Is your system using shadow passwords? (Note: LON-CAPA will work with either MD5/non-MD5 configured systems). If your system is not using shadow passwords, then do not perform any of the additional steps. If your system is using shadow passwords, then you will need to perform the additional steps below.

How to detect:
command: cat /etc/passwd | grep ':x:'

If there is output such as "root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash", then your system is using shadow passwords and you will need to continue with the steps below.

Retrieve the mod_auth_external source by running the following command

wget http://www.wwnet.net/~janc/software/mod_auth_external-2.1.13.tar.gz

Unpack the mod_auth_external source by running the following command

tar xzvf mod_auth_external-2.1.13.tar.gz

Go to the pwauth directory by running the following command

cd mod_auth_external-2.1.13/pwauth/

Edit config.h and change SERVER_UIDS definition

Determine the user id of 'www':
grep ^www /etc/passwd | cut -d':' -f3
Change the line
#define SERVER_UIDS 99 /* user "nobody" */
to be
#define SERVER_UIDS 513 /* user "www" */
where in this example 513 corresponds to the user id of 'www'.

Compile the pwauth executable by running the following command

make

Install pwauth by doing the following

cp pwauth /usr/local/sbin/
chmod 6755 /usr/local/sbin/pwauth

Edit (creating the file) /etc/pam.d/pwauth to have the contents:

        auth       required     /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so shadow nullok
        auth       required     /lib/security/pam_nologin.so
        account    required     /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so

mysql -u root -p mysql
OR
mysql -u root mysql (depending on whether you have set a root password)

mysql> CREATE DATABASE loncapa;

mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host, User, Password)
mysql> VALUES ('localhost','www',password('localhostkey'));

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO www@localhost;

mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

shell> mysql -u root mysql
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR root@localhost=PASSWORD('ROOTPASSWORD');

shell> mysql -u root -p mysql
mysql> DELETE FROM user WHERE host<>'localhost';