/ 
CGI-FileManager-0.01
River stage zero No dependents
/ CGI::FileManager

NAME

CGI::FileManager - Managing a directory structure on an HTTP server

Synopsis

Enable authenticated users to do full file management on a subdirectory somewhere with a web server installed.

After installing the module you have to create a file with usernames and passwords in it. For this we supply cfm-passwd.pl which should have been installed in your PATH. Type:

> cfm-passwd.pl /home/user/mypwfile add someuser

It will ask for password and the home directory that the use is supposed to be able to manage.

Then in nearby CGI script:

 #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
 use strict;
 
 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new(
			PARAMS => {
				AUTH => {
					PASSWD_FILE => "/home/user/mypwfile",
				}
			}
		);
 $fm->run;

Now point your browser to the newly created CGI file and start managing your files.

WARNING

This is Software is in Alpha version. Its interface, both human and programatic
*will* change. If you are using it, please make sure you always read the Changes
section in the documentation.

Version

Version 0.01

Description

Methods

DESCRIPTION

Enables one to do basic file management operations on a filesystem under an HTTP server. The actions on the file system provide hooks that let you implement custom behavior on each such event.

It can be used as a base class for a simple web application that mainly manipulates files.

DEFAULT

To get the default behavior you can write the following code. The module will use the built in templates to create the pages.

 #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
 use strict;
 
 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new(
			PARAMS => {
				AUTH => {
					PASSWD_FILE => "/home/user/mypwfile",
				}
			}
		);
 $fm->run;
new(OPTIONS)
authenticate

Called without parameter. Returns an objects that is capable to authenticate a user.

By default it returns a CGI::FileManager::Auth object.

It is planned that this method will be overriden by the user to be able to replace the authentication back-end. Currently the requirements from the returned object is to have these methods:

$a->verify(username, password)   returns true/false
$a->home(username)               return the full path to the home directory of the given user

WARNING: this interface might change in the future, before we reach version 1.00 Check the Changes.

META-DATA

Theoretically we could manage some meta-data about each file in some database that can be either outside our virtual file system or can be a special file in each directory.

Limitations

The user running the web server has to have read/write access on the relevant part of the file system in order to carry out all the functions.

USE CASES

Virtual web hosting with no ftp access for one user

A single user needs authentication and full access to one directory tree. This does not work yet.

 #!/usr/bin/perl -T
 
 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new({
             ROOT => "/home/gabor/web/client1",
	     AUTH => ["george", "WE#$%^DFRE"],   # the latter is the crypt-ed password we expect
             });
 $fm->run;

Virtual web hosting with no ftp access for a number of users

A number of users need authentication and full access to one directory tree per user.

 #!/usr/bin/perl -T
 
 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new(
			PARAMS => {
				AUTH => {
					PASSWD_FILE => "/home/user/mypwfile",
				}
			}
		);
 $fm->run;

 The mypwfile file looks similar to an /etc/passwd file:
 username:password:uid:gid:geco:homedir:shell

 gid and shell are currently not used
 homedir is the directory the user has rights for
 password is encrypted by crypt
 uid is just a unique number

Changes

v0.01 2004 June 27

Initial release

TODO

Show most of the error messages on the directory listing page

Test all the functions, look for security issues !
Show the current directory  (the virtual path)
Separate footer/header
Enable external templates

More fancy things:
Create file
Copy file/directory
Move file/directory
Unzip file (tar/gz/zip)
Edit file (simple editor)

Author

Gabor Szabo, <gabor@pti.co.il>

Bugs

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-cgi-filemanager@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

Copyright & License

Copyright 2004 Gabor Szabo, All Rights Reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See also

CGI::Upload, WWW::FileManager, CGI::Uploader