Problem with "~user/file.html"

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Date: Tue, 15 Feb 1994 11:56:18 --100
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From: neuss@igd.fhg.de
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Subject: Problem with "~user/file.html"
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Dear fellow Webbers,

I'm currently setting up a a server for a larger network (over 700 accounts)
and I experienced some problems. Maybe you people have some comments
on my ideas. The problem we have mainly comes from having to provide access
to all kinds of documents via file access (this is what you get if you e.g.
do an "Open Local" in Xmosaic and then follow links that look like
  HREF="/usr/dir/somedir/file.html" or HREF="localfile.html"), but also
wanting to serve some documents or document trees to the world. 

It's a very nice feature that NCSAs httpd allows users to provide
access to local documents by putting them in a special folder in
their home directory.

Ok, let's say you want to do something like click *here* to get info
about the author of this document. The form "/~userid/me.html" only
works over the server, and the form "/whole/path/some/where/me.html"
only works with local access! What can I do??? 

I need to provide a solution that works both times - and I can not
tell the server to make the whole user directory tree accessible
(for obvious security reasons).

Yes, I could write an alias, but I cannot write 700+ aliases!
Am I overlooking something? IMHO, it would be a good solution if
browsers expanded the tilde operator to the users home dir whenever
they run in local mode. Is this behavior already standardized?

And another thing.. shouldn't "~userid/me.html" expand to the
home dir, too? Currently Mosaic see's that the path does not start 

with "/", and appends the current path to it.

Many thanks in advance for your help,
Chris

---
"I ride a tandem with the random.." 

Christian Neuss   # Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics
Wilhelminenstr.7  #  64283 Darmstadt # Germany
e-mail: neuss@igd.fhg.de  finger: neuss@wildturkey.igd.fhg.de