apache2: Require valid-user for everything except "special_page"

With Apache2 how may I require a valid user for every page except these special pages which can be seen by anybody?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

---

Update in response to comments; here is a working apache2 config:

<Directory /var/www/>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    Order allow,deny
    allow from all
</Directory>

# require authentication for everything not specificly excepted
<Location / >
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "whatever"
    AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/htpasswd
    Require valid-user
    AllowOverride all                       
</Location>

# allow standard apache icons to be used without auth (e.g. MultiViews)
<Location /icons>
    allow from all
    Satisfy Any
</Location>

# anyone can see pages in this tree
<Location /special_public_pages>
    allow from all
    Satisfy Any
</Location>

From serverfault matt wilkie

• this should do a trick:

  <Location / >
   AuthType Basic
   AuthName "whatever"
   AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/htpasswd
   Require valid-user
   AllowOverride all                       
  </Location>
  
  <Location /yourspecial>
   allow from all
   Satisfy Any
  </Location>
  

  satisfy any is the cruicial one..

  matt wilkie : except `satisfy` is not valid for `` :(

  pQd : @matt wilkie - believe me or not - this is tested working config.

  matt wilkie : @pQd hmm, it appears in this instance the documentation is wrong. Thanks for the help

  matt wilkie : sorry, I have to retract the accepted answer status. I thought it was working but when I went to a different machine the "popup auth dialog first then show the special page" behaviour reasserted itself.

  pQd : did you checked what happens at http level [ with fiddler of wireshark ]? are you sure it's not a problem of missing / at the end of url?

  matt wilkie : I've updated the question to include full details of my current setup
  From pQd

• How could these direction be adapted for .htaccess?

  How would a rule for a specific root FILE be adapted to .htaccess?

  joschi : Create a new question.
  From oh me