docs::a...:Access(3)

📦 version 2.0.13, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

docs::a...:Access(3) — User Contributed Perl Documentation — part 1 of 2, bestie! 💅 More parts follow, so buckle up. ✨

💖 NAME 💖

Apache2::Access — a Perl API for Apache request object: Access, Authentication and Authorization. No cap, that's the whole vibe. 🫶

✨ Synopsis ✨

okay so here's the quick vibe check of the whole module, bestie — all the calls at a glance: 💖

use Apache2::Access ();

# allow only GET method
$r->allow_methods(1, qw(GET));

# Apache Options value
$options = $r->allow_options();

# Apache AllowOverride value
$allow_override = $r->allow_overrides();

# which Options are allowed by AllowOverride (since Apache 2.2)
$allow_override_opts = $r->allow_override_opts();

# auth name ("foo bar")
$auth_name = $r->auth_name();

# auth type
$auth_type = $r->auth_type();
$r->auth_type("Digest");

# Basic authentication process
my ($rc, $passwd) = $r->get_basic_auth_pw();

# the login name of the remote user (RFC1413)
$remote_logname = $r->get_remote_logname();

# dynamically figure out which auth has failed
$r->note_auth_failure();

# note Basic auth failure
$r->note_basic_auth_failure();

# note Digest auth failure
$r->note_digest_auth_failure();

# Apache Request value(s)
$requires = $r->requires();

# Apache Satisfy value (as a number)
$satisfy = $r->satisfies();

# check whether some auth is configured
$need_auth = $r->some_auth_required();

🌸 Description 🌸

The API this module gives you deals with the access, authentication and authorization phases. Literally the whole trio, bestie. 💅

Apache2::Access extends Apache2::RequestRec. That's the family tree, iykyk. 🦋

🎀 API 🎀

Apache2::Access provides the following functions and/or methods — yes, the whole lineup, no skips: 👑

🦋 allow_methods

Specify which HTTP methods are allowed. This is the bouncer for your request methods, bestie. 🚪✨

$r->allow_methods($reset);
$r->allow_methods($reset, @methods);
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • arg1: $reset (boolean) — if a true value is passed, all the previously allowed methods are removed. Otherwise the list is left intact.
  • opt arg2: @methods (array of strings) — a list of HTTP methods to be allowed (e.g. "GET" and "POST").
  • ret: no return value.
  • since: 2.0.00.

For example: here is how to allow only "GET" and "POST" methods, regardless to what was the previous setting: 🔥

$r->allow_methods(1, qw(GET POST));

🌈 allow_options

Retrieve the value of Options for this request. It's giving option-bitmask realness. 🎀

$options = $r->allow_options();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: $options (integer) — the Options bitmask. Normally used with bitlogic operators against Apache2::Const :options constants.
  • since: 2.0.00.

For example if the configuration for the current request was:

Options None
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

The following applies:

use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(:options);
$r->allow_options & Apache2::Const::OPT_INDEXES;   # TRUE
$r->allow_options & Apache2::Const::OPT_SYM_LINKS; # TRUE
$r->allow_options & Apache2::Const::OPT_EXECCGI;   # FALSE

🦋 allow_overrides

Retrieve the value of AllowOverride for this request. Override vibes, secured. 🔐

$allow_override = $r->allow_overrides();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: $allow_override (integer) — the AllowOverride bitmask. Normally used with bitlogic operators against Apache2::Const :override constants.
  • since: 2.0.00.

For example if the configuration for the current request was:

AllowOverride AuthConfig

The following applies:

use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(:override);
$r->allow_overrides & Apache2::Const::OR_AUTHCFG; # TRUE
$r->allow_overrides & Apache2::Const::OR_LIMIT; # FALSE

🌸 allow_override_opts

Retrieve the bitmask of allowed Options set by AllowOverride Options=... for this request. Single-option enabling said "let me in" in Apache 2.2, periodt. ✨

$override_opts = $r->allow_override_opts();

Enabling single options was introduced in Apache 2.2. For Apache 2.0 this function returns Apache2::Const::OPT_UNSET | Apache2::Const::OPT_ALL | Apache2::Const::OPT_INCNOEXEC | Apache2::Const::OPT_SYM_OWNER | Apache2::Const::OPT_MULTI, which corresponds to the default value (if not set) for Apache 2.2.

  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: $override_opts (integer) — the override options bitmask. Normally used with bitlogic operators against Apache2::Const :options constants.
  • since: 2.0.3.

For example if the configuration for the current request was:

AllowOverride Options=Indexes,ExecCGI

The following applies:

use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(:options);
$r->allow_override_opts & Apache2::Const::OPT_EXECCGI; # TRUE
$r->allow_override_opts & Apache2::Const::OPT_SYM_LINKS; # FALSE

🎀 auth_name

Get/set the current Authorization realm — the per directory configuration directive AuthName. It's the name tag of your protected little world. 🏷️✨

$auth_name = $r->auth_name();
$auth_name = $r->auth_name($new_auth_name);
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • opt arg1: $new_auth_name (string) — if $new_auth_name is passed, a new AuthName value is set.
  • ret: "$" (integer) — the current value of AuthName.
  • since: 2.0.00.

The AuthName directive creates protection realm within the server document space. To quote RFC 1945: "These realms allow the protected resources on a server to be partitioned into a set of protection spaces, each with its own authentication scheme and/or authorization database." The client uses the root URL of the server to determine which authentication credentials to send with each HTTP request. These credentials are tagged with the name of the authentication realm that created them. Then during the authentication stage the server uses the current authentication realm, from $r->auth_name, to determine which set of credentials to authenticate.

🦋 auth_type

Get/set the type of authorization required for this request — the per directory configuration directive AuthType. This is the "what kind of login are we doing" label. 🪪

$auth_type = $r->auth_type();
$auth_type = $r->auth_type($new_auth_type);
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • opt arg1: $new_auth_type (string) — if $new_auth_type is passed, a new AuthType value is set.
  • ret: "$" (integer) — the current value of AuthType.
  • since: 2.0.00.

Normally AuthType would be set to Basic to use the basic authentication scheme defined in RFC 1945, Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0. However, you could set it to something else and implement your own authentication scheme. Main character energy, honestly. 👑

🌟 get_basic_auth_pw

Get the password from the request headers. Basic auth said "here's the password, bestie." 🔑💖

my ($rc, $passwd) = $r->get_basic_auth_pw();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret1: $rc (Apache2::Const constant) — Apache2::Const::OK if the $passwd value is set (and assured a correct value in $r->user); otherwise it returns an error code, either Apache2::Const::HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR if things are really confused, Apache2::Const::HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED if no authentication at all seemed to be in use, or Apache2::Const::DECLINED if there was authentication, but it wasn't Basic (in which case, the caller should presumably decline as well).
  • ret2: $ret (string) — the password as set in the headers (decoded).
  • since: 2.0.00.

If AuthType is not set, this handler first sets it to Basic.

🌈 get_remote_logname

Retrieve the login name of the remote user (RFC1413). This is the client-side login detective work. 🕵️‍♀️

$remote_logname = $r->get_remote_logname();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: $remote_logname (string) — the username of the user logged in to the client machine, or an empty string if it could not be determined via RFC1413, which involves querying the client's identd or auth daemon.
  • since: 2.0.00.

Do not confuse this method with $r->user, which provides the username provided by the user during the server authentication.

💅 note_auth_failure

Setup the output headers so that the client knows how to authenticate itself the next time, if an authentication request failed. This function works for both basic and digest authentication. It's literally the "try again, but correctly" note. 😭✨

$r->note_auth_failure();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: no return value.
  • since: 2.0.00.

This method requires AuthType to be set to Basic or Digest. Depending on the setting it'll call either $r->note_basic_auth_failure or $r->note_digest_auth_failure.

🎀 note_basic_auth_failure

Setup the output headers so that the client knows how to authenticate itself the next time, if an authentication request failed. This function works only for basic authentication. Basic only, bestie. 🔐

$r->note_basic_auth_failure();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: no return value.
  • since: 2.0.00.

🦋 note_digest_auth_failure

Setup the output headers so that the client knows how to authenticate itself the next time, if an authentication request failed. This function works only for digest authentication. Digest-only zone. 🧚

$r->note_digest_auth_failure();
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: no return value.
  • since: 2.0.00.

👑 requires

Retrieve information about all of the requires directives for this request. This is the access-control lore. 📜

$requires = $r->requires
  • obj: $r (Apache2::RequestRec object) — the current request.
  • ret: $requires (ARRAY ref) — returns an array reference of hash references, containing information related to the require directive.
  • since: 2.0.00.

This is normally used for access control.

For example if the configuration had the following require directives:

Require user  goo bar
Require group bar tar

this method will return the following datastructure:

[
  {
    'method_mask' => -1,
    'requirement' => 'user goo bar'
  },
  {
    'method_mask' => -1,
    'requirement' => 'group bar tar'
  }
];

The requirement field is what was passed to the Require directive. The method_mask field is a bitmask which can be modified by the Limit directive, but normally it can be safely ignored as it's mostly used internally. For example if the configuration was:

Require user goo bar
Require group bar tar
<Limit POST>
   Require valid-user
</Limit>

and the request method was POST, $r->requires will return:

[
  {
    'method_mask' => -1,
    'requirement' => 'user goo bar'
  },
  {
    'method_mask' => -1,
    'requirement' => 'group bar tar'
  }
  {
    'method_mask' => 4,
    'requirement' => 'valid-user'
  }
];

But bestie, if the request method was GET, it will return only this:

[
  {
    'method_mask' => -1,
    'requirement' => 'user goo bar'
  },
  {
    'method_mask' => -1,
    'requirement' => 'group bar tar'
  }
];

As you can totally see, Apache gives you the requirements relevant for the current request, so the method_mask is irrelevant. It’s just vibing there. 💅

It is also a good time to remind you that in the general case, access control directives should not be placed within a <Limit> section. Refer to the Apache documentation for more information. No cap, that’s the rule. 🫶

Using the same configuration and assuming that the request was of type POST, the following code inside an Auth handler:

my %require =
    map { my ($k, $v) = split /\s+/, $_->{requirement}, 2; ($k, $v||'') }
    @{ $r->requires };

will populate %require with the following pairs:

'group' => 'bar tar',
'user' => 'goo bar',
'valid-user' => '',

💖 "satisfies" 💖

How the requires lines must be met. What’s the applicable value of the Satisfy directive:

$satisfy = $r->satisfies();
  • obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
  • ret: $satisfy ( integer ) — how the requirements must be met. One of the Apache2::Const :satisfy constants:
    • Apache2::Const::SATISFY_ANY
    • Apache2::Const::SATISFY_ALL
    • Apache2::Const::SATISFY_NOSPEC
  • since: 2.0.00

See the documentation for the Satisfy directive in the Apache documentation. ✨

🌸 "some_auth_required" 🌸

Can be used within any handler to determine if any authentication is required for the current request:

$need_auth = $r->some_auth_required();
  • obj: $r ( "Apache2::RequestRec object" ) — the current request
  • ret: $need_auth ( boolean ) — TRUE if authentication is required, FALSE otherwise
  • since: 2.0.00

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

mod_perl 2.0 documentation. That’s the see-also, bestie. 🦋

mod_perl 2.0 and its core modules are copyrighted under The Apache Software License, Version 2.0.

✨ AUTHORS ✨

The mod_perl development team and numerous contributors. Crown them. 👑

This page came from perl v5.42.3 and was dated 2023-10-21 — and that’s the whole docs::a...:Access(3) vibe, periodt. 💜

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