apache <Directory> directives, drive letters and symlinks

On *nix, the default directory directive, <Directory />, protects the
filesystem from the root up. The Windows httpd.conf contains the same
directive, however "/" has no meaning on a Windows system unless
qualified by a drive letter, so does the directive refer to just the
ServerRoot drive or all drives or does it not do anything at all?

I'm assuming it's the first, so I've added <Directory ~
"^[a-zA-Z]:/$"> Is this necessary? Does it do the job? If so, I
think this is a documentation/http.conf bug.

Also, I can't get symlinks working, windows shortcuts show in indexes
as .lnk files. Files are delivered as text/plain and folder shortcuts
as application/octet-stream, . I've tried the default conf and very
permissive options, but I've a feeling I need to set a handler and
don't know what.

I read elsewhere that FollowSymLinks should be on by default and
disabled where required for performance reasons, is this true, and
why? I thought it was a security risk?

It's a development setup, Win2k/apache1.3.31, not public but I'm nice
and paranoid about access.

Thanks in advance,
Jerry

On 29 Jul 2004 10:09:08 -0700, meganox@operamail.com (jerry k) wrote:
>
>Also, I can't get symlinks working, windows shortcuts show in indexes
>as .lnk files. Files are delivered as text/plain and folder shortcuts
>as application/octet-stream, . I've tried the default conf and very
>permissive options, but I've a feeling I need to set a handler and
>don't know what.
>

Windows' shortcuts are just little files with data Windows Explorer
can interpret to launch the shortcut. Without some special touches
Apache can't interpret these.

NTFS doesn't support symlinks, but it supports a feature which is very
similar to directory symlinks in use. Sysinternals has a small
freeware utility which can be used to create and delete these
"junction points":
http://www.sysinternals.com/files/junction.zip

However, it should be noted that Windows Explorer isn't aware of
directory junction points, so if you delete a directory containing a
junction point it will happily recurse down into the linked directory
and go on deleting. Use junction points with care, and remember where
you've put them so you don't end up deleting things you weren't
intending to.

I've never used junction points with Apache, so I don't know if the
symlink-related options will affect operation here. My instincts tell
me no, because junction points are generally transparent to
applications, but there's no harm in trying it to see.

Good luck,
-Claire