idallen

Please add me to the list of "pro-choice" advocates. I think having filters on by default, to protect the clueless masses, is fine. But please give me the total choice to turn them *off*!

The .htaccess file controls how the Apache web server processes your site. You can set options in this file that control such things as password access to directories, whether or not you see indexes in directories that have no index.html file, redirection of some URLs to other URLs, etc. The apache.org web site documents it fully. Don't delete it unless you're prepared to live with a web site with "default" access to all subdirectories. (Maybe this is fine for you.)

Almost all the underscore folders are used by Microsoft FrontPage. If you don't plan on using FrontPage, yes, you can remove all the folders starting with _.

See this discussion for a CGI script to make a symlink: http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/forums/i...f=22&t=1362&hl= You can use a CGI or PHP to do most anything on Unix/Linux that you might normally do via telnet/SSH. Having SSH access on top of full CGI/PHP access doesn't significantly increase what is possible; it only makes what is already possible easier.

Here is a CGI that will create a symbolic link named bar under your public_html/ directory and then show you the contents of the directory (so you can verify the link): >#!/bin/sh -u # -IAN! idallen@ncf.ca cat <<EOF Content-Type: text/plain Hello. If you don't see this, your CGI isn't working. The blank line after Content-Type: above is necessary. The "id" and "pwd" commands below are not necessary; they just show you info about how the script is running. Make sure you make this script executable, and put it in your public_html/cgi-bin/ directory. EOF id pwd cd $DOCUMENT_ROOT pwd ln -s foo bar ls -l

Yes, subdomains can have FTP accounts (with their own password) that only have access to the subdomain.

The top-level .htaccess applies to all subdirectories unless those subdirectories also contain .htaccess files that change the settings.

The mail filters I found only let me block mail matching a subject - I can't redirect the mail to another userid, which is what we need here.

Just to close off this thread in case anyone else using ssh stumbles across it: Bill got back to me immediately about the ssh chroot "jailshell" environment and explained that it was something of a work-in-progress and that I had discovered some of its problems. After reviewing my credentials and then making me pass six exams, three character references, two bribes and one prayer to a lesser god, Bill gave me a real shell prompt instead of the jailshell and everything is fine now. :-)

Oh dear. I set you up in my "gaim" client; but, when I call up an IM window and type in a message to you, gaim segfaults and drops a core file... Plan B? Perhaps one of the other plug-ins is more stable? AIM - idallen2 ICQ - 8313669 MSN - idallen@hotmail.com

In the jailshell chroot environment /tmp is not writable by me (owned bv root, no perms), which breaks many of my scripts. (I've never worked on a machine with an unwritable /tmp.) I'm not too familiar with how the chroot environment is set up; but, perhaps the chroot /tmp could be made a symlink to my $HOME/tmp (which I can write); or, simply add the missing permissions to /tmp ? Failing either of these things, I can rewrite the scripts to use $TMP and point $TMP at my own $HOME/tmp ...

(I typed "ssh" into the TCH knowledge base search engine and it didn't find anything.) When I ssh into my server, I end up at the virtual ROOT directory, not my $HOME directory: $ ssh server20.totalchoicehosting.com pwd / This isn't true of any other machine into which I use ssh - they all put me in my $HOME directory. Not being in $HOME breaks all my "rsync" scripts and ssh commands for updating my site remotely. While I can rewrite all my rsync and ssh scripts to work around this, I would like to inquire if there is a simple way to have my ssh connection put me in my $HOME directory and not in the virtual (jailshell) ROOT. I suspect the act of doing the chroot in the jailshell loses the initial $HOME setting from the sshd login and I end up at the root of the chroot and not in my $HOME directory. If this is the problem, the simple fix I would suggest is to pass an appropriate BASH_ENV to the jailshell in the environment, pointing to a TCH profile file (inside the chroot jail) that does a simple "cd" to set the $HOME. (Reference: the "INVOCATION" section of the bash man page.) Is this the right place to post this? Should I send in a help desk ticket?

You can configure a cheap Linux box to do the same sort of thing using iproute2. I have two DSL lines at home and use the Linux box to set up routes out both lines. (I haven't got something I like yet; since, the second line isn't stable yet and it keeps dropping. When it is stable, I'll have a routing config I can post.)

O Leonard - don't give up the command line so easily! After 25 years using Unix, the things I want to do just aren't on anyone's GUI menus... :-)

I asked about ssh under a different thread: telnet thread Should I email someone to confirm that rsync/securePoPmail is an acceptable reason to request ssh access?

I'm a Unix user since 1976 (University of Waterloo, Canada) and Unix sysadmin since the 1980's. My current hosting provider here in Ottawa gives me SSH and RSYNC access to my account so that I can update my site using a secure and efficient transfer method. (I cringe any time I have to use telnet or FTP over a public network.) I have an SSH tunnel from home to their POPmail server so that I can pick up my POPmail securely over the Internet. I'm just used to managing my web site using a Unix command line interface. I'd like to host with you this spring; how might I negotiate with you for SSH/shell access? I am excited by the responsiveness of TCH here - I was sysadmin for the local FreeNet (www.ncf.ca) for three years and I really appreciate people who answer their bulletin boards well. Bravo, TCH!