keyring 2.0

Store and access your passwords safely.

Installing and Using Python Keyring Lib

Table of Contents

• Installing and Using Python Keyring Lib

  • What is Python keyring lib?

  • Installation Instructions

    • easy_install or pip

    • Source installation

  • Configure your keyring lib

    • Customize your keyring by config file

      • Config file path

      • Config file content

    • Write your own keyring backend

    • Set the keyring in runtime

  • Integrate the keyring lib with your application

    • API interface

    • Example

  • Get involved

    • Running Tests

      • Using pytest runner

      • Using virtualenv and pytest/nose/unittest2

      • Using buildout

  • Credits

• CHANGES

  • 2.0

  • 1.6.1

  • 1.6

  • 1.5

  • 1.4

  • 1.3

  • 1.2.3

  • 1.2.2

  • 1.2.1

  • 1.2

  • 1.1.2

  • 1.1.1

  • 1.1

  • 1.0

  • 0.10.1

  • 0.10

  • 0.9.3

  • 0.9.2

  • 0.9.1

  • 0.9

  • 0.8.1

  • 0.8

  • 0.7.1

  • 0.7

  • 0.6.2

  • 0.6.1

  • 0.6

  • 0.5.1

  • 0.5

  • 0.4

  • 0.3

  • 0.2

What is Python keyring lib?

The Python keyring lib provides a easy way to access the system keyring service from python. It can be used in any application that needs safe password storage.

The keyring services supported by the Python keyring lib:

• OSXKeychain: supports the Keychain service in Mac OS X.

• KDEKWallet: supports the KDE’s Kwallet service.

• GnomeKeyring: for Gnome 2 environment.

• SecretServiceKeyring: for newer GNOME and KDE environments.

Besides these native password storing services provided by operating systems. Python keyring lib also provides following build-in keyrings.

• Win32CryptoKeyring: for Windows 2k+.

• CryptedFileKeyring: a command line interface keyring base on PyCrypto.

• UncryptedFileKeyring: a keyring which leaves passwords directly in file.

Installation Instructions

easy_install or pip

Run easy_install or pip:

$ easy_install keyring
$ pip install keyring

Source installation

Download the source tarball, and uncompress it, then run the install command:

$ wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/k/keyring/keyring-0.3.tar.gz
$ tar -xzvf keyring-0.3.tar.gz
$ cd keyring-0.3
$ python setup.py install

Configure your keyring lib

The python keyring lib contains implementations for several backends, including OSX Keychain, Gnome Keyring, KDE Kwallet and etc. The lib will automatically choose the keyring that is most suitable for your current environment. You can also specify the keyring you like to be used in the config file or by calling the set_keyring() function.

Customize your keyring by config file

This section is about how to change your option in the config file.

Config file path

The configuration of the lib is stored in a file named “keyringrc.cfg”. The file can be stored in either of following two paths.

1. The working directory of the python

2. The home directory for current user

The lib will first look for the config file in the working directory. If no config file exists or the config file cannot be written properly, keyring will reference the config in the home directory.

Beginning with keyring 0.8, the config root is platform specific. To determine where in the home directory the config file (and other data files) are stored, run the following:

python -c "import keyring.util.platform; print(keyring.util.platform.data_root())"

Config file content

To specify a keyring backend, you need tell the lib the module name of the backend, such as keyring.backends.OS_X.Keyring. If the backend is not shipped with the lib, in another word, is made by you own, you need also tell the lib the path of your own backend module. The module name should be written after the default-keyring option, while the module path belongs the keyring-path option.

Here’s a sample config file(The full demo can be accessed in the demo/keyring.py):

[backend]
default-keyring=simplekeyring.SimpleKeyring
keyring-path=/home/kang/pyworkspace/python-keyring-lib/demo/

Write your own keyring backend

The interface for the backend is defined by keyring.backend.KeyringBackend. By extending this base class and implementing the three functions supported(), get_password() and set_password(), you can easily create your own backend for keyring lib.

The usage of the three functions:

• supported(self) : Return if this backend is supported in current environment. The returned value can be 0, 1 , or -1. 0 means suitable; 1 means recommended and -1 means this backend is not available for current environment.

• get_password(self, service, username) : Return the stored password for the username of the service.

• set_password(self, service, username, password) : Store the password for username of the service in the backend.

• delete_password(self, service, username) : Delete the stored password for the username of the service.

For an instance, there’s the source code of the demo mentioned above. It’s a simple keyring which stores the password directly in memory.

"""
simplekeyring.py

A simple keyring class for the keyring_demo.py

Created by Kang Zhang on 2009-07-12
"""
from keyring.backend import KeyringBackend

class SimpleKeyring(KeyringBackend):
    """Simple Keyring is a keyring which can store only one
    password in memory.
    """
    def __init__(self):
        self.password = ''

    def supported(self):
        return 0

    def get_password(self, service, username):
        return self.password

    def set_password(self, service, username, password):
        self.password = password
        return 0

    def delete_password(self, service, username):
        self.password = None

Set the keyring in runtime

Besides setting the backend through the config file, you can also set the backend to use by calling the api set_keyring(). The backend you passed in will be used to store the password in your application.

Here’s a code snippet from the keyringdemo.py. It shows the usage of set_keyring()

# define a new keyring class which extends the KeyringBackend
import keyring.backend
class TestKeyring(keyring.backend.KeyringBackend):
    """A test keyring which always outputs same password
    """
    def supported(self): return 0
    def set_password(self, servicename, username, password): return 0
    def get_password(self, servicename, username):
        return "password from TestKeyring"
    def delete_password(self, servicename, username, password): return 0

# set the keyring for keyring lib
import keyring
keyring.set_keyring(TestKeyring())

# invoke the keyring lib
try:
    keyring.set_password("demo-service", "tarek", "passexample")
    print "password stored sucessfully"
except keyring.backend.PasswordSetError:
    print "failed to store password"
print "password", keyring.get_password("demo-service", "tarek")

Integrate the keyring lib with your application

API interface

The keyring lib has a few functions:

• get_keyring() : Return the currently-loaded keyring implementation.

• get_password(service, username) : Returns the password stored in keyring. If the password does not exist, it will return None.

• set_password(service, username, password) : Store the password in the keyring.

• delete_password(service, username) : Delete the password stored in keyring. If the password does not exist, it will raise an exception.

Example

Here’s an example of using keyring for application authorization. It can be found in the demo folder of the repository. Note that the faked auth function only returns true when the password equals to the username.

"""
auth_demo.py

Created by Kang Zhang 2009-08-14
"""

import keyring
import getpass
import ConfigParser

def auth(username, password):
    """A faked authorization function.
    """
    return username == password

def main():
    """This scrip demos how to use keyring facilite the authorization. The
    username is stored in a config named 'auth_demo.cfg'
    """
    # config file init
    config_file = 'auth_demo.cfg'
    config = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser({
                'username':'',
                })
    config.read(config_file)
    if not config.has_section('auth_demo_login'):
        config.add_section('auth_demo_login')

    username = config.get('auth_demo_login','username')
    password = None
    if username != '':
        password = keyring.get_password('auth_demo_login', username)

    if password == None or not auth(username, password):

        while 1:
            username = raw_input("Username:\n")
            password = getpass.getpass("Password:\n")

            if auth(username, password):
                break
            else:
                print "Authorization failed."

        # store the username
        config.set('auth_demo_login', 'username', username)
        config.write(open(config_file, 'w'))

        # store the password
        keyring.set_password('auth_demo_login', username, password)

    # the stuff that needs authorization here
    print "Authorization successful."

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Get involved

Python keyring lib is an open community project and highly welcomes new contributors.

• Repository: http://bitbucket.org/kang/python-keyring-lib/

• Bug Tracker: http://bitbucket.org/kang/python-keyring-lib/issues/

• Mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/python-keyring

Running Tests

Tests are continuously run using Travis-CI.

To run the tests yourself, you’ll want keyring installed to some environment in which it can be tested. Three recommended techniques are described below.

Using pytest runner

Keyring is instrumented with pytest runner. Thus, you may invoke the tests from any supported Python (with distribute installed) using this command:

python setup.py ptr

pytest runner will download any unmet dependencies and run the tests using pytest.

This technique is the one used by the Travis-CI script.

If you want to run the tests under Python 3, you must be sure that you are testing the library after 2to3 got executed. The easiest way to do it would be to use:

python3 setup.py build ptr --addopts "build/lib"

Using virtualenv and pytest/nose/unittest2

Pytest and Nose are two popular test runners that will discover tests and run them. Unittest2 (also known as simply unittest in Python 3) also has a mode to discover tests.

First, however, these test runners typically need a test environment in which to run. It is recommended that you install keyring to a virtual environment to avoid interfering with your system environment. For more information, see the virtualenv homepage.

After you’ve created (or designated) your environment, install keyring into the environment by running:

python setup.py develop

Then, invoke your favorite test runner, e.g.:

py.test

or:

nosetests

Using buildout

Keyring supplies a buildout.cfg for use with buildout. If you have buildout installed, tests can be invoked as so:

1. bin/buildout  # prepare the buildout.
2. bin/test  # execute the test runner.

For more information about the options that the script provides do execute:

python bin/test --help

Credits

The project was based on Tarek Ziade’s idea in this post. Kang Zhang initially carried it out as a Google Summer of Code project, and Tarek mentored Kang on this project.

See CONTRIBUTORS.txt for a complete list of contributors.

CHANGES

2.0

• Prioritized backend support. The primary interface for Keyring backend classes has been refactored to now emit a ‘priority’ based on the current environment (operating system, libraries available, etc). These priorities provide an indication of the applicability of that backend for the current environment. Users are still welcome to specify a particular backend in configuration, but the default behavior should now be to select the most appropriate backend by default.

1.6.1

• Only include pytest-runner in ‘setup requirements’ when ptr invocation is indicated in the command-line (Issue #105).

1.6

• GNOME Keyring backend:

  • Use the same attributes (username / service) as the SecretService backend uses, allow searching for old ones for compatibility.

  • Also set application attribute.

  • Correctly handle all types of errors, not only CANCELLED and NO_MATCH.

  • Avoid printing warnings to stderr when GnomeKeyring is not available.

• Secret Service backend:

  • Use a better label for passwords, the same as GNOME Keyring backend uses.

1.5

• SecretService: allow deleting items created using previous python-keyring versions.

  Before the switch to secretstorage, python-keyring didn’t set “application” attribute. Now in addition to supporting searching for items without that attribute, python-keyring also supports deleting them.

• Use secretstorage.get_default_collection if it’s available.

  On secretstorage 1.0 or later, python-keyring now tries to create the default collection if it doesn’t exist, instead of just raising the error.

• Improvements for tests, including fix for Issue #102.

1.4

• Switch GnomeKeyring backend to use native libgnome-keyring via GObject Introspection, not the obsolete python-gnomekeyring module.

1.3

• Use the SecretStorage library to implement the Secret Service backend (instead of using dbus directly). Now the keyring supports prompting for and deleting passwords. Fixes #69, #77, and #93.

• Catch gnomekeyring.IOError per the issue reported in Nova client.

• Issue #92 Added support for delete_password on Mac OS X Keychain.

1.2.3

• Fix for Encrypted File backend on Python 3.

• Issue #97 Improved support for PyPy.

1.2.2

• Fixed handling situations when user cancels kwallet dialog or denies access for the app.

1.2.1

• Fix for kwallet delete.

• Fix for OS X backend on Python 3.

• Issue #84: Fix for Google backend on Python 3 (use of raw_input not caught by 2to3).

1.2

• Implemented delete_password on most keyrings. Keyring 2.0 will require delete_password to implement a Keyring. Fixes #79.

1.1.2

• Issue #78: pyfilesystem backend now works on Windows.

1.1.1

• Fixed MANIFEST.in so .rst files are included.

1.1

This is the last build that will support installation in a pure-distutils mode. Subsequent releases will require setuptools/distribute to install. Python 3 installs have always had this requirement (for 2to3 install support), but starting with the next minor release (1.2+), setuptools will be required.

Additionally, this release has made some substantial refactoring in an attempt to modularize the backends. An attempt has been made to maintain 100% backward-compatibility, although if your library does anything fancy with module structure or clasess, some tweaking may be necessary. The backward-compatible references will be removed in 2.0, so the 1.1+ releases represent a transitional implementation which should work with both legacy and updated module structure.

• Added a console-script ‘keyring’ invoking the command-line interface.

• Deprecated _ExtensionKeyring.

• Moved PasswordSetError and InitError to an errors module (references kept for backward-compatibility).

• Moved concrete backend implementations into their own modules (references kept for backward compatibility):

  • OSXKeychain -> backends.OS_X.Keyring

  • GnomeKeyring -> backends.Gnome.Keyring

  • SecretServiceKeyring -> backends.SecretService.Keyring

  • KDEKWallet -> backends.kwallet.Keyring

  • BasicFileKeyring -> backends.file.BaseKeyring

  • CryptedFileKeyring -> backends.file.EncryptedKeyring

  • UncryptedFileKeyring -> backends.file.PlaintextKeyring

  • Win32CryptoKeyring -> backends.Windows.EncryptedKeyring

  • WinVaultKeyring -> backends.Windows.WinVaultKeyring

  • Win32CryptoRegistry -> backends.Windows.RegistryKeyring

  • select_windows_backend -> backends.Windows.select_windows_backend

  • GoogleDocsKeyring -> backends.Google.DocsKeyring

  • Credential -> keyring.credentials.Credential

  • BaseCredential -> keyring.credentials.SimpleCredential

  • EnvironCredential -> keyring.credentials.EnvironCredential

  • GoogleEnvironCredential -> backends.Google.EnvironCredential

  • BaseKeyczarCrypter -> backends.keyczar.BaseCrypter

  • KeyczarCrypter -> backends.keyczar.Crypter

  • EnvironKeyczarCrypter -> backends.keyczar.EnvironCrypter

  • EnvironGoogleDocsKeyring -> backends.Google.KeyczarDocsKeyring

  • BasicPyfilesystemKeyring -> backends.pyfs.BasicKeyring

  • UnencryptedPyfilesystemKeyring -> backends.pyfs.PlaintextKeyring

  • EncryptedPyfilesystemKeyring -> backends.pyfs.EncryptedKeyring

  • EnvironEncryptedPyfilesystemKeyring -> backends.pyfs.KeyczarKeyring

  • MultipartKeyringWrapper -> backends.multi.MultipartKeyringWrapper

• Officially require Python 2.5 or greater (although unofficially, this requirement has been in place since 0.10).

1.0

This backward-incompatible release attempts to remove some cruft from the codebase that’s accumulated over the versions.

• Removed legacy file relocation support. keyring no longer supports loading configuration or file-based backends from ~. If upgrading from 0.8 or later, the files should already have been migrated to their new proper locations. If upgrading from 0.7.x or earlier, the files will have to be migrated manually.

• Removed CryptedFileKeyring migration support. To maintain an existing CryptedFileKeyring, one must first upgrade to 0.9.2 or later and access the keyring before upgrading to 1.0 to retain the existing keyring.

• File System backends now create files without group and world permissions. Fixes #67.

0.10.1

• Merged 0.9.3 to include fix for #75.

0.10

• Add support for using Keyczar to encrypt keyrings. Keyczar is “an open source cryptographic toolkit designed to make it easier and safer for developers to use cryptography in their applications.”

• Added support for storing keyrings on Google Docs or any other filesystem supported by pyfilesystem.

• Fixed issue in Gnome Keyring when unicode is passed as the service name, username, or password.

• Tweaked SecretService code to pass unicode to DBus, as unicode is the preferred format.

• Issue #71 - Fixed logic in CryptedFileKeyring.

• Unencrypted keyring file will be saved with user read/write (and not group or world read/write).

0.9.3

• Ensure migration is run when get_password is called. Fixes #75. Thanks to Marc Deslauriers for reporting the bug and supplying the patch.

0.9.2

• Keyring 0.9.1 introduced a whole different storage format for the CryptedFileKeyring, but this introduced some potential compatibility issues. This release incorporates the security updates but reverts to the INI file format for storage, only encrypting the passwords and leaving the service and usernames in plaintext. Subsequent releases may incorporate a new keyring to implement a whole-file encrypted version. Fixes #64.

• The CryptedFileKeyring now requires simplejson for Python 2.5 clients.

0.9.1

• Fix for issue where SecretServiceBackend.set_password would raise a UnicodeError on Python 3 or when a unicode password was provided on Python 2.

• CryptedFileKeyring now uses PBKDF2 to derive the key from the user’s password and a random hash. The IV is chosen randomly as well. All the stored passwords are encrypted at once. Any keyrings using the old format will be automatically converted to the new format (but will no longer be compatible with 0.9 and earlier). The user’s password is no longer limited to 32 characters. PyCrypto 2.5 or greater is now required for this keyring.

0.9

• Add support for GTK 3 and secret service D-Bus. Fixes #52.

• Issue #60 - Use correct method for decoding.

0.8.1

• Fix regression in keyring lib on Windows XP where the LOCALAPPDATA environment variable is not present.

0.8

• Mac OS X keyring backend now uses subprocess calls to the security command instead of calling the API, which with the latest updates, no longer allows Python to invoke from a virtualenv. Fixes issue #13.

• When using file-based storage, the keyring files are no longer stored in the user’s home directory, but are instead stored in platform-friendly locations (%localappdata%Python Keyring on Windows and according to the freedesktop.org Base Dir Specification ($XDG_DATA_HOME/python_keyring or $HOME/.local/share/python_keyring) on other operating systems). This fixes #21.

Backward Compatibility Notice

Due to the new storage location for file-based keyrings, keyring 0.8 supports backward compatibility by automatically moving the password files to the updated location. In general, users can upgrade to 0.8 and continue to operate normally. Any applications that customize the storage location or make assumptions about the storage location will need to take this change into consideration. Additionally, after upgrading to 0.8, it is not possible to downgrade to 0.7 without manually moving configuration files. In 1.0, the backward compatibilty will be removed.

0.7.1

• Removed non-ASCII characters from README and CHANGES docs (required by distutils if we’re to include them in the long_description). Fixes #55.

0.7

• Python 3 is now supported. All tests now pass under Python 3.2 on Windows and Linux (although Linux backend support is limited). Fixes #28.

• Extension modules on Mac and Windows replaced by pure-Python ctypes implementations. Thanks to Jerome Laheurte.

• WinVaultKeyring now supports multiple passwords for the same service. Fixes #47.

• Most of the tests don’t require user interaction anymore.

• Entries stored in Gnome Keyring appears now with a meaningful name if you try to browser your keyring (for ex. with Seahorse)

• Tests from Gnome Keyring no longer pollute the user own keyring.

• keyring.util.escape now accepts only unicode strings. Don’t try to encode strings passed to it.

0.6.2

• fix compiling on OSX with XCode 4.0

0.6.1

• Gnome keyring should not be used if there is no DISPLAY or if the dbus is not around (https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpadlib/+bug/752282).

0.6

• Added keyring.http for facilitating HTTP Auth using keyring.

• Add a utility to access the keyring from the command line.

0.5.1

• Remove a spurious KDE debug message when using KWallet

• Fix a bug that caused an exception if the user canceled the KWallet dialog (https://bitbucket.org/kang/python-keyring-lib/issue/37/user-canceling-of-kde-wallet-dialogs).

0.5

• Now using the existing Gnome and KDE python libs instead of custom C++ code.

• Using the getpass module instead of custom code

0.4

• Fixed the setup script (some subdirs were not included in the release.)

0.3

• Fixed keyring.core when the user doesn’t have a cfg, or is not properly configured.

• Fixed escaping issues for usernames with non-ascii characters

0.2

• Add support for Python 2.4+ http://bitbucket.org/kang/python-keyring-lib/issue/2

• Fix the bug in KDE Kwallet extension compiling http://bitbucket.org/kang/python-keyring-lib/issue/3