[darcs-users] Setting up a server

[Daan Leijen]

Hi all,
 
I have been reading a lot about setting up a server where users can "push" to. Giving
users read access is easy since one just need to make it readable from the web (the
http protocol). Unfortunately, it is very complicated to create a writeable repo with
lots of security issues. Furthermore, most people do not have a dedicated server on
which they can install specific servers (apache, etc) and tools -- usually a normal 
account is limited to some cgi scripts at best. 
 
So the question is how to create a darcs repo that only certain users can write to?
A requirement is that we assume that the owner has no full control over the server.
Since I feel that this is not possible at the moment, maybe someone has an idea
on how this could be implemented? The best way of doing this might well be special
CGI script that can somehow receive patches and apply them -- this solution would
only require some http server working, and should work for most limited accounts.
 
The only problems I see is:
- how to 'upload' the patch
- how to authenticate the user
 
The advantages are enormous:
- anyone can setup a fully functional darcs server
- more cgi scripts can handle html based administration and authentication
- there are no special accounts necessary on the server side: the normal user account is enough
  since the cgi script only invokes certain darcs operations. (of course: --no-test should be default).
 
Maybe I oversee some inherent limitations, but if it could work, it would be great solution
to replace dedicated CVS/SVN servers that I now rely on (supplied my IT staff) and I would
be able to switch to my own darcs server on my own accounts.
 
I am very interested in comments,
All the best,
-- Daan Leijen.