GNU SASL is an implementation of the Simple Authentication and Security Layer framework and a few common SASL mechanisms. SASL is used by network servers (e.g., IMAP, SMTP) to request authentication from clients, and in clients to authenticate against servers.
GNU SASL consists of a library (`libgsasl'), a command line utility (`gsasl') to access the library from the shell, and a manual. The library includes support for the SASL framework (with authentication functions and application data privacy and integrity functions) and at least partial support for the CRAM-MD5, EXTERNAL, GSSAPI, ANONYMOUS, PLAIN, SECURID, DIGEST-MD5, LOGIN, NTLM and KERBEROS_V5 mechanisms.
The library is portable because it does not do network communication by itself, but rather leaves it up to the calling application. The library is flexible with regards to the authorization infrastructure used, as it utilizes callbacks into the application to decide whether an user is authorized or not.
GNU SASL is written in pure ANSI C89 to be portable to embedded and otherwise limited platforms. The entire library, with full support for ANONYMOUS, EXTERNAL, PLAIN, LOGIN and CRAM-MD5, and the front-end that support client and server mode, and the IMAP and SMTP protocols, fits in under 60kb on an Intel x86 platform, without any modifications to the code.
GNU SASL is developed for the GNU/Linux system, but runs on over 20 platforms including most major Unix platforms and Windows, and many kind of devices including iPAQ handhelds and S/390 mainframes.
The core GNU SASL library, and most mechanisms, are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License. It is distributed separately, as the "libgsasl" package. The GNU SASL command line application, self test suite and more are licensed under the GNU General Public License. The "gsasl" package distribution includes the library part as well, so you do not need to install two packages.
Some of the goals with this project are:
Refer to the GNU SASL Manual web page for links to the manual in all formats; however, quick links to the most popular formats:
See also the various standard texts:
Currently the ANONYMOUS, EXTERNAL, PLAIN, LOGIN, SECURID, and CRAM-MD5 mechanisms are fully implemented in both client and server mode. The NTLM mechanism is implemented in client mode only. DIGEST-MD5 and GSSAPI are implemented in client and server mode, but not all features are supported (e.g., no security layers nor fast resumption).
The library has received some real-world testing and should be considered alpha quality.
Projects using GNU SASL include:
Let us know about more projects that use GNU SASL!
A mailing list where GNU SASL users may help each other exists, and you can reach it by sending e-mail to help-gsasl@gnu.org. Archives of the mailing list discussions, and an interface to manage subscriptions, is available through the World Wide Web at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gsasl.
If you are interested in paid support of GNU SASL, or sponsor the development, please contact me. If you provide paid services for GNU SASL, and would like to be mentioned here, also contact me.
If you find GNU SASL useful, please consider making a donation. No amount is too small!
Note that new releases are only mentioned here if they introduce a major feature or is significant in some other way. Read the help-gsasl mailing list if you seek more frequent announcements.
Information on what is new in the package itself can be found in the NEWS file (live version).
The releases are distributed from ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gsasl/.
All official releases are signed with an OpenPGP key with fingerprint 0xB565716F.
Unofficial Windows binaries are provided by Francis Brosnan Blazquez at Sourceforge's Vortex project.
There is a Savannah GNU SASL project page. You can check out the sources by using git as follows:
$ git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/gsasl.git
The online git interface is available.
If you have trouble using git, you may download
a daily snapshot.
The snapshots are prepared similar to regular releases, i.e., you
simply build them using ./configure && make.
Build logs from building the package, where you can also contribute a build system for your own platform, are available from the GNU SASL autobuild page.
See the file README-alpha on how to bootstrap and build the package from version controlled sources. The library is simpler to bootstrap, as it only includes a library and no manual or programs, see lib/README-alpha for the full story.
You need at least a shell, a C compiler and a Make tool to build GNU SASL.
GNU SASL will enable certain features if you have the following optional external libraries installed:
Report all problems to bug-gsasl@gnu.org, but please read the manual on how to report bugs first.