PyAuthD - beta 6

[Heiko Wundram]

Hi all!

It's been a while since I've announced a version of PyAuthD, and we're
nearing a 0.1 release steadily. Beta 6 marks a milestone as the current
release has been powering the backend of our virtual mail and VPN solution
for about three months now.

But, now, for release info:

What is PyAuthD?
=============== =

PyAuthD is an authentication and mail framework for Unix(-like) systems. It
offers a uniform backend interface in the form of a Python daemon for easy
integration of PAM, NSS, Postfix Maps, pppd and Squirrelmail into a
user-specified authentication framework. A twisted-cred interface to
PyAuthD is in the works.

It's currently in use for offering a virtual mail and VPN solution for
students of the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany, on a Linux
server. It interfaces fine with poptop, Postfix, glibc and PAM to
authenticate and manage mail-accounts for our users.

For completely secure operation (where users have login-rights to the vmail
host), PyAuthD requires a Python with my patches for the socket module to
expose some Linux-only functionality with regards to Unix-Domain-Sockets.
These patches have been posted to the Python bug repository, but I'm
currently unable to push them to be included in the main tree, so please go
and see http://svn.asta.mh-hannover.de/asta/Python/trunk for my currently
deployed Python version (there's an ebuild for Gentoo to check out
available).

What is PyAuthD not?
=============== =====

- An out of the box virtual mail solution. That's why we're not at a version
0.1 yet, as the code needs to be (somewhat) refactored to be more widely
deployable. There are two source files which are specific for our
installation (the backend, actually), and basically these would have to be
reworked for a remote site wanting to use this.

- A complete implementation of the relevant interfaces. All the interface
elements which are not required for normal operation on our server (esp.
PAM and NSS methods) are stubs at the moment. This will also be the subject
of the 0.1 release.

What license is PyAuthD distributed under?
=============== =============== ============

A BSD-style license, so basically as long as you give me and the
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover credit for writing it you're free to do
with it whatever you please. Read LICENSE in the project root for more
details.

Where can I get it?
=============== ====

Currently, there's no distribution file yet. You'll have to use our
subversion repository:

http://svn.asta.mh-hannover.de/asta/PyAuthD/trunk

for the project trunk and

http://svn.asta.mh-hannover.de/asta/PyAuthD/tags/beta-6

for the currently tagged version. The trunk might not contain functioning
code, but most of the time will.

Where can I get more dev info on PyAuthD?
=============== =============== ===========

Read the (german) blog at:

http://svn.asta.mh-hannover.de/categ...ython/pyauthd/

Mailinglists and bugtrackers
=============== =============

Go to:

http://lists.stud.mh-hannover.de/mai...stinfo/pyauthd

and

http://mantis.stud.mh-hannover.de

and subscribe to the list and the bugtracker.

All the rest...
===============

If you require more info or want to join the development effort, just send
me a mail or join the mailinglist.

--- Heiko Wundram
Student Network Administrator, Medical University of Hannover, Germany