| Self-Updating Web Software
- warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/locker/www/randomfoo.net/htdocs/code/modules/filter.module on line 592.
- user warning: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'OR format = 1' at line 1
query: SELECT * FROM filter_formats WHERE OR format = 1 in /home/locker/www/randomfoo.net/htdocs/code/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 108.
by lhl (Brainfart | Example | PHP | Related | TODO | Web)
Anil announced the recent release of MT 3.12, which has, among other things, automatic generation of .htaccess files for dynamic pages .
One of the great things about Drupal is its integrated URL handling, so that's definitely part of the way to go. Apache, or 'full system' integration is certainly a big step for web software to take. Of course, there are those pesky permissions problems and securities risks...
Here's a little bit I wrote a while back for a file that's in a public folder listing (labeled '!!!_donotclick_youwillbebanned.foo' and w/ a robots.txt Deny rule) to block aggressive spiders:
<?php
$deny = '# ' . date("D M j G:i:s T Y") . "\n";
$deny .= 'Deny from ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] . "\n";
fwrite(fopen('.htaccess', 'a'),$deny);
?>
Two things that would be really big things in the future of self-install web applications:
- Self-updating applications. Why doesn't Windows Update or apt-get pertain to webapps? I can't think of a good reason. D/L into staging area, check MD5s, check the DB schemas, and blink a bright green button to do updates. (assuming you're already licking the permissions problems - you'll want the quality of your code in general to be much higher than it currently is (and/or chrooting becomes commond practice), BTW. (see: Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO, How to Write Secure Code, Secure Coding: Principles and Practices)
- Fully integrated (httpd-level) access control. Scattered .htaccess files are convenient, but either a web-based centralized interface, either file/scanner-based, or a consolidated Database manager [mod_auth_mysql++] is the future of managing complex role/rule-based access control
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