Controlled access to software. How?

[Stephen]

I am wondering how people handle the general problem of controlled software distribution from their sites. I know one way would be to get an ftp account and give every user a username and password which allowed them access to a particular password-protected ftp directory. But what if I only want them to grab a single file, and not other files in that directory? Is that possible, or do you need another "ftp account" for each protected directory?

I am thinking of a model in which some users want one file (or product) and others want another, and I want to know who has access to what. Briefly I tried to find a way to provide a "button" on a password-protected cgi page which, when clicked, would activate an ftp download without letting the user know where the file was coming from on my site (so they couldn't grab a second copy, or distribute the link, without going through that password-protected form). But that doesn't appear to be possible--at least not with the limited (Perl) programming knowledge I have.

Alternatively, I could use an e-mail script to send them a zipped file automatically whenever they need a download. Are there any obvious disadvantages to doing it this way?

[LeafWind]

Hey Stephen,
Your question sounded like something I had read the answer to recently, so I did a quick search and came up with this:

http://www.aota.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000076.html

From what I understand of it, if your file is zipped and you put a link to the zipped file, the browser will download it automatically when the user clicks the link.[nbsp][nbsp]You could password-protect that directory or page(s) via .htaccess .

Will that offer the control over downloads that you're wanting?

Hope this helps,

Bekariso

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www.LeafWind.com (http://www.LeafWind.com)
Growing web sites that thrive in the winds of change.

[Rich]

Stephen:

Here are a couple of options others have found useful:

1) If the file is small enough, you can just email it to the recipient.

2) Place the files in its own directory with its own user/pass and email how to access the file. Then, regularly change the user/pass.

3) Create (or have created) a custom fulfillment script that creates a user/pass on the fly and emails it. Another script could be used to remove old user/pass listings on a regular basis.

4)The above work for low-medium volume, but if volume is high a third-party fulfillment house may be the best bet.

Rich