[nycbug-talk] Apache rewrite rules

[Okan Demirmen]

On Wed 2007.04.04 at 16:15 -0400, Rodrique Heron wrote:
> Peter Wright wrote:
> >> I am responsible for a web server that several departments publish
> >> content to. I want to delegate the creation of rewrite rules to a non
> >> privileged user. Can I accomplish this safely without giving them shell
> >> access or using .htaccess ? Are there any tools available ?
> >>
> >>     
> >
> > ahh it's been a while since i've had to deal with mod_rewrite rules - but
> > i think you can break out the rules from the main httpd.conf file.  at the
> > end of your main config file you can put a directive like this in:
> >
> > Include conf/conf.d/*.conf
> >
> >
> > or what ever directory structure you would like to use.  in the conf.d
> > directory you could then setup what ever access control mechanisms you
> > want for your various users.  we use svn and rcs along side triggers and
> > Makefile's to publish changes to these directories.
> >
> > I think this should work for you - unless I misunderstood your task.
> >
> > -p
> >
> >
> >   
> Thanks Peter,
> 
> That's exactly what I thought of, unfortunately I have no one whose 
> competent enough to even ssh into the server and edit the file. What I 
> am looking for is a web front-end, which I certainly lack the coding 
> skills to do. For example, inside conf.d, a file called rewrite.conf and 
> allow modifications to this file via the web front-end. Then have a 
> script run from cron that checks if the file has been updated and 
> restarts apache.

asking for trouble, imho...  if "they" can't even ssh in and edit one
file, do you really trust them to write rewrite rules?  you use "safely"
in your requirements...may have to re-think your process ;)