How do I protect downloadable files?

From: News.Php.Net (news.php.net_at_akwebb.com)
Date: 12/30/03 

To: php-general@lists.php.net
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 14:12:31 -0500

Hello, I have wrtten a PHP based web site with a MySql backend and now I
want to password protect downloadable files. I have logon and session
handling taken care of but I can't figure out how to only allowed those who
are currently logged in and above a certain security level to access the
downloadable content and prevent bookmarking of the file location for
redownloading.

Currently I have a .htaccess file to protect the files but then you need to
enter a User ID and password a second time. I would prefer a single signon
solution.

I have considered copying the files to a temporary area each time someone
wants to download it and then erase it when the session is killed but these
files can be large (20-100 mb) and I would rather not do all of that copying
if possible.

Creating unique symlinks would be easier but my development machine is
Windows and my server is FreeBSD and I can't create file links under
Windows. Plus, my FreeBSD server is not near me so remote development is
difficult.

Thanks to anyone with any ideas,
Andrew

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