Apache: adding massive amount of users for .htaccess from text file

[Erik Dörnbach <doernbach@elge.de>]

Hello list,

just a quickie, I need to add a massive load of users for apache
authentication, I have the usernames and associated passwords in
a plain text file, one line per user like:

<username1>:<plainpassword>
<username2>:<plainpassword>
...

Database auth would be an overshot, these users will likely never
change.

Is there an easy way to automate password encryption for use with
apache, thinking about maybe someone has a ready-to-use shell
script or perl snippet.

Thanks a lot.

Regards,

Erik