Apache Module mod_authz_groupfile

Description:	Group authorization using plaintext files
Status:	Base
ModuleIdentifier:	authz_groupfile_module
SourceFile:	mod_authz_groupfile.c
Compatibility:	Available in Apache 2.1 and later

Summary

This module provides authorization capabilities so that authenticated users can be allowed or denied access to portions of the web site by group membership. Similar functionality is provided by mod_authz_dbm.

Topics

The Require Directives

Directives

AuthGroupFile

Bugfix checklist

The Require Directives

Apache's Require directives are used during the authorization phase to ensure that a user is allowed to access a resource. mod_authz_groupfile extends the authorization types with group and group-file.

Since v2.4.8, expressions are supported within the groupfile require directives.

Require group

This directive specifies group membership that is required for the user to gain access.

Require group admin

Require file-group

When this directive is specified, the filesystem permissions on the file being accessed are consulted. The user must be a member of a group with the same name as the group that owns the file. See mod_authz_owner for more details.

Require file-group

AuthGroupFile Directive

Description:	Sets the name of a text file containing the list of user groups for authorization
Syntax:	`AuthGroupFile file-path`
Context:	directory, .htaccess
Override:	AuthConfig
Status:	Base
Module:	mod_authz_groupfile

The AuthGroupFile directive sets the name of a textual file containing the list of user groups for user authorization. File-path is the path to the group file. If it is not absolute, it is treated as relative to the ServerRoot.

Each line of the group file contains a groupname followed by a colon, followed by the member usernames separated by spaces.

Example:

mygroup: bob joe anne

Note that searching large text files is very inefficient; AuthDBMGroupFile provides a much better performance.

Security

Make sure that the AuthGroupFile is stored outside the document tree of the web-server; do not put it in the directory that it protects. Otherwise, clients may be able to download the AuthGroupFile.