password protected directories

[penguinhead]

For about two months now, the FAQs page has been stating that password protected directories would be available in about 45 days.

Any idea how much longer before this service will be available???

[wwuud]

The difficulty is not in providing password protection (you can set .htaccess and .htpasswd via FTP), but rather in providing a secure, easy way to set the protection without causing security breeches or support/troubleshooting nightmares. I often get requests for support on protected areas on our university's servers.

I found a small .php script to set the contents of the .htaccess and .htpasswd files on an Apache/*nix server. I have modified it and tested it on saturn.powweb.com - HOWEVER - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you do not know enough about .php and/or Apache directive files to understand exactly what this scripts does, please do your research before running it. You may also want to insure that your FTP client can "see" files that start with a dot, as this is essential in removing any errant directives files.

Attached is protect.zip containing the file protect.php. There are other scripts of varying complexity available on scripts sites. This one is about as simple as it can get.

Peace,
- Earl
p.s. Happy New Year, Everyone!!