apache rewriterule for tilda ~user folder - apache

Question

I'm trying to get domain.com/~userX folders working without using userdir.
It works fine when the ~userX folders are in the server doc root doc folder, but there's too many and need to put them in a sub folder, ie /homepages so the best I've gotten is in .htaccess:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^~ "/homepages/%{REQUEST_URI}"
</IfModule>
Options -Indexes
With the trailing slash it works fine:
domain.com/~userX/
Without the trailing slash it automatically redirects to:
http://ddomain.com/homepages/~userX/
Which I don't want, so I thought I would turn directory slash off:
<Directory /var/www/domain/public_html>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
DirectorySlash Off
</Directory>
The trailing slash still works but without the trailing slash I now get:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access this resource.
error log:
Cannot serve directory /var/www/domain/public_html/homepages/~userX
This is over my head, I've search for a few days and I'm really stuck :/
Any help much appreciated thanks.

Answer 1

1st Method:
Try:
RewriteRule ^(~[^\/]+)(?:\/(.*)|$) /homepages/$1/$2 [L]
The trailing slash is present or not, it internally redirects with the trailing slash.
Issues:
I think, if the user enters an URL with a slash in a sub-directory of the /homepage directory, it is probably not going to work.
2nd Method:
Try:
RewriteRule ^(~[^\/]+)$ /$1/ [R=302,L]
RewriteRule ^~ /homepages/%{REQUEST_URI} [L]
3rd Method:
This might work better than the first and the second solution
RewriteRule ^(~[^\/]+)(?:\/(.*)|$) /homepages/$1/$2 [PT,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^(.*[^\/])$ /$1/ [L]