Passport local strategy and cURL

Question

I would like to test my node.js + express + passport.js test application (RESTful) with CURL. My code:

var express = require('express');
var routes = require('./routes');
var http = require('http');
var path = require('path');
var passport = require('passport');
var LocalStrategy = require('passport-local').Strategy;
// Define the strategy to be used by PassportJS
passport.use(new LocalStrategy(
 function(username, password, done) {
 if (username === "admin" && password === "admin") // stupid example
 return done(null, {name: "admin"});
 return done(null, false, { message: 'Incorrect username.' });
 }
));
// Serialized and deserialized methods when got from session
passport.serializeUser(function(user, done) {
 done(null, user);
});
passport.deserializeUser(function(user, done) {
 done(null, user);
});
// Define a middleware function to be used for every secured routes
var auth = function(req, res, next){
 if (!req.isAuthenticated())
 res.send(401);
 else
 next();
};
var app = express();
// all environments
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(passport.initialize());
app.use(passport.session());
app.use(app.router);
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// development only
if ('development' == app.get('env')) {
 app.use(express.errorHandler());
}
app.get('/test', auth, function(req, res){
 res.send([{name: "user1"}, {name: "user2"}]);
});
app.post('/login', passport.authenticate('local'), function(req, res) {
 res.send(req.user);
});

Calling /test with curl and

curl "http://localhost:3000/test"

returns "Unauthorized" (this is correct so far).

Calling /login (POST) with curl and

curl --data "username=admin&password=admin" http://localhost:3000/login

works. But at the next request my login was "forgotten". Is this because curl can't handle sessions? Is there any workaround? Is my procedure correct for a RESTful application?

Answer 1

First, make curl save cookies when you log in with

curl --cookie-jar jarfile --data "username=admin&password=admin" http://localhost:3000/login

Read the stored cookies when accessing /test:

curl --cookie jarfile "http://localhost:3000/test"

Some modifications to the app itself were needed before it worked on my machine (Ubuntu 12.04) with Node.js v0.10.26 and Express 3.5.0. I generated a new Express app with express --sessions nodetest and edited the code in app.js to be as you see below. Once I had the dependencies installed I ran the app and it worked with the curl commands.

app.js

var express = require('express');
var routes = require('./routes');
var user = require('./routes/user');
var http = require('http');
var path = require('path');
var passport = require('passport');
var LocalStrategy = require('passport-local').Strategy;
var app = express();
// Define the strategy to be used by PassportJS
passport.use(new LocalStrategy(
 function(username, password, done) {
 if (username === "admin" && password === "admin") // stupid example
 return done(null, {name: "admin"});
 return done(null, false, { message: 'Incorrect username.' });
 }
));
// Serialized and deserialized methods when got from session
passport.serializeUser(function(user, done) {
 done(null, user);
});
passport.deserializeUser(function(user, done) {
 done(null, user);
});
// Define a middleware function to be used for every secured routes
var auth = function(req, res, next){
 if (!req.isAuthenticated())
 res.send(401);
 else
 next();
};
// all environments
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
app.use(express.favicon());
app.use(express.logger('dev'));
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.urlencoded());
app.use(express.methodOverride());
app.use(express.cookieParser('your secret here'));
app.use(express.session());
app.use(passport.initialize());
app.use(passport.session());
app.use(app.router);
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// development only
if ('development' == app.get('env')) {
 app.use(express.errorHandler());
}
app.get('/test', auth, function(req, res){
 res.send([{name: "user1"}, {name: "user2"}]);
});
app.post('/login', passport.authenticate('local'), function(req, res) {
 res.send(req.user);
});
http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
 console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});

curl script

#!/bin/sh
# curl-login.sh
rm jarfile
echo --- login
curl --cookie-jar jarfile --data "username=admin&password=admin" http://localhost:3000/login
echo --- test
curl --cookie jarfile "http://localhost:3000/test"

Console log with curl output

$ node app &
$ sh curl-login.sh
--- login
POST /login 200 2ms - 21b
{
 "name": "admin"
}--- test
GET /test 200 1ms - 60b
[
 {
 "name": "user1"
 },
 {
 "name": "user2"
 }
]

Note the use of

app.use(express.cookieParser('your secret here'));
app.use(express.session());

in app.js. Sessions did not work without the above two lines.

The code in your question also lacks the part where you create an HTTP server but I assume that's just a copy-paste issue; I'm referring to

http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
 console.log('Express server listening on port ' + app.get('port'));
});

• mosquito87: Doesn't work. Regarding curl manual the command is curl --cookie cookies.txt --cookie-jar newcookies.txt http://www.example.com. Do I have to use this command for every call? So: curl --cookie cookies.txt --cookie-jar newcookies.txt --data "username=admin&password=admin" http://localhost:3000/login and then curl --cookie cookies.txt --cookie-jar newcookies.txt http://localhost:3000/test? I tried this. When calling /test I still get: Unauthorized. :(
• nwk: Sorry, I was mistaken about how --cookie-jar/-c worked (for some reason I thought it made the jar R/W when in fact it only writes cookies and doesn't read them). I've edited my answer; please try the new version.
• nwk: Post the jarfile you get and the output from curl -v --cookie jarfile "http://localhost:3000/test". Perhaps some changes need to made in your node.js app.
• mosquito87: Where is 'jarfile' saved?
• nwk: @mosquito87: I edited the answer to suggest changes to the app itself.