Google's OpenID identifier is different depending on the "consumer" domain name. How to avoid potential problems if domain name needs to change in the future?

Question

I'm currently testing an OpenID implementation, and I'm noticing that Google sends a different identifier for different consuming host name / domain name, even for the same user. For example, Google sends a different identifier when the requesting site is localhost, compared to the identifier they send when the requesting site is 127.0.0.1 for the same user.

Note: I haven't actually tested this using public domain names, but I can't see why the behavior would be any different.

My concern with Google's behavior is that if we ever choose to change our website domain name in the future, then users will no longer be able to log in to the website using Google's OpenId as the identity provider. This seems to be a big problem. Am I missing something, or are all OpenID consuming sites faced with this potential problem?

I've also tested this with MyOpenId, but the identifier that MyOpenId creates is fixed, so this wouldn't be a problem with them.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Have a look at Google OpenID most important technical issue. Some infos there. Basically a link taken from the accounts section of stackoverflow.com ;)

-sa