def xmlrpc_basic_auth_required(view_func):
    """ decorator which performs basic http auth authentication against the known userbase """
    def _auth(request, *args, **kwargs):
        if 'HTTP_AUTHORIZATION' in request.META:
            auth = request.META['HTTP_AUTHORIZATION'].split()

            if len(auth) == 2:
                if auth[0].lower() == "basic":
                    uname, passwd = base64.b64decode(auth[1]).split(':')
                    user = authenticate(username=uname, password=passwd)
                    if user is not None:
                        if user.active:
                            return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
                            
        response = HttpResponse(mimetype="text/xml")
        response.write(xmlrpclib.dumps(
            xmlrpclib.Fault(401, "Authorization required")
        ))
        return response
    return _auth