[The Rabbit]

Now it's my turn for a "small" howto:

Some people may allready have noticed that I often refer to a file called

.htaccess

Let me give some basics now:

The .htaccess is a special file which can be best explained as a "config file" for Apache. Apache is the program which actually takes care of ALL webpages on a linux server. So a URL like yourdomain.com/index.html is "processed" by Apache and then sent to the browser. Since noone on a shared host server can change the actual apache settings server wide (Thank god!) you need to tell Apache if you want something special.
The place to do that is the .htaccess file!
(Short note on the side for "windows" slaves: when a file starts with "." then linux considers it as a hidden file, that's why you will never see it in a folder index)

Now we know in general, what it is for. But what can it do?

Some examples (far from a complete list):

- You can use it to protect parts of your Homepage from unauthorized access. You can allow only access to an IP or an IP range. You can also require a login with username and password.

- You can turn the "directory index" off (That is the list you see in your browser if no index.--- file exists in a folder)

- You can change settings to apache-related programs like php

- You can change which "filetypes" are processed by apache or e.g. php

- You can redirect a requested URL (e.g. if you have a subdomain "sub.domain.com" and someone types domain.com/sub he would normally stay in the subfolder. You can "force" him to sub.doamin.com with a redirect)

- You can define "Rewrite rules". This is a very powerful but difficult tool. It basically changes, blocks and/or redirects a URL when certain conditions you have defined are met.


Allright. Now let us talk about "multiple" .htaccess files in different levels of folders:

You can have a .htaccess in EVERY folder of your directory tree and there is a defined system, how they apply. Let us do an example. Let's assume you have these folders:

1) public_html
2) public_html/subdomain
3) public_html/subdomain/private

Let us also assume that /subdomain is what you think it is. It is the folder for this: subdomain.yourdomain.com.

Now you create a .htaccess in all three of these folders. In short I'll call them ht-1 ht-2 and ht-3 below.

So which one "rules"? The answer is simple:

A "higher" .htacces will allways apply to the folder it is in and to all lower folders.
(ht-1 applies to all,
ht-2 to subdomain AND subdomain/private,
ht-3 ONLY to subdomain/private)

A "lower" .htaccess will always dominate a higher one if it has a different setting.

Now if you for example "disable" the directory index in ht-1 and you "enable" it in ht-3 what happens?

- You will NOT get an directory listing for
www.yourdomain.com (= Folder public_html/)
and NOT for
subdomain.yourdomain.com (or yourdomain.com/subdomain).
That is because ht-1 applies to all of these folders.

- But you will get a directory listing for
subdomain.yourdomain.com/private
(or yourdomain.com/subdomain/private)
That is because ht-3 is in this folder that belongs to this URL. Now alltough ht-1 forbids the directory index, ht-3 allows it. Thus you get it! You also would get it for all folders BELOW /private.

Now I'll stop for now since this was ment as an genral intoduction.
My first advice if you want to use the .htacces is to allways make a backup via cpanel - filemanager.
If you use FTP, make sure to enable the "list hidden" switch (often "-la") to see the .htaccess!

To find out about details for the syntax, a google search often does wonders (e.g. ".htaccess deny access")

Any question? (sure...)


:rabbit:

[Aric]

Nicely done.

As you've so often proved, the .HTACCESS file is capable of all kinds of wonders. I bet if you worked hard enough at it you could get it to make you breakfast in bed each morning.

Aric

[The Rabbit]

Together with a cron job, sure

[teejer]

But can it make perfect eggs???

[Aric]

Well, that depends, I think you need to download the "perfectEggs3000" PHP script from http://hotscripts.com/


Aric

[The Rabbit]

Set the cron job to 8 am monday to friday and run the script for 3 minutes

[robinvfr]

Yeah, but...how does it bring the tray to you room?

[The Rabbit]

You need the module "eggthrow plus" installed for apache. It will then shoot it with a bow.

eggthrow plus has highly increased aiming accuracy. I tried eggthrow lite once and it allmost killed the neighbors :cat:

:peace:

[Aric]

I think there's a William Tell mod for egg throw plus, too. 100% guaranteed accuracy when targeting.

[The Rabbit]

But that only works on an


:sorry2: for that joke ...

[Aric]

lol!

[andy]

so whats the difference between
Options All -Indexes
and
Options -Indexes
to ask a silly question?

[The Rabbit]

http://httpd.apache....s/mod/core.html

Options All sets the "default" of "all options" thus would "reset" everything

1) Options All -Indexes

2) Options -Indexes

3) Options All
Options -Indexes


should all three therefore have the same outcome. But I would just go with 2) since it may be that "All" could change some settings from the "hasweb" default to the "Apache factory settings" ...

[portstorm]

The Rabbit said:

You need the module "eggthrow plus" installed for apache. It will then shoot it with a bow.

eggthrow plus has highly increased aiming accuracy. I tried eggthrow lite once and it allmost killed the neighbors :cat:

:peace:

God forbid someone try to use eggdrop .. they're eggs would get all hacked up and sent via DCC

[The Rabbit]

If you still do not have enough from .htaccess try this:

http://hasweb.com/fo...opic.php?t=1413

[Aric]

options -indexes should not affect your index.html or index.php documents, but you would get a 500 error if there are problems with what you've added to .htaccess (syntax errors, stray characters, incomplete directives. etc.). Try loading the index again, get the error then look in the CPANEL error log. Most 500 errors get written there with more information about them.

[Aric]

You've probably set up your .htaccess file incorrectly. Post the contents here or PM me the contents.

[Aric]

Yes, give The Rabbit an .htaccess file and he can probably set it up to make you coffee and eggs in the morning and fetch the paper from your yard.

[The Rabbit]

I cought these posts to late Else I would have instictevely asked you if you had changed the default index files

To late now, eh?

Glad it worked out for you !

[d-cee]

a question for the rabbit maybe someone else can help me out too

i've got a forum hosted at propertyeco.com

at the moment the forum is hosted in the subfolder /forum

so im using a simple redirect file in index.php of propertyeco.com and it redirs to propertyeco.com/forum

i'd like to know how though, how would i make the .htaccess so that visiting propertyeco.com actuallys reads the files inside /forum while keeping the url the same propertyeco.com and not propertyeco.com/forum

[Aric]

Do you have any Gallery 1.5 installs? Gallery does exactly that to make URLs easier to remember (if you allow it), you might try looking to the .htaccess file there for hints. It uses mod_rewrite to do the magic.

[d-cee]

yeh, i know it's mod_rewrite

i just dont know any of the things to write one

and a google on tutorials either overloads me with info (eg. apache docs) or isnt what im after. most are for search engine friendly urls etc.

it's doable because i remember doing it before for one of my mambo installs so it seemed completely transperant and all files were in the root but actually were in /mambo - just cant find the guide i used now =(

will check out the gallery one when im free . its not overly urgent but yeh if someone knows plz help!

thanks

[The Rabbit]

Currently (having shifts at the WE) I'm a bit tied but I'll come back to you with an idea

[d-cee]

appreciate it rabbit!

[oso96_2000]

Hi! I have a question. I'm using a .htaccess file to do a mod_rewrite.. but i'm getting a 500 error page. This only happen on an add-on domain.. because if i use it on a subfolder, iw works well..

Here's the .htaccess that isn't working:

Options FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([a-z0-9_-]+)/?$ index.php?seccion=$1 [NC,L]

And this, is other .htacces that's working in a folder of my domain (not the add-on domain):

Options FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^web/?$ index.php [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^web/([a-z0-9_-]+)/?$ index.php?sec=$1 [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^sistema/?$ sistema.php [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^sistema/([a-z0-9_-]+)/email=(.+)/codigo=(.+)/?$ sistema.php?sec=$1&email=$2&codigo=$3 [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^sistema/([a-z0-9_-]+)/?$ sistema.php?sec=$1 [NC,L]

And this is the error I'm getting on the Error Log

Invalid command '\xef\xbb\xbfOptions', perhaps mis-spelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration

As u can see, is almost the same.. but i can't make it works.. any help? ^^

PS. Sorry for my english

This post has been edited by oso96_2000: 01 December 2006 - 09:40 PM

[Aric]

I don't see that error in your error log, and I was unable to find an .htaccess file in any directory with the same options you list above.

The error suggests that when you edited the .htaccess file you saved the file in Windows or DOS format or perhaps accidentally included a non-ASCII character or other extended character.

Still, to know for certain, I'd have to see the .htaccess files. PM me with details if you want to.

Also remember that an .htaccess in public_html take precidence over .htaccess files in subdirectories.

Regards,

Aric

[oso96_2000]

I was writing a PM to you, when i figured something.. i was thinking in what you said:

Quote

The error suggests that when you edited the .htaccess file you saved the file in Windows or DOS format or perhaps accidentally included a non-ASCII character or other extended character.

And i tried something: copy the .htaccess file that works, and edit it with the new options.. and it works! still don't know what happen.. that thing about DOS format imabe.. anyway, thanks very much