[ILUG] Apache question

[Niall O Broin]

On Wed, Apr 25, 2001 at 08:44:27PM +0100, will mernagh wrote:

> How can I tell my web server i am viewing a page on it. if I have a page 

It knows already - it served it to you :-)

> with permissions rx only for user reac can i let the server know reac is 
> logged in.

Server doesn't know, care, nor would it matter.

> I was under the impression that I could do it as follows
> 
> http://reac:password@www.localhost.localdomain

That's authentication, not login - they are different things. Authentication
tells apache to let a certain user view certain content. File permissions
tell Unix what users can view what files. 

> however I have tried this and it doesn't seem to make a difference. when 
> I view the logs as to who has logged  in it says user:nobody.

That's because when Apache runs, it runs as the user nobody - this is for
security.

> can I set up apache to recognise users?

Yes, as above, but this has nowt to do with Unix permissions.

> My ftp server lets me do it in the way mentioned above so that is why i 
> am assuming apache will also.

Your telephone allows you to make telephone calls - would you assume that an
iron would too - you'll burn your ear.

> I  have used htaccess but that only tells apache that a certain user is 
> logged in, it does not tell the system. So if reac logged in he would 
> not be able to view the file with permissions rx only for him.

That's right - Apache doesn't work like that.

> Any ideas

1) Write an Apache module which will do what you want and run Apache as root so
that it will work.

2) Rethink your problem.


2) is marginally more advisable.



Regards,


Niall