Apache::OWA

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: 0.2

Notes:

This module makes it possible to run scripts written using Oracle's PL/SQL 
Web Toolkit under Apache. This code is copyright Svante Sörmark, 
svinto@ita.chalmers.se, and distributable under the same terms as Apache.
Available from http://www.ita.chalmers.se/~svinto/

REQUIREMENTS: 
============

Apache 1.3.6
mod_perl 1.20
DBI
DBD::Oracle
CGI
Oracle PL/SQL Web Toolkit, any version should work. Tested with 1.1, 3.0 and 
4,0. Check owa.initialize to find the version-number.

INSTALLATION
============

Unpack the file in a place where mod_perl can find it. I use 
<apache-root>/lib/perl. The file contains owa/core.pm and owa/auth.pm. 
ows/core.pm is (surprise!) the core of the module. ows/auth.pm is used for
providing some special authentication methods.

Next you need to edit your httpd.conf. Here is a sample configuration where
the database user and password is provided. Use this for applications that use
their own authentication-mechanisms, or that don't need any authenticaton. 
<Location ...> can be anything you like.

<Location /ows/*>
	SetHandler perl-script
	PerlHandler ows::core
	PerlSetVar DAD oas_public/secret@oracle1
</Location>

Next, a configuration where all users have to log in using their Oracle 
user-id and password, and applications are executed under their schema in the 
database. This means that they need execute permissions on the application, 
proper synonyms set up and "create session" priveliges.

<Location /ows_db_auth/*>
        SetHandler perl-script
        PerlHandler ows::core

        AuthName ows_db_auth
        AuthType Basic
        PerlAuthenHandler ows::auth_handler
        Require valid-user

	PerlSetVar DB_AUTH true
        PerlSetVar DB oracle1
</Location>

The final metod is authentication using a custom database function that takes
the username and password as arguments and then returns zero for success and 
non-zero for failure. the format of the DB_PROC_AUTH variable is:
<schema>.<function>:<oracle-userid>/<password>@<oracle-sid>. After successful 
authentication, this information is used to execute the application.

<Location /ows_db_proc_auth/*>
        SetHandler perl-script
        PerlHandler ows::core

        AuthName db_proc_auth
        AuthType Basic
        PerlAuthenHandler ows::auth
        Require valid-user

	PerlSetVar DB_PROC_AUTH y500.authen:oas_public/secret@oracle1
</Location>

BUGS
====

Probably lots.
- Headers get screwed up sometimes. I don't kow if this is my fault, Oracle's 
or mod_perl's fault.



TODO
====
Contributions aare welcome!
- Invent a cool-sounding name :)
- Invent a name-space that fits into the CPAN-world.
- Authorization scheme not implemented.
- Protection realm not implemented.
- owa_util.ident_array and owa_image.point apparently need some other form 
of input data. Not implemented.
- No transaction support. I've never used it, so it would be a bit hard for 
me to implement it...


Changes: