[I'm asking this question again, hopefully with more clarity.]
We use MediaWiki only via apache https, using authorization, AuthType Basic Require Group insiders Thus, only a trusted group of people can access the wiki.
Ideally, MediaWiki could be configurable to get the login name from apache and then to automatically log in the user to the wiki. Apparently this is impossible.
Is there a some way to allow our users to login to apache and then not have to login again to the wiki (except for the first time)?