Question

I recently installed my first TWiki on a Debian Testing (it's the Debian package, not the one from twiki.org) and solved some of the "beginner-problems". But at this point I keep banging my head at the wall (apologies to the wall).

I want the Main web to be kept internal (thus I renamed it to Internal). The view restrictions are properly set (at least I hope so) and my Browser asks me for my password to let me in. That's the good news.

The Problem follows. There's a new web called Public. Only authenticated users should be allowed to edit, change or create topics but everyone schould be able to view the glorious content.

All users, who should be able to edit, are in the group PublicGroup. Thus I created the following restrictions for the Public web:

      * Set DENYWEBVIEW = 
      * Set ALLOWWEBVIEW = 
      * Set DENYWEBCHANGE = 
      * Set ALLOWWEBCHANGE = %MAINWEB%.PublicGroup, %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroup
      * Set DENYWEBRENAME = 
      * Set ALLOWWEBRENAME = %MAINWEB%.PublicGroup, %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroup

   * Users or groups allowed to change or rename this <nop>%TOPIC% topic: (I.e. %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroup)
      * Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroup
      * Set ALLOWTOPICRENAME = %MAINWEB%.TWikiAdminGroup

When I try to view the Public-Web, I am always asked for my Password. Access for any user is granted (if he or she has an account). That's no solution for me because I simply want not to be asked for my password. In fact the view script never gets used because in every request the user gets forwarded to viewauth.

I installed the SessionPlugin and followed the instructions in TWikiAccessControl and TWikiUserAuthentication. If I delete all the access restrictions in every web, the problem disappears and access is granted properly.

There are some Rewrite-Rules, which forward the user to a SSL-connection, but they don't affect the system of view / viewauth forwarding. Even if I stay in one host (e.g. the https one) there no symptomatic change.

It would be great if anyone could pinpoint me to a possible solution.

Environment

-- HolgerJust - 18 Mar 2005

Answer

I never tried to put access restrictions for the Main web, so I can't give you a definite answer. The setup you want might not be supported since TWiki needs to read group topics in an access restricted web, hence requires authentication.

Watch out for topics containing the SiteMap. If one of the listed webs has access restrictions, TWiki will ask for authentication. Set the SITEMAPLIST to an empty value in your Internal.WebPreferences topic.

You could consider a setup where your TWiki is for internal use only, e.g. always under authentication, and to export the public content as static HTML pages. See related Add-ons/Plugins in the Plugins web.

-- PeterThoeny - 19 Mar 2005

What is the reason for locking down the Main web? It might be easier to keep the Main web open and to lock down another web for internal use.

-- PeterThoeny - 01 May 2005