How to use a RELATIVE path with AuthUserFile in htaccess?

Question

I have a .htaccess that uses basic authentication. It seems the path to the .htpasswd file isn\'t relative to the htaccess file, but instead to the server config.

So eve

Answer 1

Let's take an example.

Your application is located in /var/www/myApp on some Linux server

.htaccess : /var/www/myApp/.htaccess

htpasswdApp : /var/www/myApp/htpasswdApp. (You're free to use any name for .htpasswd file)

To use relative path in .htaccess:

AuthType Digest
AuthName myApp
AuthUserFile "htpasswdApp"
Require valid-user

But it will search for file in server_root directory. Not in document_root.

In out case, when application is located at /var/www/myApp :

document_root is /var/www/myApp

server_root is /etc/apache2 //(just in our example, because of we using the linux server)

You can redefine it in your apache configuration file ( /etc/apache2/apache2.conf), but I guess it's a bad idea.

So to use relative file path in your /var/www/myApp/.htaccess you should define the password's file in your server_root.

I prefer to do it by follow command:

sudo ln -s /var/www/myApp/htpasswdApp /etc/apache2/htpasswdApp

You're free to copy my command, use a hard link instead of symbol,or copy a file to your server_root.