From: Rich Bowen Previous releases of Apache have included a module which
- generates a 'clickstream' log of user activity on a site using
- cookies. This was called the "cookies" module, mod_cookies. In
- Apache 1.2 and later this module has been renamed the "user
- tracking" module, mod_usertrack. This module has been
- simplified and new directives added. Provides tracking of a user through your website via browser
+ cookies. Previously, the cookies module (now the user tracking
- module) did its own logging, using the For backward compatibility the configurable log module
- implements the old (the following is from message
- <022701bda43d$9d32bbb0$1201a8c0@christian.office.sane.com>
- in the new-httpd archives) The domain string must begin with a dot, and
must include at least one embedded dot. That is,
- Not all clients can understand all of these formats, but you
should use the newest one that is generally acceptable to your
- users' browsers. At the time of writing, most browsers only fully
- support SourceĀ File: mod_usertrack.c Summary
- Directives
@@ -49,68 +45,19 @@
Topics
Logging
- CookieLog
- directive. In this release, this module does no logging at all.
- Instead, a configurable log format file should be used to log
- user click-streams. This is possible because the logging module
- now allows multiple log files. The cookie itself is logged by
- using the text %{cookie}n in the log file format. For
- example:
-CustomLog logs/clickstream "%{cookie}n %r %t"
-CookieLog directive, but this
- should be upgraded to the above CustomLog directive. 2-digit or 4-digit dates for cookies?
-
-
-
-From: "Christian Allen" <christian@sane.com>
-Subject: Re: Apache Y2K bug in mod_usertrack.c
-Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 11:41:56 -0400
-
-Did some work with cookies and dug up some info that might be useful.
-
-True, Netscape claims that the correct format NOW is four digit dates, and
-four digit dates do in fact work... for Netscape 4.x (Communicator), that
-is. However, 3.x and below do NOT accept them. It seems that Netscape
-originally had a 2-digit standard, and then with all of the Y2K hype and
-probably a few complaints, changed to a four digit date for Communicator.
-Fortunately, 4.x also understands the 2-digit format, and so the best way to
-ensure that your expiration date is legible to the client's browser is to
-use 2-digit dates.
-
-However, this does not limit expiration dates to the year 2000; if you use
-an expiration year of "13", for example, it is interpreted as 2013, NOT
-1913! In fact, you can use an expiration year of up to "37", and it will be
-understood as "2037" by both MSIE and Netscape versions 3.x and up (not sure
-about versions previous to those). Not sure why Netscape used that
-particular year as its cut-off point, but my guess is that it was in respect
-to UNIX's 2038 problem. Netscape/MSIE 4.x seem to be able to understand
-2-digit years beyond that, at least until "50" for sure (I think they
-understand up until about "70", but not for sure).
-
-Summary: Mozilla 3.x and up understands two digit dates up until "37"
-(2037). Mozilla 4.x understands up until at least "50" (2050) in 2-digit
-form, but also understands 4-digit years, which can probably reach up until
-9999. Your best bet for sending a long-life cookie is to send it for some
-time late in the year "37".
-
+ mod_usertrack sets a cookie which can be logged
+ via mod_log_config configurable logging formats:
+ LogFormat "%{Apache}n %r %t" usertrack
+ CustomLog logs/clickstream.log usertrack
+ .example.com is legal, but foo.example.com and
+ .example.com is legal, but www.example.com and
.com are not..com, and allowing such cookies may be a security
risk. Thus, if you are under a two-part top level domain, you
should still use your actual domain, as you would with any other top
- level domain (for example .foo.co.uk).
+ level domain (for example .example.co.uk).
CookieStyle Netscape.Cookie2 being the
+ preferred format.
Previous releases of Apache have included a module which - generates a 'clickstream' log of user activity on a site using - cookies. This was called the "cookies" module, mod_cookies. In - Apache 1.2 and later this module has been renamed the "user - tracking" module, mod_usertrack. This module has been - simplified and new directives added.
+Provides tracking of a user through your website via browser + cookies.
Previously, the cookies module (now the user tracking
- module) did its own logging, using the %{cookie}n in the log file format. For
- example:
For backward compatibility the configurable log module
- implements the old
The domain string must begin with a dot, and
must include at least one embedded dot. That is,
- .example.com is legal, but foo.example.com and
+ .example.com is legal, but www.example.com and
.com are not.
.com, and allowing such cookies may be a security
risk. Thus, if you are under a two-part top level domain, you
should still use your actual domain, as you would with any other top
- level domain (for example .foo.co.uk).
+ level domain (for example .example.co.uk).
Not all clients can understand all of these formats, but you
should use the newest one that is generally acceptable to your
- users' browsers. At the time of writing, most browsers only fully
- support CookieStyle Netscape.
Cookie2 being the
+ preferred format.