 
mod_cern_meta: CERN httpd meta file semantics emulation
mod_cern_meta.c
version 0.0.5
status beta

Andrew Wilson <Andrew.Wilson cm.cf.ac.uk> 25.Jan.96
Emulate the CERN HTTPD Meta file semantics.  Meta files are HTTP
headers that can be output in addition to the normal range of
headers for each file accessed.
They appear rather like the Apache .asis files, and are able to
provide a crude way of influencing the Expires: header, as well as
providing other curiosities.
There are many ways to manage meta information, this one was
chosen because there is already a large number of CERN users
who can exploit this module.  It should be noted that there are probably
more sensitive ways of managing the Expires: header specifically.

The module obeys the following directives, which can only appear 
in the server's .conf files and not in any .htaccess file.

 MetaDir <directory name>
     
   specifies the name of the directory in which Apache can find
   meta information files.  The directory is usually a 'hidden'
   subdirectory of the directory that contains the file being
   accessed.  eg:

       # .meta files are in thesame* directory as the 
       # file being accessed
       MetaDir .

   the default is to look in a '.web' subdirectory. This is the
   same as for CERN 3.+ webservers and behaviour is the same as 
   for the directive:

       MetaDir .web

 MetaSuffix <meta file suffix>

   specifies the file name suffix for the file containing the
   meta information.  eg:

      # our meta files are suffixed with '.cern_meta'
      MetaSuffix .cern_meta

   the default is to look for files with the suffix '.meta'.  This
   behaviour is the same as for the directive:

      MetaSuffix .meta

When accessing the file

  DOCUMENT_ROOT/somedir/index.html

this module will look for the file

  DOCUMENT_ROOT/somedir/.web/index.html.meta

and will use its contents to generate additional MIME header 
information.

For more information on the CERN Meta file semantics see:

  http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/User/Config/General.html#MetaDir

 
