.htaccess question

rblampain · 04-23-2011, 03:23 AM

I have a site hosted with a cheap hosting company and limited control of the site. I need to allow some other users all over the world to have write access to files or complete directories and I have no idea how to do that. Initially I thought I could use "chown" somehow but it looks like it's a no-go with ftp and others.
By default, there is a .htaccess file and a .htpasswd file in the root directory of the site and the hosting company suggested to use .htaccess file with something like below:
<Limit READ WRITE>
AllowUser user1
DenyAll
</Limit>
<Limit READ>
AllowUser user1, user2
DenyAll
</Limit>

I changed the script as follows:
<Limit READ WRITE>
AllowUser user1
DenyAll
</Limit>
<Limit READ>
AllowAll
</Limit>
and put it in a .htaccess file in the directory of user1 but the server does not like something since I inserted that file.

Is it an error in the script or is there more to it than that? Can someone point me to a suitable tutorial or explain what to do?

Thank you for your help.

John VV · 04-23-2011, 04:07 AM

talk this over with a person at the HOSTING company
they might or might NOT allow that
it is up to them .

rblampain · 04-23-2011, 05:41 AM

As explained, I "talked" to them and I did what they suggested and I get a "500 server error". I was expecting hints on how to use the .htaccess file which they allow since, as I explained, there is one by default when I got the site.

Bodi · 04-23-2011, 12:19 PM

Hi,

In order for a user to have write access to certain files, the files must have certain ownership and permissions. You can do that with chown, you will have to connect to your server with SSH to do that, not with FTP. If you are on a windows you can use Putty, to connect via SSH.

Possible reasons for 500 error caused by an htaccess file are actually a LOT. You better speak with your hosting company, as they are familiar with the environment settings that they have.

I will quote you a couple possible reasons for this :

Quote:

Incorrect file/directory permissions: 766 or 777.
The webserver does not process php/cgi scripts with higher permissions than 755. Change the permissions of your file/directory to 755 in order to solve this issue.

Incorrect Apache directives inside .htaccess file.
In case custom Apache directives have been added to the .htaccess file, the Internal Server Error means these directives are either not supported and should be removed or are incorrect and should be re-written.

Php directives set in the .htaccess file instead of the php.ini files.
All custom php settings (e.g. php_flag) must be placed inside a php.ini file. For each separate directory you should create its own php.ini file.

If your hosting company gives you access to error logs, you can check for a more specific error, explaining the problem. ( If your company uses CPanel, you have access to an error log there)

Are there more htaccess files on the server ?

Quote:

<Limit READ WRITE>
AllowUser user1
DenyAll
</Limit>
<Limit READ>
AllowUser user1, user2
DenyAll
</Limit>

I changed the script as follows:
<Limit READ WRITE>
AllowUser user1
DenyAll
</Limit>
<Limit READ>
AllowAll
</Limit>

Is this everything which is specified in the htaccess ?

rblampain · 04-24-2011, 08:57 AM

Thank you Bodi.
There was only a .htaccess and a .htpasswrd file, each with standard directives from the host in the root directory when the host set up the site. I found the host does not allow "chown" and suggested to use the directives you mentioned. I tried that and a few others after having created a .htaccess in a subdirectory after I had created a user for this purpose and all gave a "500 server error" even the example supplied by the host (after changing "user1/2/3" of course) this was the only .htaccess file I created and there is no other directive in it. I even tried a simple directive by its own which prevents execution of scripts and should not be vetoed and the result was the same.

So I thought I should make sure the scripts should work and ask the experts.

bathory · 04-24-2011, 10:00 AM

Hi,

There are no READ WRITE request methods nor "AllowUser user1" and "DenyAll" directives". That's why you get a 500 error.
You can use authentication and based on that allow users to GET or PUT stuff:

Code:

AuthUserFile /path/to/.htpasswd
AuthName "Whatever"
AuthType Basic
<Limit POST PUT DELETE>
Require valid-user
</Limit>
<Limit GET>
Allow from all
</Limit>

Regards