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Directory listing on Apache webservers. |
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1.1. |
Accessing directories on a webserver. |
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The information on this page concerns the Apache webserver, an open-source multi-platform webserver solution distributed by
The Apache Software Foundation. For other webservers, please have a look at those
programs' documentation.
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If a browser tries to access a directory without specifying a particular filename, Apache looks up this directory for particular files,
defined in the DirectoryIndex directive. A common example of this directive is:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
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In this case, if index.php exists, it is served (or more exactly: the page, resulting from the combination of the HTML conained in the file
and the modifications done by the included PHP script, is served); otherwise index.html is sent to the webbrowser. But, what happens if neither
of the files mentioned in the DirectoryIndex directive exists?
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Two possibilities:
• If Indexes is part of the keywords in the Options directive, Apache displays the directory's content
(as a rudimentary listing).
• If there is no Indexes option for this directory (e.g. for /cgi-bin, a directory, that the web user must not be able to access), an
error 403 (Forbidden) is generated.
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Example of an Options directive:
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
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1.2. |
Fancy indexing. |
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The default directory listing returned by Apache is really rudimentary and far away from pretty. However, there is a standard Apache
module called fancy indexing, switched on by the directive:
IndexOptions FancyIndexing
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With fancy indexing active, a whole set of new directives becomes available, allowing server-generated directory listings with header and
footer, file sorting, file-type specific icons and descriptions, etc. For information about this feature, have a look at the Apache manual
or search the Internet for "Apache fancy indexing".
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1.3. |
Alternatives. |
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Instead of using the Apache build-in features, it is of course possible to use your own scripts in order to list your directories exactly
the way you want. If you search the Internet, you'll find lots of custom solutions (mostly using PHP) for listing your files, some very
simple, others complete applications. In the next chapter, I describe my scripts, as used to list the content of the
Lazarus/Free Pascal download directories on this website.
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