userplex(1)

Table of Contents

1. NAME
2. SYNOPSIS
3. DESCRIPTION
4. OPTIONS
5. LOGIN
6. AUTHOR
7. SEE ALSO

1. NAME

userplex - User directory multiplexer for ashd(7)

2. SYNOPSIS

userplex [-hIs] [-g GROUP] [-m MIN-UID] [-d PUBDIR] [PROGRAM [ARGS…]]

3. DESCRIPTION

The userplex handler serves user-defined content by logging in as the requested user and running a request handler on that user’s behalf, running as that user.

userplex is a persistent handler, as defined in ashd(7), and the handlers it starts for individual users must also be persistent handlers. The same request handler will be reused for each individual user as long as it does not exit.

When handling a request, userplex strips off the leading part of the rest string, up until the first slash, and treats the stripped-off part as a user name. If the user name is found on the system and matches the criteria specified by the command-line options (see OPTIONS below), and a request handler is not already running for that user, userplex starts a request handler logged in as the user in question (see LOGIN below) .

If the user has an executable file named ~/.ashd/handler in his home directory, it will be started and used as the request handler for that user. Otherwise, a default handler is used. If the PROGRAM argument was given to userplex, it will be started as the handler program (searching the PATH environment variable if it contains no slashes). ARGS will be passed to it as command-line arguments. If PROGRAM was not given, the dirplex(1) program will be started by default, with PUBDIR passed as its only command-line argument. PUBDIR defaults to htpub if no PROGRAM was specified.

If PUBDIR was given (either by being specified explicitly, or implicitly if no PROGRAM argument was given), it is checked for existence. If it does not exist, userplex returns a 404 response to the client.

If there exists a file named ~/.ashd/error in the user’s home directory, it will be opened in append mode and connected to the request handler’s standard error. If it does not exist, /dev/null will be opened and connected to standard error instead. In the same manner, ~/.ashd/output will be opened and connected to the request handler’s standard output if it exists.

4. OPTIONS

-h
Print a brief help message to standard output and exit.
-I
If given, ignore any ~/.ashd/handler file in a user’s home directory and use only the default handler.
-s
If given, set the ASHD_USESYSLOG environment variable in all started children. If not given, userplex will actively clear the variable from its children instead. The presence of the variable indicates to the standard ashd programs to log messages to syslog(3) instead of printing them on standard error.
-g GROUP
If given, only users that are members of the named GROUP will be considered for serving. Requesting another user will return a 404 response to the client.
-m MIN-UID
If given, only users that have a UID of at least MIN-UID will be considered for serving. Requesting another user will return a 404 response to the client.
-d PUBDIR
If given, PUBDIR will be checked for existence before starting the default request handler for a requested user. If the PROGRAM argument was not given to userplex, it will be passed as the single argument to dirplex(1), which is invoked by default. If neither the -d option nor the PROGRAM argument were given to userplex, PUBDIR defaults to htpub.

5. LOGIN

As part of the login procedure, userplex does the following:

  • A new session is entered (with setsid(2)).
  • The UID, GID and auxiliary groups of the new process are changed accordingly. For testing purposes, userplex may be running as a user other than root, and the child process will, then, simply exit if it is not running as the requested user.
  • The child process will change directory to the user’s home directory.
  • The HOME, SHELL, USER and LOGNAME environment variables are set appropriately.

Note that no shell is actually spawned, and that no profile scripts or similar will therefore be run. If it is important that your personal environment variables are set properly, a useful trick is to install a simple shell script as ~/.ashd/handler, containing the following two lines:

#!/bin/sh -l
exec dirplex htpub

The standard -l switch to the shell (see sh(1)) will make it run its normal login procedure, and then exec(2) the dirplex(1) handler to serve files normally. Of course, the second line can be replaced by whatever other handler one might wish to use.

6. AUTHOR

Fredrik Tolf <fredrik@dolda2000.com>

7. SEE ALSO

dirplex(1), patplex(1) (the EXAMPLES section), ashd(7)