[mapserver-dev] Tile Access API

[Daniel Morissette]

Stephen Woodbridge wrote:
> I will +1 on this as the default.
> 
> Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>> Paul Ramsey wrote:
>>> I think being able to turn off access modes via a map file
>>> configuration is GOOD.
>>> I think having them turned off by default is BAD.
>>> Ease of use, ease of set-up. 
>>
>> Folks,
>>
>> I concur with Paul.  I'm excited about a mode to control which services
>> (and which versions of services) are permitted, but the default should
>> be provide all services that we have built in at configure time (IMHO).
>>

I could live with everything enabled by default if that's what everybody 
wants, but how would that work in practice for those wishing to 
configure a safe server?

If all services are enabled by default then in order to have a "safe" 
server with only one service enabled, one will need to explicitly list 
all the services they don't need (that is: all supported services but 
one). If you add version handling to the mix it can become quite 
complicated and hard to have an exhaustive list of everything you need 
to exclude. One would also need to update the list of exclusions in 
their mapfiles everytime they upgrade to a new MapServer that supports 
more services/versions... what a poor "MapServer experience" for the 
admins who care about being safe... and there are more of those than 
you'd think.

OTOH, if you start by turning everything off and list only what you're 
interested in, it will be much easier to be setup a "safe" server in 
which you are confident that all the toys you don't need are disabled.

Could you please make a proposal for the way you'd handle the list of 
exclusions if you start with everything enabled?

If we start with everything disabled by default, then we could perhaps 
use something like the following, using a hashtable in the mapObj to 
store the information:

   SERVICES
     "WMS"   "*"           # Enable all versions of WMS
     "WMS"   "1.0.0,1.1.1,1.3.0" # Enable WMS 1.0.0, 1.1.1 and 1.3.0
     "WFS"   "1.0.0-1.1.0" # Enable WFS 1.0 to 1.1
     "WCS"   "1.1.0-"      # Enable WCS 1.1.0 and up
     "TILES" "gmap"        # Enable gmap tiles
     "MAPSERV" "*"         # Enable traditional mapserv CGI
   END

... and if someone wants to enable everything they could do:

   SERVICES
     "*" "*"
   END


Daniel
-- 
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/