[users@httpd] weird problem serving .DOC files from apache2

[Jim Maul <jm...@elih.org>]

I realize that this is more likely a bug/feature in some microsoft product
(word, internet explorer, etc) but i am wondering if anyone has seen this and
if they know of a way around the problem.

We are serving a bunch (couple hundred) .DOC files from an apache2 server
(2.0.50 on redhat 9) using directory browsing.  The user simply clicks the .doc
file and it opens in word.  Great.

I am not trying to use DAV or anything like this because i dont want the
documents to be edited.  I want a simple Read only setup.  What we have done
currently is mark the documents as read only within word which is sufficient
enough for our needs.  Ok on to the problem...

If a user has say document1.doc that they create (or edit) and then send it to
me to post on the apache server, they are no longer able to view the document
by clicking on it in the browser.  They get the "page cannot be displayed"
error in their browser but the apache log shows that it has served the page
correctly.  This ONLY happens for the person that last edited the .doc file. 
If another user edits document1.doc and sends it to me to post on the apache
server, then suddenly they are unable to view this document, but the original
user can now view it again.

I hope this is understandable..its hard to explain.  I have NO idea why this is
happening.  There are no errors reported anywhere except for the error in the
browser.  I havent tried this with another browser yet but i may do that to try
to pinpoint the culprit.

So basically im wondering if there is some option that i can turn on in apache
to prevent the last author from not being able to view the document through the
web.

Thanks for any help,

Jim

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Re: [users@httpd] weird problem serving .DOC files from apache2

[Brent 'Dax' Royal-Gordon <br...@gmail.com>]

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:09:53 -0400, Jim Maul <jm...@elih.org> wrote:
> I realize that this is more likely a bug/feature in some microsoft product
> (word, internet explorer, etc) but i am wondering if anyone has seen this and
> if they know of a way around the problem.

You may want to look at *exactly* what headers are being sent back and
forth, not just what the logs are telling you.  If you have mod_perl
installed, a relatively trivial connection-level filter should do the
trick.  I suspect there are pre-packaged modules to do this too, but I
don't know of them.

However, I suspect that the problem is not with the server, but with
the client.  I would strongly suggest you search the Microsoft
knowledge base at
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;KBHOWTO>. 
(Note that you'll have to use IE, because none of the links work in
Firefox, the bastards.)  I would perform the search for you, except
that I don't have the exact error messages or versions of the products
involved.

-- 
Brent 'Dax' Royal-Gordon <br...@brentdax.com>
Perl and Parrot hacker

There is no cabal.

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