OpenID 2.0 development news

[Kevin Turner]

Hi folks,

I just realized that for all the activity around here lately, this list
has been relatively quiet, and I thought I'd update you on what we've
been up to and what to expect next.

Earlier this month we put in many hours bringing the Ruby implementation
up-to-date with its Python and PHP counterparts.  A new release is up at
at http://openidenabled.com/ruby-openid/ .

All the libraries on OpenID Enabled now contain support for Attribute
Exchange and Provider Authentication Policy Extension (PAPE), in
addition to fully implementing the latest OpenID 2.0 draft
specification.  And the rumor that we've been spreading is that
specification is going to become final on Monday.

The packages currently up on OpenID Enabled are release candidates.  We
confident enough about them to use them on Jyte and myOpenID, and we're
feeling pretty good about the test coverage[1], but we haven't yet
pushed these packages out through distribution channels like the RAA or
PyPI.  Barring any showstoppers brought up from you as our early
adopters, we hope to move that "release candidate" status to "final"
soon after the specification is sealed.

Josh and I will be at the Internet Identity Workshop in Mountain View
next week, and we hope to see some of you there.

Language-specific things:

Ruby's current version is 1.9.3; it will be 2.0.0 when it's final.  We
touched a _lot_ of code with this update, and our documentation on how
to upgrade is still lagging a bit.  The basics are still the same (call
begin() with a URL, call complete() when the user returns from their
trip to the provider), but some names or parameters may have shifted.
Check the rdoc, let us know of any issues you encounter, and we'll make
sure we address those in the next documentation update.

Python's current version is 2.1.0-rc2.  The minor version number
incremented there because an optional parameter to Consumer.complete()
became mandatory for OpenID 2.0 compliance, making this version not
_quite_ drop-in API compatible with what we released as 2.0.x.  There's
a possibility that there will be bugfixes we need to backport to the
2.0.x series, but we strongly encourage everyone to upgrade to the 2.1.x
version for OpenID 2.0 goodness.  See the NEWS file for details.

Wichert, you have the biggest deployment base of python-openid 2.0.x, we
should probably chat about upgrade logistics.

Mikhail, your watch script outsmarted me and found something named
"2.0.2" (even though I thought I pulled the links to it fairly quickly),
now in Sid and heading toward Lenny.  I apologize for the confusion, but
we should correct that.

Christopher Armstrong has been bugging me about Twisted support since I
met with him and Glyph to talk about in Boston a while back.  He's
convinced me to spend some time working with him on that during the next
few days; check http://divmod.org/trac/ticket/2330 for updates or if you
want to lend a hand.

PHP's current version is 2.0.0-rc5.  A conveniently timed vacation to
Boston prevented me from knowing any more of the specifics than that,
but I've heard Jonathan say on several occasions that he's been wanting
to update you about that and some of the features of the OpenID Enabled
site.  ;)

Downloads as well as live demos for all these are available at
http://openidenabled.com/




1: http://openidenabled.com/files/ruby-openid/repos/generated/coverage/
(Whoever wrote the rcov report UI, we salute you.  Python doesn't make
code coverage look that good.)