Should we create a shared net-sasl gem?

Currently, the following gems duplicate partial support for a small subset of SASL mechanisms:

• net-imap
• net-smtp
• net-pop (it's actually missing, but it should be in there)
• net-ldap
• blather (XMPP)
• memcached
• dalli (another memcached client)
• ...and probably many others.

This duplication and incomplete support basically defeats the purpose of SASL. It seems to me that SASL is used in a wide enough number of internet protocols that some level of SASL support should be in stdlib. See e.g. it's in java standard edition

We could start with a very simple API, which only handles client-side authentication and doesn't do much more than Net::IMAP already does. Simply providing a standard for pluggable support is useful. E.g here's a starter proposal:

• class Net::SASL::Registry to allow non-global config, so e.g. a mechanism could be added to Net::IMAP without affecting other libraries.
  • #add_authenticator(name, mechanism_class)
  • #authenticator(name, *args)
  • both of these methods would also be available from a global registry on Net::SASL
• Net::SASL::Authenticator interface (can provide a super-class with NotImplementedError on perform):
  • #initialize(*credentials, uri: nil)
    • some mechanisms require the host and port, and supporting that in the generic interface simplifies making clients work properly regardless of which mechanism is selected.
  • #supports_initial_response?
  • #process(challenge) - just as with Net::IMAP. IR sends a nil challenge
  • #done? - for mechanisms implementing a state machine, users of the library can know it is done without needing to call #perform and catch an exception.
  • respond_to?(...)could be used for backwards compatibility with Net::IMAP authenticators which haven't yet been updated to add supports_initial_response? or #done?.
• utility methods:
  • Net::SASL.saslprep(string) - implements RFC4013, which is required by some mechanisms and recommended for others

And, of course, we could start by adding the existing Net::IMAP mechanisms. But it would be simple and very useful to add OAUTHBEARER and some others as well.

I've marked #22 as a draft, pending some discussion about this. Is this the correct place to discuss this? Should I create a ticket in the ruby issue tracker?

• #22
• #183
• #187
• #194
• #195