More on One Folder Access

I've read through the posting between rlparker (who is an incredible wealth of information) and six ... and have almost the same problem.

I have a domain with a folder called newstuff. I would like to give two users access to the newstuff folder, so that rather than emailing me new information to put on their site, they can just upload it to this folder, where I will access it and add it to their site as necessary. This sub-directory will not be used for direct web access ... I will need to manipulate these files before they are added. This is just a replacement for emailing large files. In reading through the KBase and WIKI, here is what I've done :

1./ Created the newstuff folder in the root of my domain
2./ Created a new user for these two people (user2)
3./ Created a newstuff folder in the home directory of user2(/home/user2/newstuff)
4./ Re-mapped the sub-directory per the instructions in the Account Panel. The http://www.mydomain.com/newstuff folder now maps to /home/user2/newstuff.

I thought this would work, but I must be missing something. When I go through FTP to the newstuff directory on my domain, I don't see any files that are put in the user2 newstuff directory. Also, the only way I seem to be able to access the user2 newstuff directory is through DH's webFTP. I can't figure out how to set it up in Dreamweaver to connect to that directory.

Can anyone help?

Thanks for the positive reference, but please understand there are *many* on this forum that have a much better grasp of much of this *nix stuff than I do (I consider myself to be "just a little less confused" than some on this stuff, and actually hope that some of the *nix "wizards" out there will jump in an do a better job of sorting through this than I can). It looks like you have "researched" quite a bit on this, and I can see how you are thinking, but I *think* you are overlooking one thing:

The "re-mapping" the sub-directory accomplishes making the content in the "other" user's directory available as a sub-directory of your domain via http. The way it does this is dependent on the apache server, and FTP is an entirely different protocol.

While it might seem like a subtle difference, you may notice that the wiki article on re-mapping a sub-directory only represents that these files will be accessible via a browser at the yourdomain/subdir remapped to, and cautions you that there will be permission issues.

In short, it "re-maps" http, not ftp. This is probably "just as well", as if you do what you are attempting, you will have to deal with/account for permissions differences, and that can get to be a pain.

Does that help at all?

I actually have several clients with the same situation you describe, and what has worked best for me is simply providing them with a "filemanager" cgi, (I suppose if you have read my other threads this is starting to sound like a broken record!) set up in a subdirectory of a site, protected by .htaccess from casual borrowsing by others, and/or password protection within the program.

This is "better" to my way of thinking because I don't have to worry about the users learning/borking the use of an ftp client, *I* end up the *nix "owner" of *all* the files, and it is "easy" for them to use and for me to set up.

I recommend a perl program for this, as there are no problems with PHP's filesize lilmits for uploads. The "cleanest/simplest" program I have found for this is ffileman v.08, because it is so simple for me to install and for the users to use (though there are others that work just as well - check hotscripts.com for more chioces than you will want to wade through!)

I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense, but I'm at a loss how to explain it better. Please don't be offended if I seem to be dismissing your question and just suggesting you take another approach, becauses that is not my intention. I *am* trying to show you a way to accomplish what you want to do with "less grief", but I am not meaning to represent that "my way is the only way". YMMV

--rlparker

Thanks for the reply, and you did answer it quite well. Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with scripting to feel comfortable with that way .... HOWEVER, I am comfortable enough with one particular user to allow him full FTP access to the site. Not the way I WANTED to do it, but not a disaster either.

I guess I am hoping that enough people will end up wanting this so that Dreamhost will consider somehow figuring out a way to do it ..... until then .....

You are welcome. I really encourage you to "dive in" and give the script I suggested a try. There is actually "less" to installing that ffileman script, than there is to what you have already tried to do!

Installing a "pre-written" script is not at all like writing one, though looking at scripts is a good way to learn. Who knows, you might even look at the code and say, "I could do that!" Installling the script I suggested it is *very* simple:

1) Download the archive from sourceforge (see the provided link)
2) Extract the file(s) from the tarball (or the zip file)
3) Edit the "script" (just a text file) to add username/password, and a couple of other things (well documented!)
4) Upload it via ftp to a directory on your server
5) Set the permission on the script file to "755"
6) Navigate to the script's url, and enjoy.

Once you have done this *one time*, you'll be less inclined to shy away from the wealth of scripts out there, and your tool kit will grow significantly. Don't be "shy" about experimenting - you are unlikely to "break" anything, and I think you will find the experiment worthwhile.

If you elect to try this, and you have trouble, I'm more than happy to answer questions about the installation.

--rlparker