| J. Duke | 319a3b9 | 2007-12-01 00:00:00 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 1 | /* |
| 2 | * Copyright 1999-2000 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
| 3 | * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. |
| 4 | * |
| 5 | * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it |
| 6 | * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as |
| 7 | * published by the Free Software Foundation. Sun designates this |
| 8 | * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided |
| 9 | * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. |
| 10 | * |
| 11 | * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT |
| 12 | * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or |
| 13 | * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License |
| 14 | * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that |
| 15 | * accompanied this code). |
| 16 | * |
| 17 | * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version |
| 18 | * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, |
| 19 | * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. |
| 20 | * |
| 21 | * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, |
| 22 | * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or |
| 23 | * have any questions. |
| 24 | */ |
| 25 | |
| 26 | package com.sun.security.auth; |
| 27 | |
| 28 | /** |
| 29 | * An object that implements the <code>java.security.Principal</code> |
| 30 | * interface typically also implements this interface to provide |
| 31 | * a means for comparing that object to a specified <code>Subject</code>. |
| 32 | * |
| 33 | * <p> The comparison is achieved via the <code>implies</code> method. |
| 34 | * The implementation of the <code>implies</code> method determines |
| 35 | * whether this object "implies" the specified <code>Subject</code>. |
| 36 | * One example application of this method may be for |
| 37 | * a "group" object to imply a particular <code>Subject</code> |
| 38 | * if that <code>Subject</code> belongs to the group. |
| 39 | * Another example application of this method would be for |
| 40 | * "role" object to imply a particular <code>Subject</code> |
| 41 | * if that <code>Subject</code> is currently acting in that role. |
| 42 | * |
| 43 | * <p> Although classes that implement this interface typically |
| 44 | * also implement the <code>java.security.Principal</code> interface, |
| 45 | * it is not required. In other words, classes may implement the |
| 46 | * <code>java.security.Principal</code> interface by itself, |
| 47 | * the <code>PrincipalComparator</code> interface by itself, |
| 48 | * or both at the same time. |
| 49 | * |
| 50 | * @see java.security.Principal |
| 51 | * @see javax.security.auth.Subject |
| 52 | */ |
| 53 | public interface PrincipalComparator { |
| 54 | /** |
| 55 | * Check if the specified <code>Subject</code> is implied by |
| 56 | * this object. |
| 57 | * |
| 58 | * <p> |
| 59 | * |
| 60 | * @return true if the specified <code>Subject</code> is implied by |
| 61 | * this object, or false otherwise. |
| 62 | */ |
| 63 | boolean implies(javax.security.auth.Subject subject); |
| 64 | } |