Opus Magnum Submitter with CAS Authentication

A simple Django application that demonstrates CAS (Central Authentication Service) integration with PolyLAN's CAS server at https://polylan.ch/cas/.

Features

• 🔐 CAS authentication with PolyLAN
• 👤 Automatic user creation with custom attributes
• 🏷️ CAS groups and permissions storage
• 🏠 Protected home page requiring authentication
• 🌍 Public page accessible without authentication
• 🚪 Clean login/logout functionality
• 📱 Responsive web interface
• 🛠️ Admin interface for user management

Quick Start

1. Install dependencies:

   pip install -e .
   

2. Run database migrations:

   cd opus_submitter
   uv run manage.py migrate
   

3. Create a superuser (optional, for admin access):

   uv run manage.py createsuperuser
   

4. Start the development server:

   uv run manage.py runserver localhost:7777
   

5. Access the application:

   • Open your browser to http://localhost:7777/
   • Try the public page: http://localhost:7777/public/
   • Login with CAS to access protected features
   • Admin interface: http://localhost:7777/admin/ (requires superuser)

How It Works

Authentication Flow

1. User visits a protected page (e.g., home page)
2. Django redirects to /cas/login/
3. CAS redirects to PolyLAN CAS server: https://polylan.ch/cas/login
4. User enters credentials on PolyLAN
5. CAS validates credentials and redirects back with a service ticket
6. Django validates the ticket with the CAS server
7. User is authenticated and redirected to the requested page

Configuration

The CAS configuration is in opus_submitter/settings.py:

# CAS Authentication Settings
CAS_SERVER_URL = 'https://polylan.ch/cas/'
CAS_VERSION = '3'
CAS_CREATE_USER = True
CAS_LOGOUT_COMPLETELY = True

URLs

• / - Protected home page (requires authentication)
• /public/ - Public page (no authentication required)
• /cas/login/ - CAS login endpoint
• /cas/logout/ - CAS logout endpoint
• /admin/ - Django admin (requires staff privileges)

Project Structure

opus_submitter/
├── manage.py
├── opus_submitter/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── settings.py      # Django settings with CAS configuration
│   ├── urls.py          # URL routing with CAS endpoints
│   ├── wsgi.py
│   └── asgi.py
└── templates/
    ├── base.html        # Base template with navigation
    ├── home.html        # Protected home page
    └── public.html      # Public page

Dependencies

• Django 5.2.7+
• django-cas-ng 5.0.1+ (CAS client for Django)
• requests 2.31.0+ (HTTP library for CAS communication)

Development

To modify the CAS configuration:

1. Edit CAS_SERVER_URL in settings.py if using a different CAS server
2. Adjust CAS_VERSION if needed (supports CAS 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0)
3. Set CAS_CREATE_USER = False if you don't want automatic user creation

Testing

1. Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/public/ (should work without login)
2. Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/ (should redirect to CAS login)
3. Login with your PolyLAN credentials
4. Verify you're redirected back and can see user information
5. Test logout functionality

Notes

• This is a development setup with DEBUG = True
• For production, update SECRET_KEY, set DEBUG = False, and configure ALLOWED_HOSTS
• The application automatically creates Django users from CAS authentication
• User information is populated from CAS attributes when available