This module is for mod_perl version 2. if you are running mod_perl version 1, you should be using apache::authcookie instead.

apache2::authcookie allows you to intercept a user's first unauthenticated access to a protected document. the user will be presented with a custom form where they can enter authentication credentials. the credentials are posted to the server where authcookie verifies them and returns a session key.

the session key is returned to the user's browser as a cookie. as a cookie, the browser will pass the session key on every subsequent accesses. authcookie will verify the session key and re-authenticate the user.