Common Values for Credentials Store Extensions — Python-GSSAPI 1.6.9 documentation

# Common Values for Credentials Store Extensions

The credentials store extension is an extension introduced by the MIT krb5 library implementation of GSSAPI. It allows for finer control of credentials from within a GSSAPI application. Each mechanism can define keywords to manipulate various aspects of their credentials for storage or retrieval operations.

## The krb5 mechanism in MIT libraries

The krb5 mechanism as implemented by MIT libraries supports the credentials store extension with a number of keywords.

### client_keytab

The client_keytab keyword can be used in a credential store when it is used with the `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.acquire_cred_from()` / `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.add_cred_from()` functions to indicate a custom location for a keytab containing client keys. It is not used in the context of calls used to store credentials.

The value is a string in the form type:residual where type can be any keytab storage type understood by the implementation and residual is the keytab identifier (usually something like a path). If the string is a path, then the type is defaulted to FILE.

### keytab

The keytab keyword can be used in a credential store when it is used with the `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.acquire_cred_from()` / `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.add_cred_from()` functions to indicate a custom location for a keytab containing service keys. It is not used in the context of calls used to store credentials.

The value is a string in the form type:residual where type can be any keytab storage type understood by the implementation and residual is the keytab identifier (usually something like a path). If the string is a path, then the type is defaulted to FILE.

### ccache

The ccache keyword can be used to reference a specific credential storage. It can be used both to indicate the source of existing credentials for the `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.acquire_cred_from()` / `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.add_cred_from()` functions, as well as the destination storage for the `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.store_cred_into()` function.

The value is a string in the form type:residual where type can be any credential cache storage type understood by the implementation and residual is the ccache identifier. If the string is a path, then the type is defaulted to FILE. Other commonly used types are DIR, KEYRING, KCM, and MEMORY. Each type has a different format for the residual; refer to the MIT krb5 documentation for more details.

### rcache

The rcache keyword can be used to reference a custom replay cache storage. It is used only with the `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.acquire_cred_from()` / `gssapi.raw.ext_cred_store.add_cred_from()` functions for credentials used to accept context establishments, not to initiate contexts.

The value is a string in the form type:residual where type can be any replay cache storage type understood by the implementation and residual is the cache identifier (usually something like a path). If the string is a path, then the type is defaulted to FILE.

## The krb5 mechanism in Heimdal

Heimdal has recently implemented the credential store extensions with the same interface as MIT krb5. However, it is not yet present in any released version.