[TYPO3-english] Using typo3 authentication in apache for single-sign-on?

[Hadmut Danisch]

Hi,

a technical question:

I am not familiar with typo3 and have never used it, but in cooperation
with the admin of a webserver I have to solve a given problem:

There's an apache webserver (to be) installed with typo3 and access
restrictions. Some parts of the web tree are available for registered
and logged in users only, user authentication is handled by typo3 and
I was told it works as expected.

But now, the webserver should handle some other contents, e.g. plain
file directories (just a regular directory under apache) and a
mediawiki, also with restricted access, but with a "single sign on"
through typo3. I.e. if a user is logged into typo3, he should be
able to access restricted areas outside the control of typo3.

So what I would need is an extension to apache which could make
use of the authentication performed by typo3 in a way that it
fills in the regular user entries in the apache request structures,
just if the user had authenticated with a normal HTTP password.

Is there any known way to do this?

If not: I guess that typo3 has its own user database and
issues a cookie after successful login. How could I verify
that cookie and detect, which user it belongs to?

regards
Hadmut