WebFinger
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/WebFinger_Logo.svg/220px-WebFinger_Logo.svg.png)
WebFinger is a protocol specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF that allows for discovery of information about people and things identified by a URI.[1] Information about a person might be discovered via an "acct:" URI, for example, which is a URI that looks like an email address.
WebFinger is specified as the discovery protocol for OpenID Connect,[2] which is a protocol that allows one to more easily log into various sites on the Internet.[3]
The WebFinger protocol is used by the federated social networks GNU social,[4] StatusNet[5] and Diaspora[6] to discover users on federated nodes and pods as well as the remoteStorage protocol.[7]
As a historical note, the name "WebFinger" is derived from the old ARPANET Finger protocol, but is a very different protocol designed for HTTP.[8]
External links
- webfinger.net community site
- WebFinger information and open source software
- sabre/webfinger server implementation by sabre.io
See also
References
- ^ Jones, Paul E.; Salgueiro, Gonzalo; Jones, Michael B.; Smarr, Joseph (September 2013). "RFC 7033: WebFinger".
- ^ OpenID Connect Discovery 1.0
- ^ Welcome to OpenID Connect
- ^ "AFAIK GNU Social uses OStatus, which uses WebFinger (for identities), Salmon (fo... | Hacker News". news.ycombinator.com. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
- ^ Evan Prodromou Speaks on the Future of StatusNet
- ^ How Diaspora Connects Users
- ^ remoteStorage protocol draft at the IETF website.
- ^ Introducing WebFinger