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Access Control List files

ACL files specify access restrictions for the directory in which they are located. The files must be named .www_acl and consist of a set of rules, one per line. Each rule specifies the restrictions on files matching a template. The syntax of a rule is:

    template : method-list : user-list

The template specifies files to be matched by the rule. It can contain the wildcard character * to match any characters. References to files in other directories are ignored. The method list defines the HTTP methods that are allowed for the rule. The user list is a list of users and groups of users who are allowed to access the files identified. Users and groups are specified in the same way as in group files.

When an access control file is consulted to check the restrictions on a file, all rules are tested for possible matches with the filename. Access is permitted if any rule matches. The following example shows an ACL file that allows user bill to access only HTML files, but user [email protected].*.* to access all files including the HTML files. Access by all other users is denied:

  *.html      : GET : bill
  *           : GET,POST : [email protected].*.*

Files in a directory that is protected by an ACL file, but not mentioned in the ACL rules, are considered to be inaccessible by everybody and will not be served.

Spinning the Web by Andrew Ford
© 1995 International Thomson Publishing
© 2002 Andrew Ford and Ford & Mason Ltd
Note: this HTML document was generated in December 1994 directly from the LaTeX source files using LaTeX2HTML. It was formatted into our standard page layout using the Template Toolkit. The document is mainly of historical interest as obviously many of the sites mentioned have long since disappeared.