[OpenID] Is there interest in such a Perl module

[John]

I know at least one person who would want such a module. He's made his 
own spec 1.1 OpenID module, but without DH, and this module would help him.

And since it would also foster the development of OpenID v2.0 Perl 
modules by whoever wants to make one, I think this module is very useful 
and should be published.

Maybe the name could be changed to something like Net::OpenID::Crypt, 
but I'm not sure. Please do go ahead though (with either name).


Martin Foster wrote:
> While looking at the OpenID 1.x spec, I sought out Perl modules that 
> would do the necessary tasks necessary to get the job done.  This 
> included things like:
>
>    Crypt::DH
>    Crypt::DSA
>    Digest::HMAC_SHA1
>    Net::OpenID::Consumer
>    Net::OpenID::Server
>
> The list is fairly extensive (and that's not all of them) and no single 
> module provides the coder with all the tools necessary.  e.g. Crypt::DH 
> handles a good part of the key calculations and extraction but fails to 
> provide key generation.  Crypt::DSA on the other hand, generates the 
> keys but does not do the extraction and while similar as the former, 
> they are not compatible even if they are from the same author.
>
> As a result, I cobbled together my own module called Crypt::OpenID which 
> is a collection of tools necessary to run a 1.x implementation with SHA1 
> HMAC and of course DH key exchange.
>
> So what does Crypt::OpenID do?
>
>    - Provides functions in clear names such as 'make_shared' and 'btwoc'
>      to work in conjunction with the spec;
>    - Heavily commented so changes can be done without having to decipher
>      the code;
>    - Generates keys using OpenSSL, pre-defined PEM files, Crypt::Random
>      or falls onto the spec default;
>    - Manages the keys, converts them to big ints and does
>      extraction/generation of shared keys;
>    - Performs the BTWOC function as specified by the spec with optional
>      Base64 encoding and decoding;
>    - Creates HMAC signature files based from parameters received; and
>    - Does all of this from one module that is pure Perl with very few
>      module requirements.
>
> What Crypt::OpenID is not however is simple.  This module is not a 
> consumer/server implementation nor does it attempt to be.  Instead it 
> provides the user with all of the tools necessary to build an 
> implementation that works around their needs.
>
> While I plan to include an example implementation that would guide users 
> into the integration of Crypt::OpenID into their systems it would not be 
> drop in.  However, it does allow them to have a starting base and 
> integrate into systems that have database back-ends, their own deeply 
> rooted authentication system to work against and so forth.
>
> My site for example, had a lot of workarounds that other modules did not 
> necessarily make easy to work with.   I also had a preference for 
> putting associations, identifiers and other information into the 
> pre-existing database.   There was also a desire to make use of the 
> Simple Registration Extension 1.0 and no module seemed to make that 
> aspect easy to work with.
>
> So based on the above, would such a module be a welcomed addition?  Or 
> should I just keep it as part of my sites code?
>
> 	Martin Foster
> 	Creator/Designer Ethereal Realms
> 	martin at ethereal-realms.org
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