[Zope] Realization about Apace and zope

[Martijn Faassen]

Alwyn Schoeman wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I've had tremendous trouble getting it to work on Apache. Did the
> rewrite rules. Did the rewritelog.  Checked out the tips for beginners.
> All documents say you must go: http://localhost/cgi-bin/Zope.cgi/manage,
> but it doesn't work. Authentication fails.
> 
> THEN just to be funny I tried http://localhost/Zope/manage and
> viola!!!!!  Why is this not somewhere in a doc or is it so stupid that
> no one is willing to write it down?

I suppose this hasn't been written down clearly as I've seen two people
previously who had the same misconception.

What are the reasons for the rewrite_rule?

* making a nicer URL; /Zope or whatever instead of /cgi-bin/Zope.cgi

* passing authentication information to Zope.cgi

The second reason is the essential one! Apache apparently does not pass
on authentication information to any cgi script. Zope needs this
authentication information to work. So we fool apache with a
rewrite_rule, which, when activated, passes the authentication
information on to Zope.cgi using an environment variable (the e= thing
in the rewrite rule). So, if you call Zope.cgi so that the rewrite_rule
is activated, the authentication info is passed, and Zope works. The
rewrite_rule is only activated if you actually trigger it with the
/Zope/ thing, which is what after all it wants to rewrite. It does not
get triggered if you go to the cgi directly.

Someone ought to write this down somewhere very clearly in the install
documents. It *is* in the docs because this is how I know myself, but
apparently not too clearly.

Regards,

Martijn