CGI::FileManager - Managing a directory structure on an HTTP server

Enable authenticated users to do full file management on a subdirectory somewhere with a web server installed.

After installing the module you have to create a file with usernames and passwords in it. For this we supply cfm-passwd.pl which should have been installed in your PATH. Type:

> cfm-passwd.pl /home/user/mypwfile add someuser

It will ask for password and the home directory that the use is supposed to be able to manage.

Then in nearby CGI script:

 #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
 use strict;

 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new(
			PARAMS => {
				AUTH => {
					PASSWD_FILE => "/home/user/mypwfile",
				}
			}
		);
 $fm->run;

Now point your browser to the newly created CGI file and start managing your files.

 This is Software is in Alpha version. Its interface, both human and programatic
 *will* change. If you are using it, please make sure you always read the Changes
 section in the documentation.

Version 0.05

Enables one to do basic file management operations on a filesystem under an HTTP server. The actions on the file system provide hooks that let you implement custom behavior on each such event.

It can be used as a base class for a simple web application that mainly manipulates files.

Initialize application (standard CGI::Application)

Standart CGI::Appication method to setup the list of all run modes and the default run mode

Regular CGI::Application method

Just to easily redirect to the home page

Change the default behaviour of CGI::Application by overriding this method. By default we'll load the template from within our module.

Print an arbitrary message to the next page

Show login form

Processing the login information, checking authentication, configuring the session object or giving error message.

Called without parameter. Returns an objects that is capable to authenticate a user.

By default it returns a CGI::FileManager::Auth object.

It is planned that this method will be overriden by the user to be able to replace the authentication back-end. Currently the requirements from the returned object is to have these methods:

 $a->verify(username, password)   returns true/false
 $a->home(username)               return the full path to the home directory of the given user

WARNING: this interface might change in the future, before we reach version 1.00 Check the Changes.

logout and mark the session accordingly.

Changes the current directory and then lists the new current directory

Listing the content of a directory

Delete a file from the server

Remove a directory

unzip

Rename file form

Rename file

Upload a file

Create a directory

To get the default behavior you can write the following code. The module will use the built in templates to create the pages.

 #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
 use strict;

 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new(
			PARAMS => {
				AUTH => {
					PASSWD_FILE => "/home/user/mypwfile",
				}
			}
		);
 $fm->run;

new(OPTIONS)

Theoretically we could manage some meta-data about each file in some database that can be either outside our virtual file system or can be a special file in each directory.

The user running the web server has to have read/write access on the relevant part of the file system in order to carry out all the functions.

A single user needs authentication and full access to one directory tree. This does not work yet.

 #!/usr/bin/perl -T

 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new({
             ROOT => "/home/gabor/web/client1",
	     AUTH => ["george", "WE#$%^DFRE"],   # the latter is the crypt-ed password we expect
             });
 $fm->run;

A number of users need authentication and full access to one directory tree per user.

 #!/usr/bin/perl -T

 use CGI::FileManager;
 my $fm = CGI::FileManager->new(
			PARAMS => {
				AUTH => {
					PASSWD_FILE => "/home/user/mypwfile",
				}
			}
		);
 $fm->run;

 The mypwfile file looks similar to an /etc/passwd file:
 username:password:uid:gid:geco:homedir:shell

 gid and shell are currently not used
 homedir is the directory the user has rights for
 password is encrypted by crypt
 uid is just a unique number

 Initial release

 Move file/directory
 Unzip file (.zip)

 Separate CGI::FileManager::Templates
 add cfm-install.pl install script




 Use CGI::Application::Plugin::Session
 remove catching the warning of CA and require higher version of CA
 add a test that test a particular warning
 some subs were called as functions, now they are called as methods allowing better subclassing

 - install the module as regular CPAN module and add a script that will generate the templates
   and hard-code their location in the script.

 - Replace the Unix::ConfigFile with my own implementation

 Test the module on Windows and find out what need to be done to pass the windows
 tests ? Especially look at Unix::ConfigFile

 Show most of the error messages on the directory listing page

 Support for filenames with funny characters (eg. space)

 Test all the functions, look for security issues !
 Show the current directory  (the virtual path)
 Separate footer/header
 Enable external templates

 Security issues: can I be sure that unzipping a file will open files only under the current directory ?
 What should I do in case a file that comes from an unzip operation already exists ?

 ZIP: currently the path to unzip is hard coded. It probably should be replaced by Archive::Zip

 More fancy things:
 Create file
 Copy file/directory
 Unzip file (tar/gz/zip)
 Edit file (simple editor)

 look at CGI::Explorer and check what is the relationsip to it ?

Gabor Szabo, <gabor@pti.co.il>

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-cgi-filemanager@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

Copyright 2004 Gabor Szabo, All Rights Reserved. http://www.szabgab.com/

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

CGI::Upload, WWW::FileManager, CGI::Uploader