Allowing Directory Browsing

Sometimes one has a large body of information and no desire to write or generate hypertext for it. In this case, httpd may be set up to present the directory structure of existing files as a hypertext tree.

The rule file is still used in exactly the same way to map document names onto directory names. When a document name is allowed and it corresponds to a directory, then the behaviour of the httpd depends on the command line options given.

Controlling access

-dy
Enable direcory browsing. Directories are returned as hypertext documents. Default.
-dn
Disable directory browsing. An attempt to access a directory will generate an error response.
-ds
Selective directory browsing; enabled only for directories containing a file named .www_browsable

Inclusion of README Files

It is common practice to put a file named README into a directory containing instructions or notices to be read by anyone new to the directory. httpd will by default embed any README file in the hypertext version of a directory.

-dt
For any browsable directory which contains a README file, include the text of the README file at the top of the document before the listing. Default.
-db
As -dt but put the README at the bottom, after the listing. The -db and -dt options may be combined with -dy as -dyb, -dty etc.
-dr
Disables the README inclusion feature.
httpd@info.cern.ch