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/**
* Contains class and interfaces for supporting SASL.
* This package defines classes and interfaces for SASL mechanisms.
* It is used by developers to add authentication support for
* connection-based protocols that use SASL.
* <h3>SASL Overview</h3>
* Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) specifies a
* challenge-response protocol in which data is exchanged between the
* client and the server for the purposes of
* authentication and (optional) establishment of a security layer on
* which to carry on subsequent communications. It is used with
* connection-based protocols such as LDAPv3 or IMAPv4. SASL is
* described in
* <A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2222.txt">RFC 2222</A>.
* There are various <em>mechanisms</em> defined for SASL.
* Each mechanism defines the data that must be exchanged between the
* client and server in order for the authentication to succeed.
* This data exchange required for a particular mechanism is referred to
* to as its <em>protocol profile</em>.
* The following are some examples of mechanisms that have been defined by
* the Internet standards community.
* <ul>
* <li>DIGEST-MD5 (<A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2831.txt">RFC 2831</a>).
* This mechanism defines how HTTP Digest Authentication can be used as a SASL
* mechanism.
* <li>Anonymous (<A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2245.txt">RFC 2245</a>).
* This mechanism is anonymous authentication in which no credentials are
* necessary.
* <li>External (<A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2222.txt">RFC 2222</A>).
* This mechanism obtains authentication information
* from an external source (such as TLS or IPsec).
* <li>S/Key (<A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2222.txt">RFC 2222</A>).
* This mechanism uses the MD4 digest algorithm to exchange data based on
* a shared secret.
* <li>GSSAPI (<A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2222.txt">RFC 2222</A>).
* This mechanism uses the
* <A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2078.txt">GSSAPI</A>
* for obtaining authentication information.
* </ul>
* Some of these mechanisms provide both authentication and establishment
* of a security layer, others only authentication. Anonymous and
* S/Key do not provide for any security layers. GSSAPI and DIGEST-MD5
* allow negotiation of the security layer. For External, the
* security layer is determined by the external protocol.
* <h3>Usage</h3>
* Users of this API are typically developers who produce
* client library implementations for connection-based protocols,
* such as LDAPv3 and IMAPv4,
* and developers who write servers (such as LDAP servers and IMAP servers).
* Developers who write client libraries use the
* {@code SaslClient} and {@code SaslClientFactory} interfaces.
* Developers who write servers use the
* {@code SaslServer} and {@code SaslServerFactory} interfaces.
* Among these two groups of users, each can be further divided into two groups:
* those who <em>produce</em> the SASL mechanisms and those
* who <em>use</em> the SASL mechanisms.
* The producers of SASL mechanisms need to provide implementations
* for these interfaces, while users of the SASL mechanisms use
* the APIs in this package to access those implementations.
* <h2>Related Documentation</h2>
* Please refer to the
* <a href="../../../../technotes/guides/security/sasl/sasl-refguide.html">Java
* SASL Programming Guide</a> for information on how to use this API.
* @since 1.5
package javax.security.sasl;