News:
December 18, 1999 :
December 7, 1999 :
WebRFM 0.3b is now available. The main changes are listed in the changelog.
July 15, 1999 :
Glenn Ellingson is working on a modified version of WebRFM that adds some functionality (locking capability and some other things). His geeWebRFM variant can be found at the geeWebRFM site.
July 10, 1999 :
What is it?
WebRFM (Web-based Remote File Manager) is a CGI-Perl program aimed at providing a single solution for remote web-based file management. It can replace traditional FTP-based access for that purpose. It is suitable for managing websites, as well as for more general purpose file management tasks. WebRFM combines a "visible" HTML 3.2 compliant form-based layer (which is in the spirit of the tools currently provided by many large hosting services) along with a "hidden" direct HTTP layer that implements a class 1 WebDAV server. Support for some legacy HTTP methods (which are essentially borrowed from AOLserver and Netscape's Enterprise server) is also provided. While WebRFM can be installed and used by individual users, it is specifically designed to provide a secure system-wide solution that is suitable for usage by ISP's, web-space providers, etc. WebRFM currently runs on UNIX/Linux systems.
WebRFM's "visible" layer provides basic file management capabilities (including form-based file uploading and a built-in text editor) using any HTML 3.2 compliant web browser. The "hidden" layer provides server-side support for many existing clients, ranging from simple PUT-based publishing support for clients such as Amaya , StarOffice , and Netscape's Composer , to full fledged file management capabilities with clients such as AOLpress , Cadaver , DAV Explorer , and the Web Folders feature of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5. Additional clients that work with WebRFM include SiteCopy , Microsoft's Office 2000 applications (they work with the Web Folders), and Netscape's Communicator Roaming Profiles.
WebRFM implements a virtual-root mechanism, such that each user's access is restricted to his own area (home directory, by default), and it is designed to run in the user's security context (UID/GID) such that OS-based access control and quota limits are also being imposed. A special setuid wrapper to enable this is included. Other wrappers (such as the Apache suEXEC wrapper) can also be used.
WebRFM is free software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
For more information, you can view the readme file. We also have a very rough static demonstration of WebRFM's primary form-based interface. At the primary site, there is also a Read-Only Live Demonstration.
WebRFM is a relative of WebRSH.
WebRFM is currently in beta status. All major features that are planned for version 1.0 are already implemented, and it seems to work quite nicely in its current state. However, some bugs are likely to be present, and using it in any kind of a "working environment" must be done with caution. If you would like to try it, you can download the latest version from here:
gzipped tar archive: WebRFM 0.4 (76 kb)
Older versions of WebRFM are also available for download, but it is strongly recommended to use the latest version (in particular, note the above mentioned security bug in all versions earlier than 0.4).
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