The VAXbb Homepage

VAXBB version 0.95 / John G. Drummond / omar@allwrong.com
---------------------------------------------------------
README.AUTH  for VAXBB version 0.95

VAXBB requires HTTP Basic Authentication because it uses
the $REMOTE_USER CGI environment variable to keep track
of which user is which.  In addition to providing a modicum
of security, it also allows VAXBB to run without cookies.

I am shamelessly sticking with Apache here.  At the moment
it's the only web server I'm that familiar with.

Basic Auth under Apache is pretty simple.  It requires two
things.  One is a file called .htaccess in your vaxbb
directory.  When run with the --initial switch, the addbbuser
program will attempt to create this file for you in addition
to creating the administrator user.  DO NOT RUN "addbbuser 
--initial" WITHOUT FIRST EDITING THE bbconfig FILE!

A simple .htaccess file looks like this:

----.htaccess SAMPLE----

AuthUserFile /var/lib/apache/bbpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "VAXBB"
AuthType Basic
require valid-user

--End .htaccess SAMPLE--

If generated by addbbuser, the AuthUserFile will correspond
to the $BBPASSWD entry in the bbconfig file.

The second thing that basic authentication requires is the
appropriate entry in your httpd.conf (or access.conf) file.
Mine looks like this:

----Sample httpd.conf entry----

<Directory "/var/lib/apache/cgi-bin/vaxbb">
        AllowOverride All
        Options None
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
</Directory>

--End Sample httpd.conf entry--

The directory stated should be wherever you put the vaxbb
directory, and should be the same as the $BBCGI entry in your
bbconfig file.

Also, see:

<http://apachetoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-07-19-002-01-NW-LF-SW>

This is a tutorial on using .htaccess files with the Apache web server
recommended by the folks at Apache.