Different formats of OpenIDs

Question

stackoverflow,

I am experimenting with implementing OpenID in my existing site. I have looked at Plaxo's article on this very subject and I'm a mite confused about something.

I am using this PHP OpenID library. I have some code running, and I am getting a unique OpenID back.

From myopenid.com, I am getting an id that looks like https://mecablaze.myopenid.com/

But from Yahoo and Google, I am getting an ID that much more cryptic, e.g. https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlbp1cxujdJWDnpx72xVROOw-5V_WzIDZA

Are Google's and Yahoo's "gibberish" ids unique for every login user, i.e. is this the value that I use to tie in with existing user on my web app?

Answer 1

openid_identifier is a URL. It may be readable or may be cryptic, it's up to OP to decide. And yes, canonicalized URL is what you use as a key.