[Nottingham] Apache and group authentication

[Johannes Kling]

Hello,

  I'm having some trouble with mod_auth_pam plugged into apache2
running on a RedHat 9 box.It compiles and loads fine, and even
authenticates users ok. Where it breaks is when trying to convince it
to authenticate groups:

A sample .htaccess file is:
---
Authtype Basic
Authname WebStats
require group site3
---

... which should allow any user in the group "site3" access, according
to the mod_auth_pam docs.

/etc/pam.d/httpd is:
---
#%PAM-1.0
auth       required     /lib/security/pam_stack.so service=system-auth
account    required     /lib/security/pam_stack.so service=system-auth
---

... also as per suggestions in the mod_auth_pam docs.

Apache throws a 500 when you submit credentials to a resource protected
in this way, and logs:
---
[Thu Apr 15 14:59:51 2004] [crit] [client ***.**.***.***] configuration error:  couldn't check access.  No groups file?: /stats/
---

Needles to say, there is a /etc/group file which is world
readable. I even tried making the gshadow readable for apache, which
made no difference. Authentication fails regardless of wether the
required group is the users group or a suplementatry group.

So far I've been unable to even identify who creates that error
message (it's not mod_auth_pam).

Any insight into why this happens would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
  Johannes Kling