Set up a webserver for multiple users and makes PHP scripts run under their account (with their permissions)

Question

I'm setting up an Apache 2.2 webserver for multiple users (having the "developers" profile). They need to execute PHP scripts/applications (both home-made and acquired) and run

I tried using *mod_userdir* but the problem is that Apache (thus the scripts) runs under "www-data" (I'm using GNU/Debian OS).

So I looked at suPHP but it doesn't support *php_admin_value* Apache directives.

I also saw apache2-mpm-itk mentioned but it uses virtual hosts, which itself requires DNS. I think I could see some workaround to that if I was to install a DNS server on the webserver managing a subdomain via delegation (eg. my webserver's FQDN is "testsrv.mycompany.tld" and users's virtual host's FQDN would be "user1.testsrv.mycompany.tld", "user2.testsrv.mycompany.tld"). But it might a bit "too much" no?

Answer 1

You could use virtual hosts along with mod_auth_basic so user1 would have a password protected site at www.user1.example.com.

If by 'php_admin_value' you are refering to the .htaccess files, then yes they are not supported by suPHP but I believe there is a way around that.

Finally, I am setting up my server locally (for testing) so I just updated my /etc/hosts/ file. That might be a good place for you to start.