LPRng Reference Manual: 5 Sep 2003 (For LPRng-3.8.22)
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# 17.7. Authentication

One of the major problems in a print spooler system is providing privacy and authentication services for users. One method is to construct a specific set of protocols which will be used for providing the privacy or authentication; another is to provide a simple interface to a set of tools that will do the authentication and/or encryption.

LPRng provides native support for the MIT Kerberos 4 extensions and Kerberos 5 authentication.

LPRng uses the OpenSSL libraries to support SSL authentication and encrypted data transfers.

LPRng has native support for the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) program and can sign and optionally encrypt command and responses between servers and clients. Due to legal restrictions, an external PGP program must be used for this purpose.

A simple MD5 hash based authentication scheme is also provided as an example to illustrate how new or different authentication methods can be adddd.

Finally, LPRng provide a general purpose interface allowing users to insert their own authentication methods, either at the program level or at the code level.

A careful study of the authentication problem shows that it should be done during reception of commands and/or jobs from a remote user and/or spooler. At this time the following must be done:

1. The received command must be checked for consistency, and the remote user and host must be determined.

2. The remote user and host must be authenticated.

3. The command and/or spooling operation must be carried out.

4. The results must be returned to the remote system.

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