User Authentication software

[blackbrits]

We are in the process of password protecting our pages. Is anyone aware of any off the shelf packages that automatically registers users and authenticates them, and saves the details to a txt file rather than a MySQL database. It has to be able to run on a Linux/Apache webserver (until we are able to get to grips with php-mysql, or hire a programmer).

We did see one solution at www.diofant.com that would have been perfect for our needs except the company has to install the software on our server via ftp and we aren't too keen on allowing access this way.

Thanks

Can reply to [email protected] (no spam please, serious suggestions/offers only)

[porncaster]

are you sure you want to save info in a txt file rather than using the normal apache .htaccess scheme? it is never a good idea to save password info in plain text; the htaccess at least does some one-way hashing.

if you are interested in using the traditional .htaccess scheme, i would be loath to pay for a management script. this is such a common and well known task that there must be some free software around. i know this functionality is built into many more general purpose management programs.

the company wanting to personally install a script sounds very strange to me. look out for a large 'support' fee. personally, i wouldnt go for that for one second, if for no other reason than you need to know how to deal with any future problems that may arise without having to pay them a mint to fix it for you.

ill poke around the open source sites and let you know what i find.