This controls various features beyond simply returning the contents of a file. In most cases this is controlled by the sub-directory specs instead.
If enabled, files with the extension .shtml are processed to expand server side includes tags before the results are returned to the client.
Also enables server side includes, but the SSI tag #exec and #include:ing CGI-scripts are disabled.
Allow CGI scripts. Usually only enabled in the sub-directory spec for the CGI directory.
When accessing an URL ending in a directory the file index.html in that directory is returned. If that file doesn't exist, and this option is enabled, a directory listing is returned. If this option is disabled, a 404 Not found is returned instead.
If an accessed directory or file is a symbolic link, the access will only be allowed if this feature is enabled.
As above, but additionally, the owner of the symbolic link and its target file must be the same. This allows users to have symbolic links to their own files, but not to sensitive system files like /etc/passwd.
Multiviews allows the client browser and the Web server to negotiate the format and language in which data should be returned. To make the Web server capable of doing this, you can store the various languages and data formats in files with certain extensions and then enable multiviews.