/* Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 Acegi Technology Pty Limited

  *

  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");

  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.

  * You may obtain a copy of the License at

  *

  *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  *

  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,

  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and

  * limitations under the License.

  */

 package org.acegisecurity.context;

 import org.acegisecurity.Authentication;

 import java.io.Serializable;

 /**

  * Interface defining the minimum security information associated with the

  * current thread of execution.

  *

  * <p>

  * The security context is stored in a {@link SecurityContextHolder}.

  * </p>

  *

  * @author Ben Alex

  * @version $Id: SecurityContext.java 1784 2007-02-24 21:00:24Z luke_t $

  */

 public interface SecurityContext extends Serializable {

     //~ Methods ========================================================================================================

     /**

      * Obtains the currently authenticated principal, or an authentication request token.

      *

      * @return the <code>Authentication</code> or <code>null</code> if no authentication information is available

      */

     Authentication getAuthentication();

     /**

      * Changes the currently authenticated principal, or removes the authentication information.

      *

      * @param authentication the new <code>Authentication</code> token, or <code>null</code> if no further

      *        authentication information should be stored

      */

     void setAuthentication(Authentication authentication);

 }