linkorb/xillion

Xillion: Attribute-based Resource Framework

v1.8.1 2022-11-25 12:14 UTC

This package is auto-updated.

Last update: 2024-10-25 16:22:49 UTC


README

Xillion

Xillion is an Attribute-based Resource Framework.

It allows you to work with Resources and their collection of attributes.

Use-cases:

  • Use your entities in XACML, ABAC, OPA and other external policy-based frameworks
  • Standardise the way remote objects from different sources are represented for integration purposes

Definitions:

  • Resource: representation of 1 real-world entity. Has a unique ID (in the form of a URL) and an array of Attributes
  • Attribute: Defines a single attribute. Has a unique ID (in the form of a URL), description, an AttributeType and other metadata
  • DataType: Data type supported by an Attribute (i.e. string, int, etc)
  • ResourceRepository: Container for a set of Resources that allows you to search, get and set Resource instances in bulk
  • ResourceContext: Container for a set of Resources Repositories. The root of the structure.
  • Profile: A "Contract" or "Interface", specifying which attributes Resources of this type need to "implement'. A single Resource can implement multiple profiles simultaniously.

Features:

  • Specify a Attributes, DataTypes, Profiles and Resources to use in your projects in YAML configuration files
  • Predefined instances of xml schema datatypes are provided that are commonly used in XACML environments
  • Resource Repositories: currently ArrayRepository, with plans for PDO and Elasticsearch based Repositories.
  • Resource Loader
  • Resource Resolver that can resolve pre-populated Resources with their attributes and types from objects through various means (currently direct and provider-based)
  • Resolve Resources directly from your entities: Quick and simple method if you "own" those entities.
  • Resolve Resources through a ResourcesProvider: Useful to extract attributes for entities from external libraries.
  • Collect your resources in a single Resource Context for bulk operations
  • Validate one Attribute, a Resource or an entire Resource Context

Inspiration

  • XACML (+JSON profile)
  • LDAP
  • FHIR
  • Open Policy Agent
  • SAML2

Naming conventions:

  • All identifiers are prefixed with a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). I.e. core.xillion.cloud/display
  • The identifier FQDN is owned by the entity that defines the identifier (i.e. do not randomly defined resource or attribute identifiers with domain names that you do not own).
  • Attribute identifiers do not specify a scheme (i.e. http://, https://, file:// etc)
  • Attribute identifiers do not contain a path prefix (i.e. do not prefix paths with /xillion etc)
  • Identifiers are lower-case only, and allow dashes for word-spacing (i.e. /some-example)
  • Any level of sub-paths is allowed in identifiers. The recommendation is to keep the levels to a minimum (i.e `x.example.web/a/b/c/d/e/f is allowed but discouraged)
  • Profile identifiers are in a sub-path prefixed with /profiles.
  • Data-type identifiers are in a sub-path prefixed with /data-types.
  • Attribute identifiers do not use a prefix. (i.e. do not use prefix /attributes)
  • Resource identifiers do not use a prefix. (i.e. do not use prefix /resources)
  • Packages (FQDN) define either a set of attributes and profiles (library) -or- resources (content), not both.

License

MIT. Please refer to the license file for details.

Brought to you by the LinkORB Engineering team


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