[wp-hackers] For those who don't subscribe to the wp docs mailing list:

[Tor Bjornrud]

> This is probably a discussion you've had before, so a link to the 
> thread would suffice as an answer, but here goes:
>
> Why doesn't WP use http authentication (either using PHP headers or 
> using .htaccess files) as the default access control mechanism and 
> only fall back on the current auth method if all else fails?
> .htaccess is certainly robust in my experience.
>
> /Brian

I'm unaware of any previous discussion, but I can say that I would not 
advocate a switch to the use of .htaccess because not everybody who 
runs php runs it under Apache.  I wouldn't want to have WP only be 
usable by apache users.

~Tor