Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition

Chapter 19. javax.security.auth and Subpackages

This chapter documents the javax.security.auth package and its subpackages, which, together, form the Java Authentication and Authorization Service, or JAAS. Before being integrated into Java 1.4, JAAS was available as a standard extension, which is why these packages have the “javax” prefix. The individual packages are the following:

javax.security.auth

This top-level package defines the Subject class that is central to JAAS.

javax.security.auth.callback

This package defines a callback API to enable communication (such as the exchange of a username and password) between a low-level login module and the end-user.

javax.security.auth.kerberos

This package contains JAAS classes related to the Kerberos network authentication protocol.

javax.security.auth.login

This package defines the LoginContext class and related classes used by applications to perform a JAAS login.

javax.security.auth.spi

This package defines the “service provider interface” for JAAS.

javax.security.auth.x500

This package includes JAAS classes related to X.500 principals.