Copyright

  Copyright (C) 2000 Phillip Eby and Tyler Sarna - All Rights Reserved.
  This software may be used, modified, and distributed, under the same
  terms as Zope itself.

Upgrading from Earlier Releases

  See "CHANGES.txt":Help/CHANGES.txt for important information about
  upgrading from earlier releases of LoginManager.

LoginManager Introduction

  LoginManager is a User Folder workalike and replacement which solves
  the "N * M" problem seen with previous User Folders.  Because of its
  PlugIn-based architecture, it will almost never need to be subclassed
  to implement custom functionality.  (For more information on the 
  PlugIn system, see the Products.ZPatterns.PlugIns module source.)

  LoginManager uses two kinds of PlugIns, the "User Source" and the
  "Login Method".  User Sources provide an interface to an arbitrary
  store of user records.  A LoginManager may contain multiple User
  Sources, and will search them in user-defined order until one
  returns a valid user object.

  Login Methods are responsible for examining a REQUEST for
  identification and credentials.  They are also indirectly responsible
  for authenticating the user.  In most cases, they simply call
  user.authenticate(), passing the credentials (typically a password)
  they extracted from the REQUEST.  A single LoginManager may contain
  multiple Login Methods, which are tried in user-defined order, and
  the result of the last Login Method is used.  (Most Login Methods
  simply return the result of the previous Login Method if it had
  already validated a user.  But the sequence is chained to allow for
  voting, multi-credential requirements, etc.)


Where to Find Other Documentation

  If you're using Zope 2.2, you can use the help system to read LoginManager
  and ZPatterns documentation.  If not, see the Products/LoginManager/help
  directory for documentation.

	"HOWTO.txt":Help/HOWTO.txt -- Using LoginManager

	"CHANGES.txt":Help/CHANGES.txt -- Things you should know if upgrading from an older version

	"HISTORY.txt":Help/HISTORY.txt -- Change history for previous releases

	"API.txt":Help/API.txt -- How to define your own UserSources and LoginMethods

	"TODO.txt":Help/TODO.txt -- Bugs, future features, etc.



