connect's static() has security stuff built-in, so you can just use
the session and a small middleware before static() to determine via
database etc if they're allowed to access that file

On Feb 18, 10:07 am, Avi Deitcher <[email protected]> wrote:
> Played trivial pursuit with the kids today, it came up, I got the answer!
>
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> On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 8:05 PM, C. Mundi <[email protected]> wrote:
> > @deitcher: yeah. That's where I'm headed now.  I really messed myself up
> > looking for something complicated when all I needed was to send a file.
> > BTW...Dylan is always a good example.  :)
> > On Feb 18, 2012 10:04 AM, "deitch" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> Yeah, I would do that. However, I would not store the files that way,
> >> because what if one file (dylan.mp3) is accessible to three users? So
> >> I would do
>
> >> Files: /some/private/dir/music/files/dylan.mp3 (or some other naming
> >> convention)
> >> Path: /downloads/:user/:musicfile
>
> >> You *cannot* get to /some/private/dir/music/files/ directly by URL,
> >> only to /downloads/:user/:musicfile, which first checks that the user
> >> is authenticated to /downloads/:user, then checks if :musicfile is
> >> allowed for user, and if it is, then fetches the file from its true
> >> path.
>
> >> On Feb 18, 3:57 am, Edward Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> > I would put them in a directory not accessible by clients, and have node
> >> > route urls with specific hashes, for each file for each user.  The route
> >> > could be something like /$user/download/$hash (anything with a $ in
> >> front
> >> > of it will vary based off of user).  The combination of $user and $hash
> >> > should be stored in a database so you can find out if it is valid and
> >> what
> >> > file it should be.  Then send the file.
>
> >> > I have never implemented something like this, but this is how I would
> >> > probably do it.
>
> >> > On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 5:45 PM, C. Mundi <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> > > This is obviously a solved problem.  I don't want to reinvent the
> >> wheel.
>
> >> > > Imagine a digital music store.  I have a set of static files which I
> >> need
> >> > > to serve only to authenticated users.  So the set of accessible files
> >> > > depends on the user.  How do I let each user get the files she is
> >> entitled
> >> > > to and no other files?
>
> >> > > Bad Idea 1: security by obscurity: hide the files behind query strings
> >> > > generated on the fly for session.user in the form of nasty looking
> >> hard to
> >> > > guess hashes.  Ugly hack and vulnerable to brute force hash collision.
> >> > > Yuck!
>
> >> > > Bad Idea 2: set up an instance of node-static.Server() for each
> >> > > authenticated session, specifically serving a directory created on
> >> the fly
> >> > > for that session and containing symlinks to all (and only) files for
> >> which
> >> > > session.user has privileges.  The main server would redirect requests
> >> for
> >> > > files to the ad hoc static server.  Kludgus maximus!
>
> >> > > Good Idea: what you tell me.  :)
>
> >> > > --
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