[//]: # (
    Name: enhance-apache-directory-listings-with-autoindex.md
Synopsis: Use AutoIndex to replace Apache mod_autoindex and implement fancy
          directory listings.
   Notes: To format the content of this file as an html document install pandoc
          on your host then run the following command from a shell prompt:
          > pandoc -f markdown -t html5 -s -c /path/to/style/sheet/file.css \
          > --self-contained -o /path/to/output/file.html /path/to/this/file.md
  Author: G. D. LaBossiere, Xview Solutions Inc. <code@XviewSolutions.com>
 Release: 1
    Date: 2023-09-09
     RCS: $Id$
 License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
         <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.txt>
)

Enhance Apache directory listings with AutoIndex
================================================

We want to implement a user-friendly web interface for accessing a public file
repository. We will use *AutoIndex* which works with PHP 5 (but maybe not all
later versions). This guide assumes the following:

- A host running CentOS 7.9 and Apache web server with mpm-itk (package
  *httpd-itk*) so each vhost may run under a  separate uid and gid.
- Multi-Processing Module (MPM) ITK is loaded (see
  */etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-mpm-itk.conf*).
- PHP 5 module is loaded (see */etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/10-php.conf*) and
  enabled for vhosts (see */etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf*).
- The vhost *website.tld* runs with uid and gid of the user named *website*.
- The repository is accessible at *https://website.tld/public/*

As user *website* retrieve the AutoIndex tarball, unpack it to the repository
base directory (e.g. */home/website/www/website/public*) and set the correct
file attributes:

    > wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/autoindex/AutoIndex-2.2.4.tar.gz -P ./
    > tar -xvzf ./AutoIndex-2.2.4.tar.gz --strip-components 1 -C /home/website/www/website/public/
    > find /home/website/www/website/public -maxdepth 1 -type f | xargs chmod -x

Edit the directives for the repository directory in the Apache configuration
file of the vhost user (e.g. */etc/httpd/conf.d/website.conf*):

    <Directory /home/website/www/website/public>
      DirectoryIndex index.php
    </Directory>

Test and reload the Apache configuration:  

    > apachectl -t
      Syntax OK
    > sudo systemctl reload httpd

From your web browser connect to the PHP configuration page (e.g.
*https://website/tld/public/index.php*). Set and save the AutoIndex
configuration parameters which will be saved to *AutoIndex.conf.php* in the
public directory (e.g. */home/website/www/website/public/AutoIndex.conf.php*).

Edit *hidden_files* to add names and patterns of files and subdirectories that
will not displayed in the AutoIndex directory listing (e.g.
*/home/website/www/website/public/hidden_files*).

Modify display and other parameters by editing files in the *templates*
subdirectory (e.g. */home/website/www/website/public/templates*). See the
*readme.html* file in *templates* for more information.

You may optionally remove the information files which were extracted from the
AutoIndex tarball:

    > rm /home/website/www/website/public/{change_log,license,readme}.html

### References
- [Apache Module mod\_autoindex](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_autoindex.html) \
- [AutoIndex on SourceForge](https://autoindex.sourceforge.net/) \
- [AutoIndex on GitHub](https://github.com/justinhagstrom/AutoIndex) \
- [AutoIndex CVE statistics](https://www.cvedetails.com/product/12562/Justin-Hagstrom-Autoindex-Php-Script.html?vendor_id=7444)