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AuthzPasswd.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

    # The following is needed when you will authenticate
    # via /etc/passwd as well as authorize via /etc/group.
    # Apache::AuthenPasswd is a separate module.
    PerlAuthenHandler Apache::AuthenPasswd

    # Set REMOTE_GROUP CGI env variable to authorized
    # group.  Defaults to no.
    PerlSetVar SetRemoteGroup  yes || no

    # Standard require stuff, users, groups and
    # "valid-user" all work OK
    require user username1 username2 ...
    require group groupname1 groupname2 ...
    require valid-user

    PerlAuthzHandler Apache::AuthzPasswd

    </Directory>

    These directives can also be used in the <Location> directive or in
    an .htaccess file.

= head1 DESCRIPTION

For starters, this module could just as well be named Apache::AuthzGroup,
since it has nothing to do with /etc/passwd, but rather works with
/etc/group.  However, I prefer this name in order to maintain the
association with Apache::AuthenPasswd, since chances are they will be used
together.

(SPEEVES NOTE:  This module does not seem to work without some sort of Authentication
module used in conjunction with it...  I haven't looked extensively, but my
testing always failed with a:

couldn't check user.  No user file?

error in the apache logs when I didn't have a module working at the authentication
level.)


This perl module is designed to work with mod_perl and the
Apache::AuthenPasswd module by Demetrios E. Paneras (B<dep@media.mit.edu>).
It is a direct adaptation (i.e. I modified the code) of Michael Parker's
(B<parker@austx.tandem.com>) Apache::AuthenSmb module (which also included
an authorization routine).

The module calls B<getgrnam> using each of the B<require group> elements as
keys, until a match with the (already authenticated) B<user> is found.

For completeness, the module also handles B<require user> and B<require
valid-user> directives.

= head2 PerlSetVar SetRemoteGroup

Set to "yes" to set the CGI env variable REMOTE_GROUP to the group of the
authorized user. Defaults to "no".

= head2 Apache::AuthenPasswd vs. Apache::AuthzPasswd

I've taken "authentication" to be meaningful only in terms of a user and
password combination, not group membership.  This means that you can use
Apache::AuthenPasswd with the B<require user> and B<require valid-user>
directives.  In the /etc/passwd and /etc/group context I consider B<require
group> to be an "authorization" concern.  I.e., group authorization
consists of establishing whether the already authenticated user is a member
of one of the indicated groups in the B<require group> directive.  This
process may be handled by B<Apache::AuthzPasswd>.  Admittedly, AuthzPasswd
is a misnomer, but I wanted to keep AuthenPasswd and AuthzPasswd related,
if only by name.

I welcome any feedback on this module, esp. code improvements, given
that it was written hastily, to say the least.

=head1 AUTHOR

Demetrios E. Paneras <dep@media.mit.edu> 
and Shannon Eric Peevey <speeves@unt.edu>

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1998,2003 Demetrios E. Paneras, MIT Media Laboratory.

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

=cut