Human-Readable Name Syntax

Implementations of GSS-API can differ in the printable syntax that corresponds to names. For portability, applications should not compare names that use human-readable, that is, printable, forms. Instead, such applications should use gss_compare_name() to determine whether an internal-format name matches any other name.

The Sun implementation of gss_display_name() displays names as follows. If the input_nameargument denotes a user principal, the gss_display_name() returns user_principal@realm as the output_name_buffer and the gss_OID value as the output_name_type. If Kerberos v5 is the underlying mechanism, gss_OID is 1.2.840.11354.1.2.2.

If gss_display_name() receives a name that was created by gss_import_name() with the GSS_C_NO_OID name type, gss_display_name() returns GSS_C_NO_OID in the output_name_type parameter.

Format of Anonymous Names

The gss_display_name() function outputs the string '<anonymous>' to indicate an anonymous GSS-API principal. The name type OID associated with this name is GSS_C_NT_ANONYMOUS. No other valid printable names supported by the Sun implementation should be surrounded by angle brackets (<>).