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NAME

HTTPD::GroupAdmin - Management of HTTP server group databases


SYNOPSIS

    use HTTPD::GroupAdmin ();


DESCRIPTION

This software is meant to provide a generic interface that hides the inconsistencies across HTTP server implementations of user and group databases.


METHODS

new ()
Here's where we find out what's different about your server.

Some examples:

    @DBM = (DBType => 'DBM',
            DB     => '.htgroup',
            Server => 'apache');

    $group = new HTTPD::GroupAdmin @DBM;

This creates an object who's database is a DBM file named '.htgroup', in a format that the Apache server understands.

    @Text = (DBType => 'Text',
             DB     => '.htgroup',
             Server => 'ncsa');

    $group = new HTTPD::GroupAdmin @Text;

This creates an object who's database is a plain text file named '.htgroup', in a format that the NCSA server understands.

Note: Support is not yet availible for SQL servers

Full list of constructor attributes:

Note: Attribute names are case-insensitive

Name - Group name

DBType - The type of database, one of 'DBM', 'Text', or 'SQL' (Default is 'DBM')

DB - The database name (Default is '.htpasswd' for DBM & Text databases)

Server - HTTP server name (Default is the generic class, that works with NCSA, Apache and possibly others)

Note: run 'perl t/support.t matrix' to see what support is currently availible

Path - Relative DB files are resolved to this value (Default is '.')

Locking - Boolean, Lock Text and DBM files (Default is true)

Debug - Boolean, Turn on debug mode

Specific to DBM files:

DBMF - The DBM file implementation to use (Default is 'NDBM')

Flags - The read, write and create flags. There are four modes: rwc - the default, open for reading, writing and creating. rw - open for reading and writing. r - open for reading only. w - open for writing only.

Mode - The file creation mode, defaults to '0644'

From here on out, things should look the same for everyone.

add($username[,$groupname])
Add user $username to group $groupname, or whatever the 'Name' attribute is set to.

Fails if $username exists in the database

    if($group->add('dougm', 'www-group')) {
        print "Welcome!\n";
    }

delete($username[,$groupname])
Delete user $username from group $groupname, or whatever the 'Name' attribute is set to.

    if($group->delete('dougm')) {
        print "He's gone from the group\n";
    }

exists($groupname, [$username])
True if $groupname is found in the database

    if($group->exists('web-heads')) {
        die "oh no!";
    }
    if($group->exists($groupname, $username) {
        #$username is a member of $groupname
    }

list([$groupname])
Returns a list of group names, or users in a group if '$name' is present.

@groups = $group->list;

@users = $group->list('web-heads');

user()
Short cut for creating an HTTPD::UserAdmin object. All applicable attributes are inherited, but can be overridden.

    $user = $group->user();

(See HTTPD::UserAdmin)

convert(@Attributes)
Convert a database.

    #not yet

remove($groupname)
Remove group $groupname from the database

name($groupname)
Change the value of 'Name' attribute.

    $group->name('bew-ediw-dlrow');

debug($boolean)
Turn debugging on or off

lock([$timeout]) =item unlock()
These methods give you control of the locking mechanism.

    $group = new HTTPD::GroupAdmin (Locking => 0); #turn off auto-locking
    $group->lock; #lock the object's database
    $group->add($username,$passwd); #write while database is locked
    $group->unlock; release the lock

db($dbname);
Select a different database.

    $olddb = $group->db($newdb);
    print "Now we're reading and writing '$newdb', done with '$olddb'n\";

flags([$flags])
Get or set read, write, create flags.

commit
Commit changes to disk (for Text files).


SEE ALSO

HTTPD::UserAdmin(3)


AUTHOR

Doug MacEachern

Copyright (c) 1996, 1997 Doug MacEachern

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.