==============
salt-api 0.7.0
==============

:program:`salt-api` is ready for alpha-testing in the real world. This release
solidifies how :program:`salt-api` will communicate with the larger Salt
ecosystem. In addition authentication and encryption (via SSL) have been added.

The first netapi module was a proof of concept written in Flask. It was quite
useful to be able to quickly hammer out a URL structure and solidify on an
interface for programmatically calling out to Salt components. As of this
release that module has been deprecated and removed in favor of a netapi module
written in CherryPy. CherryPy affords tremendous flexibility when composing a
REST interface and will present a stable platform for building out a very
adaptable and featureful REST API—also we're using the excellent and fast
CherryPy webserver for securely serving the API.

Low-data interface
==================

The last release introduced a proof-of-concept for how the various Salt
components will communicate with each other. This is done by passing a data
structure to a client interface. This release expands on that. There are
currently three client interfaces in Salt.

.. seealso:: :ref:`netapi-introduction`

Encryption and authentication
=============================

Encryption has been added via SSL. You can supply an existing certificate or
generate a self-signed certificate through Salt's :py:mod:`~salt.modules.tls`
module.

Authentication is performed through Salt's incredibly flexible :ref:`external
auth <acl-eauth>` system and is maintained when accessing the API via session
tokens.

Participation
=============

:program:`salt-api` is just getting off the ground so feedback, questions, and
ideas are critical as we solidify how this project fits into the overall Salt
infrastructure management stack. Please get involved by `filing issues`__ on
GitHub, `discussing on the mailing list`__, and chatting in ``#salt-devel`` on
Freenode.

.. __: https://github.com/saltstack/salt-api/issues
.. __: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/salt-users