> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brent Clark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Mittwoch, 23. November 2005 07:27
> To: Apache
> Subject: [EMAIL PROTECTED] htaccess session timeout
> 
> 
> Hi all
> 
> Would anyone know if its possible to use htaccess with a 
> session timeout.
> 

Just to be clear, "htaccess" is a mechanism that allows certain directives to 
be applied to a particular directory just be putting a small file in that 
directory. Because this is most often used to provide Basic Authentication 
(password protection) people sometimes think they are equivalent. They're not. 
You can have a .htaccess file that contains non-Auth directives and you can do 
Basic Auth without using a .htaccess file.

> Basically I would like it so that if a user walks away from 
> there work station, on returning they have to re login.

Regarding your question; This isn't possible with Basic Auth; the browser 
caches the password and username (the credentials) and then resends them with 
every subsequent request to the same realm. So you will "stay logged in" 
indefinately.

Having said that, mod_auth_digest 
(http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_auth_digest.html) has a 
AuthDigestNonceLifetime Directive which allows you to timestamp requests and so 
expire sessions. Not that mod_auth_digest is a bit experimental and not 
universally supported by browsers - depending on your application that might or 
might not matter...

The other way to go is to forget about doing the authentication in the HTTP 
layer and to use cookies. The server can put timestamps on the cookies so that 
you can keep track of when the client last accessed the realm. Then you can 
expire the request after a given time. Cookie handling requires a server-sided 
mechanism (PHP, CGI, ASP, Cocoon etc.) and is non-trivial.

Rgds,
Owen Boyle
Disclaimer: Any disclaimer attached to this message may be ignored. 

> 
> If anyone has any tips, advice or URL links, I would be most grateful.
> 
> Kind Regards
> Brent Clark
> 
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