htdigest - Man Page

manage user files for digest authentication

Synopsis

htdigest [ -c ] passwdfile realm username

Summary

htdigest is used to create and update the flat-files used to store usernames, realm and password for digest authentication of HTTP users​. Resources available from the Apache HTTP server can be restricted to just the users listed in the files created by htdigest​.

This manual page only lists the command line arguments​. For details of the directives necessary to configure digest authentication in httpd see the Apache manual, which is part of the Apache distribution or can be found at http://httpd​.apache​.org/​.

Options

-c

Create the passwdfile​. If passwdfile already exists, it is deleted first​.  

passwdfile

Name of the file to contain the username, realm and password​. If -c is given, this file is created if it does not already exist, or deleted and recreated if it does exist​.  

realm

The realm name to which the user name belongs​. See 2617 for more details​.  

username

The user name to create or update in passwdfile​. If username does not exist is this file, an entry is added​. If it does exist, the password is changed​.  

Security Considerations

This program is not safe as a setuid executable​. Do not make it setuid​.

Files

The digest authentication file path is specified as an argument on the command line and may be located anywhere on the filesystem​.

passwdfile

The flat-file containing usernames, realms, and password hashes​.  

Info

2026-05-08 Apache HTTP Server