Apache Module mod_auth_anon
Summary
This module does access control in a manner similar to
anonymous-ftp sites; i.e. have a 'magic' user id
'anonymous' and the email address as a password. These email
addresses can be logged.
Combined with other (database) access control methods, this
allows for effective user tracking and customization according
to a user profile while still keeping the site open for
'unregistered' users. One advantage of using Auth-based user
tracking is that, unlike magic-cookies and funny URL
pre/postfixes, it is completely browser independent and it
allows users to share URLs.
The example below (when combined with the Auth directives of a
htpasswd-file based (or GDM, mSQL etc.) base access
control system allows users in as 'guests' with the following
properties:
- It insists that the user enters a userID.
(
Anonymous_NoUserID)
- It insists that the user enters a password.
(
Anonymous_MustGiveEmail)
- The password entered must be a valid email address, ie.
contain at least one '@' and a '.'.
(
Anonymous_VerifyEmail)
- The userID must be one of
anonymous guest www test
welcome and comparison is not case
sensitive. (Anonymous)
- And the Email addresses entered in the passwd field are
logged to the error log file.
(
Anonymous_LogEmail)
Excerpt of httpd.conf:
Anonymous_NoUserID off
Anonymous_MustGiveEmail on
Anonymous_VerifyEmail on
Anonymous_LogEmail on
Anonymous anonymous guest www test welcome
AuthName "Use 'anonymous' & Email address for guest entry"
AuthType basic
# An
AuthUserFile/AuthDBUserFile/AuthDBMUserFile
# directive must be specified, or use
# Anonymous_Authoritative for public access.
# In the .htaccess for the public directory, add:
<Files *>
Order Deny,Allow
Allow from all
Require valid-user
</Files>
A list of one or more 'magic' userIDs which are allowed
access without password verification. The userIDs are space
separated. It is possible to use the ' and " quotes to allow a
space in a userID as well as the \ escape character.
Please note that the comparison is
case-IN-sensitive.
I strongly suggest that the magic username
'anonymous' is always one of the allowed
userIDs.
Example:
Anonymous anonymous "Not Registered" "I don't know"
This would allow the user to enter without password
verification by using the userIDs "anonymous",
"AnonyMous", "Not Registered" and "I Don't Know".
When set On, there is no fall-through to other
authentication methods. So if a userID does not match the values
specified in the Anonymous
directive, access is denied.
Be sure you know what you are doing when you decide to
switch it on. And remember that the order in which the Authentication
modules are queried is defined in the modules.c files at compile
time.
When set On, the default, the 'password' entered
(which hopefully contains a sensible email address) is logged in
the error log.
Specifies whether the user must specify an email address as
the password. This prohibits blank passwords.
When set On, users can leave the userID (and
perhaps the password field) empty. This can be very convenient for
MS-Explorer users who can just hit return or click directly on the
OK button; which seems a natural reaction.
When set On the 'password' entered is checked for
at least one '@' and a '.' to encourage users to enter valid email
addresses (see the above Anonymous_LogEmail).
