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<p>This package contains <code>Authenticator</code> implementations for the
various supported authentication methods (BASIC, DIGEST, and FORM).  In
addition, there is a convenience base class,
<code>AuthenticatorBase</code>, for customized <code>Authenticator</code>
implementations.</p>

<p>If you are using the standard context configuration class
(<code>org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig</code>) to configure the
Authenticator associated with a particular context, you can register the Java
class to be used for each possible authentication method by modifying the
following Properties file:</p>
<pre>
    src/share/org/apache/catalina/startup/Authenticators.properties
</pre>

<p>Each of the standard implementations extends a common base class
(<code>AuthenticatorBase</code>), which is configured by setting the
following JavaBeans properties (with default values in square brackets):</p>
<ul>
<li><b>cache</b> - Should we cache authenticated Principals (thus avoiding
    per-request lookups in our underyling <code>Realm</code>) if this request
    is part of an HTTP session?  [true]</li>
<li><b>debug</b> - Debugging detail level for this component.  [0]</li>
</ul>

<p>The standard authentication methods that are currently provided include:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>BasicAuthenticator</b> - Implements HTTP BASIC authentication, as
    described in RFC 2617.</li>
<li><b>DigestAuthenticator</b> - Implements HTTP DIGEST authentication, as
    described in RFC 2617.</li>
<li><b>FormAuthenticator</b> - Implements FORM-BASED authentication, as
    described in the Servlet API Specification, version 2.2.</li>
</ul>

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