1 /* Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 Acegi Technology Pty Limited
2 *
3 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
4 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
5 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
6 *
7 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
8 *
9 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
10 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
11 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
12 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
13 * limitations under the License.
14 */
15
16 package org.springframework.security.context;
17
18 import org.springframework.security.Authentication;
19
20 import java.io.Serializable;
21
22
23 /**
24 * Interface defining the minimum security information associated with the
25 * current thread of execution.
26 *
27 * <p>
28 * The security context is stored in a {@link SecurityContextHolder}.
29 * </p>
30 *
31 * @author Ben Alex
32 * @version $Id: SecurityContext.java 2217 2007-10-27 00:45:30Z luke_t $
33 */
34 public interface SecurityContext extends Serializable {
35 //~ Methods ========================================================================================================
36
37 /**
38 * Obtains the currently authenticated principal, or an authentication request token.
39 *
40 * @return the <code>Authentication</code> or <code>null</code> if no authentication information is available
41 */
42 Authentication getAuthentication();
43
44 /**
45 * Changes the currently authenticated principal, or removes the authentication information.
46 *
47 * @param authentication the new <code>Authentication</code> token, or <code>null</code> if no further
48 * authentication information should be stored
49 */
50 void setAuthentication(Authentication authentication);
51 }