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I am looking for a guide on how to serve files on gemini to specific users / behind a password. Any links to some guide where it is explained in detail?
Oct 27 · 7 weeks ago
I think you may have to build a script for that and I think you should use certs, not a password.
Gemini only has one input and no cookies. The most you could do is prompt a user for a password, and return data if the password matches.
But thats gone as soon as you use it.
You are better off using user-generated certs as this is the only method of identifying users in Gemini across visits.
Every single file would have to be a CGI that checks the user's cert to see if it's in the allowed list before writing the file to text or octet-stream.
🚀 LucasMW [OP] · Oct 27 at 23:06:
I actually am not aiming to build an application. It could be a hardcoded cert, for all I care. How can I do it?
See section three for a couple examples.
Another alternative way would be to make a secret file name, so that you can only access the file if you know the file name. This avoids needing CGI, although you will have to disable directory listing.
If you have access to CGI, check for the users certificate, that guarantees user identity better than passwords. Otherwise a 'secret file' is your only option...
🚀 clseibold · Oct 28 at 01:07:
I'm surprised nobody mentioned @skyjake 's great Gemini App Developers Guide! :D
— Gemini App Developer's Guide
The gemini server software Molly Brown has inbuilt support for this. To quote the README:
`CertificateZones`: In this section of the config file, keys are path regexs and values are lists of hex-encoded SHA256 fingerprints of client certificates. Any requests whose path matches one of the regexs will only be served as normal if the request is made with a client certificate whose fingerprint is in the corresponding list.
poor man's solution: zip the file(s) and encrypt. send password only to user