Fixed #689 -- Added a middleware and authentication backend to contrib.auth for supporting external authentication solutions. Thanks to all who contributed to this patch, including Ian Holsman, garthk, Koen Biermans, Marc Fargas, ekarulf, and Ramiro Morales.

git-svn-id: http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk@10063 bcc190cf-cafb-0310-a4f2-bffc1f526a37

1 files changed, 37 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/ref/authbackends.txt b/docs/ref/authbackends.txt
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+.. _ref-authentication-backends:
+
+==========================================
+Built-in authentication backends reference
+==========================================
+
+.. module:: django.contrib.auth.backends
+   :synopsis: Django's built-in authentication backend classes.
+
+This document details the authentication backends that come with Django. For
+information on how how to use them and how to write your own authentication
+backends, see the :ref:`Other authentication sources section
+<authentication-backends>` of the :ref:`User authentication guide
+<topics-auth>`.
+
+
+Available authentication backends
+=================================
+
+The following backends are available in :mod:`django.contrib.auth.backends`:
+
+.. class:: ModelBackend
+
+    This is the default authentication backend used by Django.  It
+    authenticates using usernames and passwords stored in the the
+    :class:`~django.contrib.auth.models.User` model.
+
+
+.. class:: RemoteUserBackend
+
+    .. versionadded:: 1.1
+
+    Use this backend to take advantage of external-to-Django-handled
+    authentication.  It authenticates using usernames passed in
+    :attr:`request.META['REMOTE_USER'] <django.http.HttpRequest.META>`.  See
+    the :ref:`Authenticating against REMOTE_USER <howto-auth-remote-user>`
+    documentation.