[cobalt-developers] Re: Apache authentication

[Bruce Timberlake <bruce@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> I've converted a Raq4 over to Debian stable, and I'm trying to get it up 
> to the functionality I had with straight Cobalt. Almost there, just two 
> features left: WebDAV and Majordomo. Majordomo is a subject for another 
> question, so at the moment I'm going to concentrate on WebDAV.
>
> I've got WebDAV (Apache 1.3.x, mod_dav) going using AuthType Digest, but 
> the configuration uses .htaccess files which I'm sure weren't needed in 
> Cobalt's version. There's also the AuthDB stuff which sounds more 
> familiar, but it still all looks a bit manual to me.
>
> Question is then, are people aware of any means of either getting Apache 
> to authenticate directly off /etc/passwd? The trouble with doing it 
> manually is a) I have to do it myself and can't automate it on site 
> creation and b) I can't guarantee that the passwords are going to be the 
> same between /etc/passwd and .htaccess.

http://www.cobaltfaqs.com/wiki/index.php/PasswordProtectingDirectories

Look in the "Using PAM" section at the bottom. Please note the security 
issue with doing this:

	Unless you have SSL encryption in place, the users'
	passwords in this method will be sent basically in
	clear text. Thus this method IS NOT RECOMMENDED, and
	is listed here for information purposes only.