Re: docs via www behaviour

[will trillich <will@serensoft.com>]

On Sat, Feb 15, 2003 at 10:58:49PM +1300, Richard Hector wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 15, 2003 at 01:45:03AM -0600, Nathan E Norman wrote:
> > On Sat, Feb 15, 2003 at 06:00:20PM +1300, Richard Hector wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > > 
> > > I've just discovered something interesting - when I view docs for
> > > my installed packages via apache, there are some files I don't see.
> > > 
> > > I _think_, this is because apache treats files starting with
> > > "README" specially.
> > > 
> > > Is the appropriate solution to turn this behaviour off in apache,
> > > or would it be better for package maintainers not to put such
> > > files in the doc directory?
> > 
> > Here's the Apache config line responsible:
> > 
> >   IndexIgnore .??* *~ *# HEADER* README.* RCS CVS *,v *,t
> 
> Thanks for that; done.
> 
> That's half of it. My thinking is though, if this is a standard
> assumption for a webserver configuration, and the doc directory
> is intended to be viewed like that, perhaps README is a bad name
> for things to be given?
> 
> On the other hand, perhaps it's a bad assumption for a webserver to
> make, except when done intentionally for a specific purpose.
> 
> I don't know if either is worthy of even a wishlist bug - but it
> had me stuck, and assuming that various other packages had
> inadequate documentation, simply because I couldn't find it.

further apache configuration can allow you to customize the
directory listings generated by mod_autoindex:

	<ifModule mod_autoindex.c>
		ReadmeName README
		# ReadmeName .autoix.footer
		HeaderName HEADER
		# HeaderName .autoix.header
		IndexIgnore .??* *~ *# HEADER* README.* RCS CVS *,v *,t
	</ifModule>
	<Files ~ "(README|HEADER)$">
		ForceType text/plain
	</Files>

when there's no index.html (or as specified by your mod_dir
configuration directive DirectoryIndex, which see) your apache
can display a directory listing; you can use the README (or
whatever you specify) and HEADER (likewise) to customize it.

(and <Files> is part of http_core, so it's always available
whether you have modules loaded or not.)

at <http://www.apacheref.com/ref/mod_autoindex.html> you'll learn
all kinds of cool stuff like this. (also see apache.org)

-- 
I use Debian/GNU Linux version 3.0;
Linux server 2.4.20-k6 #1 Mon Jan 13 23:49:14 EST 2003 i586 unknown
 
DEBIAN NEWBIE TIP #66 from Will Trillich <will@serensoft.com>
:
Do you know WHICH SHELL YOU'RE RUNNING? If not, you can find out:
	ps T
and the first item listed is most likely to be your shell.
(Valid shells are listed in /etc/shells.) The default user shell
for Debian is bash, which you can learn about via "man bash".

Also see http://newbieDoc.sourceForge.net/ ...