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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Apache module mod_usertrack</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<!-- Background white, links blue (unvisited), navy (visited), red (active) -->
<BODY
BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
TEXT="#000000"
LINK="#0000FF"
VLINK="#000080"
ALINK="#FF0000"
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<!--#include virtual="header.html" -->
<H1 ALIGN="CENTER">Module mod_usertrack</H1>
<p>This module uses cookies to provide for a <em>clickstream</em> log of user
activity on a site.</p>
<P><A
HREF="module-dict.html#Status"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Status:</STRONG></A> Extension
<BR>
<A
HREF="module-dict.html#SourceFile"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Source File:</STRONG></A> mod_usertrack.c
<BR>
<A
HREF="module-dict.html#ModuleIdentifier"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Module Identifier:</STRONG></A> usertrack_module
<BR>
<A
HREF="module-dict.html#Compatibility"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Compatibility:</STRONG></A> Known as mod_cookies prior to
Apache 1.3.
</P>
<h2>Summary</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<H2>Directives</H2>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#cookieexpires">CookieExpires</A>
<LI><A HREF="#cookiename">CookieName</A>
<LI><A HREF="#cookietracking">CookieTracking</A>
</UL>
<H2>Logging</H2>
<p>Previously, the cookies module (now the user tracking module) did its
own logging, using the <TT>CookieLog</TT> 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 allows multiple log files. The cookie itself is
logged by using the text <TT>%{cookie}n </TT>
in the log file format. For example:
<PRE>
CustomLog logs/clickstream "%{cookie}n %r %t"
</PRE>
For backward compatibility the configurable log module implements the
old <TT>CookieLog</TT> directive, but this should be upgraded to the
above <TT>CustomLog</TT> directive.
<H2>2-digit or 4-digit dates for cookies?</H2>
(the following is from message
<022701bda43d$9d32bbb0$1201a8c0@christian.office.sane.com> in
the new-httpd archives)
<P>
<PRE>
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".
</PRE>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="cookieexpires">CookieExpires</A> directive</H2>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Syntax"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Syntax:</STRONG></A> CookieExpires <EM>expiry-period</EM><BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Context"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Context:</STRONG></A> server config, virtual host<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Status"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Status:</STRONG></A> optional<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Module"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Module:</STRONG></A> mod_usertrack<P>
When used, this directive sets an expiry time on the cookie generated
by the usertrack module. The <EM>expiry-period</EM> can be given either
as a number of seconds, or in the format such as "2 weeks 3 days 7
hours". Valid denominations are: years, months, weeks, hours, minutes
and seconds. If the expiry time is in any format other than one
number indicating the number of seconds, it must be enclosed by
double quotes.
<P>If this directive is not used, cookies last only for the current
browser session.</P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="cookiename">CookieName</A> directive</H2>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Syntax"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Syntax:</STRONG></A> CookieName <EM>token</EM>
<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Default"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Default:</STRONG></A> <EM>Apache</EM>
<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Context"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Context:</STRONG></A> server config, virtual host, directory,
.htaccess<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Status"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Status:</STRONG></A> optional<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Module"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Module:</STRONG></A> mod_usertrack
<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Compatibility"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Compatibility:</STRONG></A> Apache 1.3.7 and later
<P>
This directive allows you to change the name of the cookie this module
uses for its tracking purposes. By default the cookie is named
"<CODE>Apache</CODE>".
</P>
<P>
You must specify a valid cookie name; results are unpredictable if
you use a name containing unusual characters. Valid characters
include A-Z, a-z, 0-9, "_", and "-".
</P>
<hr>
<H2><A NAME="cookietracking">CookieTracking</A> directive</H2>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Syntax"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Syntax:</STRONG></A> CookieTracking on|off<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Context"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Context:</STRONG></A> server config, virtual host, directory,
.htaccess<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Override"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Override:</STRONG></A> FileInfo<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Status"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Status:</STRONG></A> optional<BR>
<A
HREF="directive-dict.html#Module"
REL="Help"
><STRONG>Module:</STRONG></A> mod_usertrack<P>
When the user track module is compiled in, and "CookieTracking on" is
set, Apache will start sending a user-tracking cookie for all new
requests. This directive can be used to turn this behavior on or off
on a per-server or per-directory basis. By default, compiling
mod_usertrack will not activate cookies.
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