Question Pasword Mismatch Errors Reported by Apache logs

Greetings,

I was able to set up the new 2003 version of TWiki with no authentication without running into any problems. I was able to edit and save changes to web pages.

After following the instructions in the basic authentication section I can create new users with passwords (they show up in .htpasswd) but cannot log in to Edit pages. The login dialog comes up, I'll enter the name & password, then the dialog will redisplay itself.

The apache error.log shows "...user DonHanson: authentication failure for "/bin/edit/Main/DonHanson": password mismatch" when I try to edit a page using a newly created account.

/twiki/data/Main shows
...
-rw-r--r-- 1 SYSTEM Administrator [Date] DonHanson.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 SYSTEM Administrator [Date] DonHanson.txt,v

• TWiki version: 20030201
• Perl version: 5.8.0
• Web server & version: Apache 1.3.27
• Server OS: Win2k Server
• Web browser & version: IE 6
• Client OS: Win2k

PS. I d/l'd the latest testenv script but it gives an "Internal Server Error" when I try to run it. The testenv script that comes with the 20030201 zip file shows all green except for:

• User: system ... I reset the RCS locks as detailed in the WindowsInstallCookbook
• $useLocale: 0 My TWiki.cfg has the $useLocale = 0 statement
• PATH_INFO: Clicking on the test link gives "http://perky/bin/testenv_orig/foo/bar#PATH_INFO" not "/foo/bar"
• $siteLocale: en_US.ISO-8859-1 Unable to set local to US.ISO-8859-1. The "locale -a" command gives "command not found" on my machine.

-- DonHanson - 02 Mar 2003

Answer

I have never seen this error but Google:authentication+%2B%22password+mismatch%22 should give you the answer.

-- PeterThoeny - 03 Mar 2003

Thanks for the reply Peter. I searched for pretty much the same thing before asking here, and couldn't find much to help a humble newb out.

I found much pointing me toward authentication with apache not working correctly, which I had gathered from the error message itself and the apache error logs. RTM'ing the Apache manual authentication section yielded no answers either.

Watching the Apache error.log and repeating every command in the Windows cookbook provided the answer.

I had erroneously added "MIME::Base64" to the 'register' script! I'd been failing to get the 2001 version running for about 3 weeks and missed that key bit while trying the 2003 version.

Cheers!
Don

-- DonHanson - 03 Mar 2003

I updated the WindowsInstallCookbook yesterday, as it happens, to make this editing of register specific to Dec 2001 TWiki release, i.e. not needed for Feb 2003 release where code works on Windows. Previously it had been updated to say it covered the Feb 2003 release, but had not really been tested for that release. Anyway, that should prevent this error from happening again.

Thanks for tracking this down so precisely and answering your own question!

-- RichardDonkin - 03 Mar 2003

Hi, I'm still unable to get my authentication working. I don't even see that line in the register script (my version is: Revision r1.1 - 11 Apr 2003), so I didn't do that. I can create users, and they show up in .htpasswd, but I see:

[Fri Apr 11 08:15:44 2003] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] user SomeDude: authentication failure for "/bin/edit/Main/SomeDude": Password Mismatch, referer: http://localhost/bin/view/Main/SomeDude

Any help at all appreciated. I am using this on W2K, with Cygwin's Perl. I will gladly provide any extra info needed to troubleshoot this.

-- SeanLeBlanc - 11 Apr 2003

Hi, please create a new question from WebHome, with the details mentioned in SupportGuidelines. Be sure to include details of web server and OS you are using.

-- RichardDonkin - 14 Apr 2003

Hi, I'm having this problem. But I've found that if I use htpasswd to manually change the password encryption to MD5 then the issue goes away. It looks like the Feb2003 release is generating SHA passwords, but for some reason, the recommended version of Apache does not play nicely with SHA passwords.

I am using Twiki Feb2003 on Win XP using cygwin perl 5.6.1 and Win Apache 2.0.47. The client is IE 6.0.28 running on Win XP.

-- MichaelRichmond - 8 Oct 2003

I'm running this under RH9, with Apache 2.0.4, and I also have the problem, but using htpasswd to manually change the password doesn't work for me. I tried both SHA and MD5, and couldn't get it to recognize the password. BTW...when using the reset password screen, I get a message about the new inclusion for the .htpasswd file - I find it interesting that each time I get to that screen (given the same name and password) I get different values!

-- MikeGrossman - 18 Nov 2003