LWP::A...:OAuth(3pm)

💖 LWP::Authen::OAuth — generate signed OAuth requests 💖

okay so bestie, the man page header literally reads LWP::A...:OAuth(3pm) (they truncated it, rude, but whatever) and it lives in the User Contributed Perl Documentation corner of the world. The actual module is LWP::Authen::OAuth and it is so much less scary than the OAuth spec makes it look. let's go 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

LWP::Authen::OAuth — generate signed OAuth requests. that's it, that's the whole job. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

require LWP::Authen::OAuth;

🍓 Google

# Google uses 'anonymous' for unregistered Web/offline applications or the
# domain name for registered Web applications
my $ua = LWP::Authen::OAuth->new(
        oauth_consumer_secret => "anonymous",
);

# request a 'request' token
my $r = $ua->post( "https://www.google.com/accounts/OAuthGetRequestToken",
        [
                oauth_consumer_key => 'anonymous',
                oauth_callback => 'http://example.net/oauth',
                xoauth_displayname => 'Example Application',
                scope => 'https://docs.google.com/feeds/',
        ]
);
die $r->as_string if $r->is_error;

# update the token secret from the HTTP response
$ua->oauth_update_from_response( $r );

# open a browser for the user

# data are returned as form-encoded
my $uri = URI->new( 'http:' );
$uri->query( $r->content );
my %oauth_data = $uri->query_form;

# Direct the user to here to grant you access:
# https://www.google.com/accounts/OAuthAuthorizeToken?
#       oauth_token=$oauth_data{oauth_token}\n";

# turn the 'request' token into an 'access' token with the verifier
# returned by google
$r = $ua->post( "https://www.google.com/accounts/OAuthGetAccessToken", [
        oauth_consumer_key => 'anonymous',
        oauth_token => $oauth_data{oauth_token},
        oauth_verifier => $oauth_verifier,
]);

# update the token secret from the HTTP response
$ua->oauth_update_from_response( $r );

# now use the $ua to perform whatever actions you want

🐦 Twitter

Sending status updates to a single account is lowkey easy peasy if you make yourself an application. The oauth_consumer_key and oauth_consumer_secret come straight off the 'Application Details' page, and the oauth_token and oauth_token_secret come off the 'My Access Token' page. four little strings and you're done, periodt. 👑

my $ua = LWP::Authen::OAuth->new(
        oauth_consumer_key => 'xxx1',
        oauth_consumer_secret => 'xxx2',
        oauth_token => 'yyy1',
        oauth_token_secret => 'yyy2',
);

$ua->post( 'http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/update.json', [
        status => 'Posted this using LWP::Authen::OAuth!'
]);

---

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

This module is a sub-class of LWP::UserAgent and its whole personality is generating OAuth 1.0 signed requests. Before you go anywhere, you should go familiarise yourself with OAuth over at http://oauth.net/. seriously. read it. i'll wait. 🫶

heads up bestie: this module only supports HMAC_SHA1 signing. no other flavour. that's the whole menu.

OAuth nonces are generated using the Perl random number generator. if you want to set a nonce by hand, define 'oauth_nonce' in your requests — either via a CGI parameter or the Authorization header — see the OAuth documentation for the deets. 🧚

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💅 METHODS 💅

$ua = LWP::Authen::OAuth->new( ... )

Takes the same options as "new" in LWP::UserAgent, <em>plus</em> optionally these four little icons:

oauth_consumer_key
oauth_consumer_secret
oauth_token
oauth_token_secret

Most services are gonna require some or all of these to be set, even if it's just 'anonymous'. don't skip this part, i'm begging. 😭

$ua->oauth_update_from_response( $r )

Updates the oauth_token and oauth_token_secret from an HTTP::Response object that a previous request handed back — like when you're converting a request token into an access token. this is the glow-up method fr fr. ✨

$key = $ua->oauth_consumer_key( [ KEY ] )

Get, and optionally set, the consumer key. 🎀

$secret = $ua->oauth_consumer_secret( [ SECRET ] )

Get, and optionally set, the consumer secret. 🤫

$token = $ua->oauth_token( [ TOKEN ] )

Get, and optionally set, the oauth token. ⭐

$secret = $ua->oauth_token_secret( [ SECRET ] )

Get, and optionally set, the oauth token secret. 🔐

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

LWP::UserAgent, MIME::Base64, Digest::SHA, URI, URI::Escape

🦋 Rationale

So like, the way i see it, all the actual complexity in OAuth lives in the parameter normalisation and the message signing. What this module does is hide that complexity — without going and replicating all the higher-level protocol chatter. it stays in its lane, and its lane is iconic. 💅

In Net::OAuth:

$r = Net::OAuth->request('request token')->new(
        consumer_key => 'xxx',
        request_url => 'https://photos.example.net/request_token',
        callback => 'http://printer.example.com/request_token_ready',
        ...
        extra_params {
                scope => 'global',
        }
);
$r->sign;
$res = $ua->request(POST $r->to_url);
$res = Net::OAuth->response('request token')
        ->from_post_body($res->content);
... etc

In LWP::Authen::OAuth:

$ua = LWP::Authen::OAuth->new(
        oauth_consumer_key => 'xxx'
);
$res = $ua->post( 'https://photos.example.net/request_token', [
        oauth_callback => 'http://printer.example.com/request_token_ready',
        ...
        scope => 'global',
]);
$ua->oauth_update_from_response( $res );
... etc

Net::OAuth, OAuth::Lite.

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🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Timothy D Brody <tdb2@ecs.soton.ac.uk>

Copyright 2011 University of Southampton, UK

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself

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and that's the whole page, bestie, you ate 🫶 this little gem was generated by perl v5.40.1 and stamped 2025-11-20, so if you're reading it any time after that, know that it's still serving looks. mwah. 💖✨🎀