apache and file types

for this question, "file types" has nothing to do with .php , .so
or .whatever . "file types" means that first character you get when
you type ls -l ( -, d, l, c, etc.) .

if I make a link called "foo" in my web dir to another file, and I type
<domainname>/foo in my browser, apache does not serve foo, it serves
whatever foo points to - but only if it points to a file that is a
file; not if it points to a file that is a directory, or a file that is
another link, or a file that is a device.

why? if I point my foo link to /dev/random , why doesn't my browser get
an endless stream of gibberish? If I point my foo link to /dev/hda1 ,
why can't I download via http the entire partition ( with the
appropriate access priv.s)?

I figure the answer has to do with apache checking the "file type" of a
resource before it decides to serve it or not. It has to do this
because if you make a request for <domainname>subdir , apache will
redirect you to <domainname>subdir/ .

For anyone who is wondering why the hell I'd think this hard about
something with no apparent real world application, I am just curious
about the inner workings of apache.

Dennis Byrne

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Received on Sun Mar 14 23:24:27 2004