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# Storing Authentication Information

Normally, S3QL reads username and password for the backend as well as an encryption passphrase for the file system from the terminal. Most commands also accept an `--authfile` parameter that can be used to read this information from a file instead.

The authentication file consists of sections, led by a `[section]` header and followed by `name: value` entries. The section headers themselves are not used by S3QL but have to be unique within the file.

In each section, the following entries can be defined:

storage-url: | Specifies the storage url to which this section applies. If a storage url starts with the value of this entry, the section is considered applicable.
backend-login: | Specifies the username to use for authentication with the backend.
backend-password:
| Specifies the password to use for authentication with the backend.
fs-passphrase: | Specifies the passphrase to use to decrypt the file system (if it is encrypted).

When reading the authentication file, S3QL considers every applicable section in order and uses the last value that it found for each entry. For example, consider the following authentication file:

    [s3]
    storage-url: s3://
    backend-login: joe
    backend-password: notquitesecret

    [fs1]
    storage-url: s3://joes-first-bucket
    fs-passphrase: neitheristhis

    [fs2]
    storage-url: s3://joes-second-bucket
    fs-passphrase: swordfish

    [fs3]
    storage-url: s3://joes-second-bucket/with-prefix
    backend-login: bill
    backend-password: bi23ll
    fs-passphrase: ll23bi

With this authentication file, S3QL would try to log in as “joe” whenever the s3 backend is used, except when accessing a storage url that begins with “s3://joes-second-bucket/with-prefix”. In that case, the last section becomes active and S3QL would use the “bill” credentials. Furthermore, file system encryption passphrases will be used for storage urls that start with “s3://joes-first-bucket” or “s3://joes-second-bucket”.

The authentication file is parsed by the Python ConfigParser module.

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