<p>Setting the <code class="directive">AuthAuthoritative</code> directive
explicitly to <code>Off</code> allows for both authentication and
authorization to be passed on to lower level modules (as defined in the
<code>modules.c</code> files) if there is <strong>no userID</strong>
or <strong>rule</strong> matching the supplied userID. If there is a
userID and/or rule specified; the usual password and access checks
will be applied and a failure will give an "Authentication Required"
reply.</p>
<p>So if a userID appears in the database of more than one module;
or if a valid <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#require">Require</a></code>
directive applies to more than one module; then the first module
will verify the credentials; and no access is passed on;
regardless of the <code class="directive">AuthAuthoritative</code> setting.</p>
<p>A common use for this is in conjunction with one of the
database modules; such as <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_auth_dbm.html">mod_auth_dbm</a></code>,
<code>mod_auth_msql</code>, and <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_auth_anon.html">mod_auth_anon</a></code>.
These modules supply the bulk of the user credential checking; but
a few (administrator) related accesses fall through to a lower
level with a well protected <code class="directive"><a href="#authuserfile">AuthUserFile</a></code>.</p>
<p>By default control is not passed on and an unknown userID or
rule will result in an "Authentication Required" reply. Not setting
it thus keeps the system secure and forces an NCSA compliant
behaviour.</p>
<div class="warning"><h3>Security</h3>
<p>Do consider the implications of allowing a user to allow
fall-through in his .htaccess file; and verify that this is really
what you want; Generally it is easier to just secure a single
.htpasswd file, than it is to secure a database such as mSQL.
Make sure that the <code class="directive"><a href="#authuserfile">AuthUserFile</a></code> and the <code class="directive"><a href="#authgroupfile">AuthGroupFile</a></code> are stored outside the document tree of
the web-server; do <em>not</em> put them in the directory that they
protect. Otherwise, clients will be able to download the <code class="directive"><a href="#authuserfile">AuthUserFile</a></code> and the <code class="directive"><a href="#authgroupfile">AuthGroupFile</a></code>.</p>
<p>The <code class="directive">AuthGroupFile</code> directive sets the
name of a textual file containing the list of user groups for user
authentication. <var>File-path</var> is the path to the group
file. If it is not absolute, it is treated as relative to the <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#serverroot">ServerRoot</a></code>.</p>
<p>Each line of the group file contains a groupname followed by a
colon, followed by the member usernames separated by spaces.</p>
<div class="example"><h3>Example:</h3><p><code>
mygroup: bob joe anne
</code></p></div>
<p>Note that searching large text files is <em>very</em>
inefficient; <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_auth_dbm.html#authdbmgroupfile">AuthDBMGroupFile</a></code> provides a much better performance.</p>
<div class="warning"><h3>Security</h3>
<p>Make sure that the <code class="directive">AuthGroupFile</code> is
stored outside the document tree of the web-server; do <em>not</em>
put it in the directory that it protects. Otherwise, clients may
be able to download the <code class="directive">AuthGroupFile</code>.</p>
which is installed as part of the binary distribution, or which
can be found in <code>src/support</code>, is used to maintain
this password file. See the <a href="../programs/htpasswd.html">man
page</a> for more details. In short:</p>
<p>Create a password file <code>Filename</code> with
<code>username</code> as the initial ID. It will prompt for the
password:</p>
<div class="example"><p><code>
htpasswd -c Filename username
</code></p></div>
<p>Add or modify <code>username2</code> in the password file
<code>Filename</code>:</p>
<div class="example"><p><code>
htpasswd Filename username2
</code></p></div>
<p>Note that searching large text files is <em>very</em>
inefficient; <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_auth_dbm.html#authdbmuserfile">AuthDBMUserFile</a></code> should be used
instead.</p>
<div class="warning"><h3>Security</h3>
<p>Make sure that the <code class="directive">AuthUserFile</code> is
stored outside the document tree of the web-server. Do
<strong>not</strong> put it in the directory that it protects.
Otherwise, clients may be able to download the
<code class="directive">AuthUserFile</code>.</p>
</div>
</div>
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