Can I use this library to access firestore as a firebase auth user?

[nbransby]

It appears google-auth-library-java supports 3LO so what is the blocker that prevents google-cloud-java being used in user environments (desktop, not mobile)?

[schmidt-sebastian]

We currently don't support Firebase Auth or Rules integration with the Server SDKs, so you can only access them through Service Accounts. If you need third-party access in a Server Environment, you can use the Mobile Node SDK (https://www.npmjs.com/package/firebase).

[nbransby]

Actually what I need is a desktop java Firebase client and this is the closest thing you have.

As the only alternative i have is to write my own client against the API, I was hoping instead that you could give me some guidance on the changes required to make this sdk to work with user auth

[schmidt-sebastian]

There is quite a bit of backend work required to make this happen. While it is on our roadmap, it will likely take us a while. For what it's worth, we just open sourced our Java-based Android client and if you want to experiment, it might be less work to make the Android client work on desktop. See https://github.com/firebase/firebase-android-sdk

[nbransby]

Yeah not according to the maintainers there, please see firebase/firebase-android-sdk#14 (comment)

What is the backend work required? Surely if the client libraries are using the same APIs the backend must already support it? @samtstern appears to be under a similar impression: firebase/firebase-admin-java#206 (comment)

[nbransby]

@schmidt-sebastian I’m trying to get a picture of the work required as I’m going to have to figure this out somehow

[nbransby]

@garrettjonesgoogle is there any guidance you can provide on this topic? I would be very grateful for as many as pointers as possible before I start attempting the changes myself

[schmidt-sebastian]

Hi! Sorry for being slow here. We don't have good guidance at this point. I fear that you will hit some roadblocks that make this hard or impossible to implement. I'll see if we can get a rough scope of what this work entails, and will let you know if this change is possible as a client-side only update.

[nbransby]

Thanks, I eagerly await your response

[schmidt-sebastian]

We believe that the client side work for this will actually be pretty minimal, and that most of the work required here has to be done by one of our backend engineers. I will see what resources we have to prioritize this, but if you are blocked by this, then I would consider finding a workaround for the time being. Sorry about that!

[nbransby]

Out of interest what is the backend work required? Is the android client using a different API to this library then?

…

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 at 23:08, Sebastian Schmidt ***@***.***> wrote: We believe that the client side work for this will actually be pretty minimal, and that most of the work required here has to be done by one of our backend engineers. I will see what resources we have to prioritize this, but if you are blocked by this, then I would consider finding a workaround for the time being. Sorry about that! — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3682 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABUobwCnBABoMUGRZhLhRbGpx0sb4LzEks5ueVfBgaJpZM4Wo1H1> .

[schmidt-sebastian]

The Android client is using third-party auth. What we eventually want to implement for the Server SDKs is service account auth with the option to "impersonate" a third party. So you would authenticate with the Service Account's private key and a token from a Firebase user. This will be similar to what we offer for the Realtime Database: https://firebase.google.com/docs/database/admin/start#authenticate-with-limited-privileges

By the way, someone over on the .Net repo just described how they are using the .Net client with a Firebase Auth user. This might be helpful for you: googleapis/google-cloud-dotnet#2536 (comment)