To list a directory under httpd on a web server, or not?

One of the choices a web server administrator has to make when he configures a web server is what to do with directories in which his content suppliers do not put a home page. Does he want to provide an error response (such as a "404" or "403" page), or does he wish to provide a directory listing?

A directory listing is useful - VERY useful - for developers on test systems as it lets them see what's there and navigate at early testing stages, but conventional wisdom is to turn the faciity OFF on live web servers on the internet and indeed we have it turned off here, even though we also have ensured there's a home page in every directory except one .... exception to be explained in a minute.

To turn indexes off for the whole web site, the web administrator ensures that
Options Indexes
is not specified in his httpd.conf configuration file.

If overrides are allowed for individual directories, the a file called .htaccess can be placed in any directory that SHOULD be allowed to produce an automated index - simply put the Options line I gave above in a file of that name. But why on earth would you want to?

This morning, the postman delivered a heavy weight of papers which I had requested under the Freedom of Information act. A lot of documents to sift, and I've one or two railway-minded friends (this being an issue with the local train service) who wanted to see them rather quickly. So - a new directory on the server, an upload of a .pdf file, and added .htacess and I can simply point them at http://www.wellho.net/dft_foi and they can have a quiet evening reading about whether or not the Bristol to Oxford train should be re-introduced, and how much the Train Operating Company here abouts askes the government to pay to maintain our Melksham service. Oh - there's also a summary here if you don't want to wade through hundreds of pages like I've been doing this afternoon!
(written 2006-09-02)

Associated topics are indexed under

A603 - Web Application Deployment - Further httpd Configuration
  [4001] Helping search engines with appropriate 400 error codes - (2013-02-11)
  [3955] Building up from a small PHP setup to an enterprise one - (2012-12-16)
  [3862] Forwarding a whole domain, except for a few directories - Apache http server - (2012-09-17)
  [3635] Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING on brand new web site - why? - (2012-03-03)
  [3449] Apache Internal Dummy Connection - what is it and what should I do with it? - (2011-09-19)
  [3133] An image from a website that occasionally comes out as hyroglyphics - (2011-01-14)
  [2900] Redirecting a page - silent, temporary or permanent? - (2010-08-03)
  [2478] How did I do THAT? - (2009-10-26)
  [2272] Monitoring and loading tools for testing Apache Tomcat - (2009-07-07)
  [2060] Database connection Pooling, SSL, and command line deployment - httpd and Tomcat - (2009-03-01)
  [1974] Moving a directory on your web site - (2009-01-03)
  [1955] How to avoid duplicating web page maintainance - (2008-12-20)
  [1954] mod_rewrite for newcomers - (2008-12-20)
  [1939] mod_proxy_ajp and mod_proxy_balancer examples - (2008-12-13)
  [1778] Pointing all the web pages in a directory at a database - (2008-08-30)
  [1767] mod_proxy and mod_proxy_ajp - httpd - (2008-08-22)
  [1762] WEB-INF (Tomcat) and .htaccess (httpd) - (2008-08-20)
  [1707] Configuring Apache httpd - (2008-07-12)
  [1636] What to do if the Home Page is missing - (2008-05-08)
  [1619] User and Group settings for Apache httpd web server - (2008-04-22)
  [1566] Strange behaviour of web directory requests without a trailing slash - (2008-03-06)
  [1564] Default file (MiMe types) for Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat - (2008-03-04)
  [1554] Online hotel reservations - Melksham, Wiltshire (near Bath) - (2008-02-24)
  [1551] Which modules are loaded in my Apache httpd - (2008-02-23)
  [1381] Using a MySQL database to control mod_rewrite via PHP - (2007-10-06)
  [1377] Load Balancing with Apache mod_jk (httpd/Tomcat) - (2007-10-02)
  [1355] .php or .html extension? Morally Static Pages - (2007-09-17)
  [1351] Compressing web pages sent out from server. Is it worth it? - (2007-09-14)
  [1207] Simple but effective use of mod_rewrite (Apache httpd) - (2007-05-27)
  [1121] Sharing the load with Apache httpd and perhaps Tomcat - (2007-03-29)
  [1080] httpd.conf or .htaccess? - (2007-02-14)
  [1009] Passing GET parameters through Apache mod_rewrite - (2006-12-27)
  [934] Clustering, load balancing, mod_rewrite and mod_proxy - (2006-11-21)
  [755] Using different URLs to navigate around a single script - (2006-06-11)
  [662] An unhelpful error message from Apache httpd - (2006-03-30)
  [649] Denial of Service ''attack'' - (2006-03-17)
  [631] Apache httpd to Tomcat - jk v proxy - (2006-03-03)
  [550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
  [526] Apache httpd - serving web documents from different directories - (2005-12-12)
  [466] Separating 'per instance' data from binaries and web sites - (2005-10-16)
  [345] Spotting a denial of service attack - (2005-06-12)

5609

Back to
Eventful evening - a lesson in looking after contacts

Previous and next
or
Horse's mouth home

Forward to
Morgans Hill

Some other Articles

Strikingly busy
The train returns for a few weeks
Fitting our bathrooms
Morgans Hill
To list a directory under httpd on a web server, or not?
Eventful evening - a lesson in looking after contacts
Emergency First Aid Training
Lighter moments
Staff Meeting
Bath - a tourist city on our doorstep

4083 posts, page by page

Link to page ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 at 50 posts per page

This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

Link to Ezine home page (for reading).
Link to Blogging home page (to add comments).

You can Add a comment or ranking to this page

Public Training Courses

Running regularly at our UK training Centre.
[Schedule] - [About] - [Book]

Like this? ??