Changes between Version 5 and Version 6 of Proposal/ProjectSimpleAccountCreation

Timestamp:

Sep 28, 2011, 10:45:58 AM (13 years ago)

Author:

romw

Comment:

--

Proposal/ProjectSimpleAccountCreation

@@ -5 +5 @@
 At present the current system asks the volunteer to remember the projects URL and then shuffles them off to the BOINC website to download the client software.  Once the software has been downloaded the volunteer has to walk through the project attach wizard and then volunteer must remember the project URL and answer questions about account credentials.
 
-We received a lot of feedback about the BOINC sign-up process over the years, and most of the feedback has been it isn’t as simple as SETI@Home used to be.  Now that enough of the pieces are available in the client-side architecture we hope to put this issue to rest once and for all.
+With the purposed changes in this document we should be able to support the following scenarios:
+1.      Automatic attach via anonymous accounts
+2.      Automatic attach via identifiable accounts
+3.      Automatic attach via a client created account
 
-The basic idea here is that if a potential volunteer loads the projects homepage and is not currently logged into the website they are presented with a download link.  When the download link is clicked a set of cookies are stored in the browser before re-directing the volunteer to the BOINC download page.  Once the BOINC client package is installed it’ll look for setup cookies from all the projects in the all_projects_list.xml file which is included with the client package.  If the cookies are found it’ll attach to the most recent cookie set.
+Anonymous accounts are accounts which do not contain and personally identifiable information, when a volunteer downloads the client software a set of cookies are deposited onto the host by the project to inform the manager which project it should attach too.
+
+Identifiable accounts are the traditional account scheme used in BOINC, at present we just care about an email address and password.  In this scenario a project can determine which pieces of information it needs to collect before setting the cookie set and begin the process of downloading the client software.  As far as the client software is concerned it is the same as attaching to an anonymous account.
+
+Automatic attach via client-created accounts is where the server stores the needed cookie information except the authenticator, the client will then prompt for the email address and password to use for the project and then proceed to create that account before attaching to the project.
+
 == Changes to the Project Website ==
 When a volunteer first visits a project's homepage with a supported browser they are presented with a 'download now' link instead of the current 'create account' link.
+Under the anonymous account scenario and client-created account scenario the process might look like this:
 
-Clicking on the 'download now' link will cause a cookie to be stored on the machine; this cookie will contain the authenticator to use and the current time of the server.  The resulting page should provide basic instructions to launch the BOINC installer on the supported browser.  After 5-10 seconds the webpage should redirect to the BOINC website to download the BOINC installer and pass in the authenticator and return URL which will be used to return the volunteer to the project where they may decide to provide more information (name, country, team, etc) to the project.
+Clicking on the 'download now' link will cause a set of cookies to be stored on the machine; these cookies will contain the authenticator to use and the current time of the server.  The resulting page should provide basic instructions to launch the BOINC installer on the supported browser.  After 5-10 seconds the webpage should redirect to the BOINC website to download the BOINC installer and pass in the authenticator and return URL which will be used to return the volunteer to the project where they may decide to provide more information (name, country, team, etc) to the project.
 
-NOTE:  Unless the volunteer decides to provide additional information to the project, the account will be anonymous.  How should we handle projects that require a terms of use?
+Under the identifiable account scenario the process might look like this:
+
+Clicking on the 'download now' link will cause a popup frame to appear asking for the required information.  After the information has been provided a set of cookies are stored on the machine; this cookie will contain the authenticator to use and the current time of the server.  The resulting page should provide basic instructions to launch the BOINC installer on the supported browser.  After 5-10 seconds the webpage should redirect to the BOINC website to download the BOINC installer and pass in the authenticator and return URL which will be used to return the volunteer to the project where they may decide to provide more information (name, country, team, etc) to the project.
 
 == Changes to the BOINC manager ==
@@ -51 +62 @@
 || Cookie Name || Cookie Data Type || Cookie Values || Cookie Description ||
 || Authenticator || string ||  || The account key the core client should use ||
-|| !TriggerAction || string || "attach" || What action the manager should take ||
+|| Action || string || "attach" || What action the manager should take ||
 || !CreationTime || time_t || time(0) || The current timestamp of the cookie set ||
 
-Notes: If the authenticator is missing but the !TriggerAction item is defined then it is assumed the manager should prompt for the creation of credentials.
+Notes: If the authenticator is missing but the Action item is defined then it is assumed the manager should prompt for the creation of credentials.
 
 Notes: Pre 6.13 clients only react to the Authenticator item.
@@ -64 +75 @@
 || !PasswordHash || string ||  || The password hash for the account ||
 || ReturnURL || string ||  || The URL to display in a web browser after the wizard runs ||
-|| !TriggerAction || string || "attach" || What action the manager should take ||
+|| Action || string || "attach" || What action the manager should take ||
 || !CreationTime || time_t || time(0) || The current timestamp of the cookie set ||