001/*
002 * Copyright 2011-2017 UnboundID Corp.
003 * All Rights Reserved.
004 */
005/*
006 * Copyright (C) 2011-2017 UnboundID Corp.
007 *
008 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
009 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2 only)
010 * or the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv2.1 only)
011 * as published by the Free Software Foundation.
012 *
013 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
014 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
015 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
016 * GNU General Public License for more details.
017 *
018 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
019 * along with this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses>.
020 */
021package com.unboundid.ldap.sdk;
022
023
024
025import java.io.Serializable;
026
027import com.unboundid.util.Extensible;
028import com.unboundid.util.ThreadSafety;
029import com.unboundid.util.ThreadSafetyLevel;
030
031
032
033/**
034 * This class defines an API that may be used to obtain a clear-text password
035 * that may be used for authentication or other purposes.  Passwords must be
036 * returned in the form of a byte array, and the contents of that array will be
037 * zeroed out as soon as the password is no longer required in order to minimize
038 * the length of time that the password will remain in memory.
039 */
040@Extensible()
041@ThreadSafety(level=ThreadSafetyLevel.INTERFACE_THREADSAFE)
042public abstract class PasswordProvider
043       implements Serializable
044{
045  /**
046   * The serial version UID for this serializable class.
047   */
048  private static final long serialVersionUID = -1582416755360005908L;
049
050
051
052  /**
053   * Retrieves a password in a newly-created byte array.  Once the password is
054   * no longer required, the contents of the array will be overwritten so that
055   * the password is no longer contained in memory.
056   *
057   * @return  A byte array containing the password that should be used.
058   *
059   * @throws  LDAPException  If a problem is encountered while attempting to
060   *                         obtain the password.
061   */
062  public abstract byte[] getPasswordBytes()
063         throws LDAPException;
064}