Contribution Proposal: SASL_PLAINTEXT GSSAPI Authentication Support

[jonathannaim]

Hi KafkaJS team,

First of all, thank you for maintaining KafkaJS. It has been an essential part of our projects, and I appreciate all the effort that goes into it.

I’ve recently developed support for SASL_PLAINTEXT GSSAPI authentication in KafkaJS, a feature the library currently does not support out of the box and need the use of a Custom AuthProvider and strong knowledge of the GSSAPI protocol. I’m aware that in the past, there has been some reluctance around adding GSSAPI due to the dependency on the native Kerberos library (krb5). However, I believe I’ve found a way to make this integration smoother and more flexible for users.

Proposal

Implementation: I've added the necessary logic for SASL_PLAINTEXT GSSAPI authentication.
Optional Dependency: To address concerns about the need for native Kerberos libraries, I can make the kerberos package an optional peer dependency. This way, users who need GSSAPI support can choose to install kerberos, while others won't be affected.

Benefits

Flexibility: By making Kerberos an optional dependency, the library remains lightweight for those who don’t need GSSAPI.
Expanded Use Case: This feature will enable KafkaJS to be used in environments where SASL_PLAINTEXT with GSSAPI is required, increasing the library's usability in enterprise settings.

Next Steps

I'd love to contribute this feature to KafkaJS. Please let me know if you're open to this addition, and if so, I can create a pull request for you to review.

Looking forward to your feedback and thoughts on how we can move forward with this.

Thanks for considering this contribution!

[jonathannaim]

Hey Team,

Just bumping up the contribution proposal...

[ttimot24]

same here