Protected File Downloads

[jerryyang_la1@yahoo.com]

Hi.

I'm looking for a way to allow users to download files, but what files
they see and can download need to be restricted to their username..

I will have a couple of users who will have full access, the others
need to see only the files I have allocated to them.

Can this be done ?

Any scripts available to do this ?

Thanks

[Erwin Moller]

Re: Protected File Downloads

jerryyang_la1@y ahoo.com wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi.
>[/color]

Hi,
[color=blue]
> I'm looking for a way to allow users to download files, but what files
> they see and can download need to be restricted to their username..[/color]

If their username is a unix username (real user) than .htaccess could be of
use.
If the users are unrelated (eg Database-stored) to systemusers, you'll have
to use PHP to deliver the file.

[color=blue]
>
> I will have a couple of users who will have full access, the others
> need to see only the files I have allocated to them.
>
> Can this be done ?
>[/color]

Yes.

Just place the files in a directory where nobody can access them directly
via a http-request.
Let PHP, once you agreed that the user should be ok, read the file and give
it to the user.
So the PHP-user (on *nix often: apache, or nobody, or www-data) should of
course have read-right on all the files for this to work.
[color=blue]
> Any scripts available to do this ?[/color]

No idea. Quite basic stuff.
You can roll your own.
Have a look at www.php.net, and look for fopen() and the other
filefunctions.

[color=blue]
>
> Thanks[/color]

Good luck.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: Protected File Downloads

Erwin Moller wrote:[color=blue]
> jerryyang_la1@y ahoo.com wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>Hi.
>>[/color]
>
>
> Hi,
>
>[color=green]
>>I'm looking for a way to allow users to download files, but what files
>>they see and can download need to be restricted to their username..[/color]
>
>
> If their username is a unix username (real user) than .htaccess could be of
> use.
> If the users are unrelated (eg Database-stored) to systemusers, you'll have
> to use PHP to deliver the file.
>[/color]

You don't have to be a unix username to be available in .htaccess. mod_auth
will handle non-unix names also. For a few files and a few users, this would be
pretty easy. But as the number of files and users increases, it can become more
difficult to administer.

How to set this up would be better asked in alt.apache.conf iguration.
[color=blue]
>
>[color=green]
>>I will have a couple of users who will have full access, the others
>>need to see only the files I have allocated to them.
>>
>>Can this be done ?
>>[/color]
>
>
> Yes.
>
> Just place the files in a directory where nobody can access them directly
> via a http-request.
> Let PHP, once you agreed that the user should be ok, read the file and give
> it to the user.
> So the PHP-user (on *nix often: apache, or nobody, or www-data) should of
> course have read-right on all the files for this to work.
>[/color]

Yep, either place it before the website root directory or protect the directory
with .htaccess.

If it's going to be a lot of files with a lot of users, I would recommend
managing access in a database. By this I don't mean to use the database itself
to manage the security; rather use it in your PHP code to identify who can
access what).
[color=blue]
>[color=green]
>>Any scripts available to do this ?[/color]
>
>
> No idea. Quite basic stuff.
> You can roll your own.
> Have a look at www.php.net, and look for fopen() and the other
> filefunctions.
>[/color]

I agree. This is something that's just faster to write yourself than 1) Search
the internet, 2) Determine which is closest to your needs, 3) Understand the
code so that you can 4) Modify it to meet your exact needs.
[color=blue]
>
>[color=green]
>>Thanks[/color]
>
>
> Good luck.
>
> Regards,
> Erwin Moller[/color]


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