VERSION 1.1b
November 3, 2006

Welcome
Contents
Requirements
Bugs
Support
Documentation


Welcome to Internet2's OpenSAML
-------------------------------

OpenSAML is an implementation of SAML 1.0 and 1.1
(http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/security/).
Java and C++ APIs are provided.

Please review the terms described in the LICENSE file before
using this code. It is now the Apache 2.0 license.


Contents:
---------

OpenSAML can be obtained directly from anonymous SVN as described in
https://authdev.it.ohio-state.edu/twiki/bin/view/Shibboleth/SourceAccess

Separate source distributions for Java and C++ also exist and can be found
at http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/downloads/

The CVS layout of the C++ project is as follows:

opensaml/
    c/
        bootstrap           (shell script to generate configure files)
        docs/				(documentation)
        dependencies		(patches and RPM specs for dependencies)
        saml/               (OpenSAML C++ source)
        schemas/            (XML schemas used)
        test/				(test programs)

The C++ source distribution is a standard configure/make/install package
with a prebuilt configure script and Makefiles. RPMs may also be available
for certain platforms and we encourage donation of additional packaging
scripts or platform maintainers.


Requirements:
-------------

The INSTALL.txt file contains information on how to build the C++ code.
The following is a list of the basic dependent libraries and suggested
versions needed:

gcc/g++ GNU compiler 3.x    http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/
OpenSSL 0.9.7               http://www.openssl.org/
libcurl	7.16.0              http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/
(*) log4cpp 0.3.5rc1        http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/downloads/
(**) Xerces-C 2.6.1         http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/downloads/
xml-security 1.3.0          http://xml.apache.org/security/

(*) The only approved version of log4cpp is a patched version available
directly from the Shibboleth Project. The versions available at sourceforge
contain major thread safety bugs and will cause crashes.

(**) The latest Apache-supplied version of Xerces is 2.7, but there are
issues with excessive memory use when caching DOM nodes. Xerces 2.6 also
had signigicant fatal bugs that make it unusuable. A special 2.6.1 release
with fixes and improvements applied has been created by the Shibboleth Project
for use with OpenSAML and Shibboleth. The OpenSAML configure script will detect
and block the use of 2.6.0


Reporting Bugs:
---------------

A bugzilla is available at http://bugzilla.internet2.edu/


Support:
--------

A mailing list for users is available. Subscription instructions are
provided at http://www.opensaml.org/index.html#mailing


Documentation:
--------------

There are no explicit samples, but there are test programs and higher level
code in the Shibboleth codebase that would help a novice see what some of the
classes do. An understanding of SAML also helps. The 2.0 code base is being
substantially more well documented.
