shibbolization in Java web applications. uPortal makes some
effort to ship with "Shibboleth support" today in that it supports
relying on container-asserted REMOTE_USER, supports reading attributes
from headers, etc. So the upshot is that one can, and people have,
configured these lovely application features along with the Shibboleth
SP to achieve Shibbolization of uPortal.

A Java SP would help uPortal to go further, to e.g. ship a quickstart
with a working example of using Shibboleth *without requiring Apache*.
To emulate what is currently done with uPortal shipping a quickstart
including CAS and working configuration to delegate authentication to
CAS, that is, do this same thing with Shibboleth, shipping an example
IdP and the Java SP configured to allow login to uPortal via that
example IdP.

While I respect the considerations that make a Java SP a questionable
idea, I think it's also a practical idea, one that would help with
momentum of adoption and with ease of providing compelling out of the
box examples and Shibboleth integration features.

Andrew



On 08/25/2010 11:11 AM, Chad La Joie wrote:
You just can't keep a questionable idea down. ;)

The Shibboleth Core team has been discussing internally and on the dev
phone calls whether we should delay IdP v3 work in favor of a Java SP.

I produced the following page that currently summarizes our discussions:
https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/SHIB2/JavaSPRoadmap

The first part of the page tries to describe the the current Java
application authentication landscape and the second part shows our
current thoughts on what a Shibboleth Java SP might be.

What we are most interested in hearing, at this point, is:
- is there still a reasonable demand for a Java SP (i.e. would you
actually use it)
- is the rather vague functional description going in the right direction

Please note, a Java SP will NOT alleviate the work of externalizing
authentication and attribute acquisition. If you are not willing to
take on that work for the web applications you have in mind please do
not respond that you'd use the Java SP.




--
Chad La Joie
http://itumi.biz
trusted identities, delivered



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