apache resolving urls before looking in .htaccess - apache

I have a rewrite rule of the following form:
RewriteRule ^foo/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)$ foo.php?arg=$1 [qsa,nc]
It takes urls of the form /foo/bar and changes them to /foo.php?arg=bar
It works properly locally, and it works on my old host but I moved to a new host (running ubuntu) and it behaves differently.
On the new host apache notices that there is a foo.php and calls it directly. In other words, urls of the form /foo/bar are seen as /foo.php. If I rename foo.php to foo_junk.php and change the rewrite rule to be
RewriteRule ^foo/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)$ foo_junk.php?arg=$1 [qsa,nc]
Then it all works. So it's not that I didn't enable overrides or that I failed to install mod_rewrite or anything. Rewrites work, they're just being done at a different point in the process of resolving a url than they are locally.
Is there a configuration option for this?

Try disabling MultiViews:
Options -MultiViews

Related

Redirect all subdomains to file

I have a server to which many domains points. So I need a generic .htaccess rule. I need to create a .htaccess file which redirects all subdomains to their correspondent subdomain folder.
Is that possible? Thanks.
For example:
http(s)://apple.domain1.com -> https://domain1.com/redir/apple/index..html
http(s)://orange.2domain.co.uk -> https://2domain.co.uk/redir/orange/index.asp
http(s)://banana.doma3n.org -> https://doma3n.org/redir/banana/index.php
OK, so now it suddenly are three questions in one :-)
I don't really understand why you need separate folders for this. Why not one script that handles those requests, regardless on what host ("subdomain") is called? The script knows about what host has been called, so it can act accordingly.
Anyway, your question is how to rewrite to separate folders, so that is what I will answer to...
In addition to rewriting hosts acting as landing pages you also want to configure your default host (the fallback host) such that it delivers something that does make sense.
Anyway, this should point you into the right direction:
First you need to configure your DirectoryIndex:
DirectoryIndex index.html
DirectoryIndex index.php
DirectoryIndex index.asp
Consult the documentation for more details and where to place those directives:
https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_dir.html
Second you need to rewrite the incoming requests to internal directories:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^10\.
RewriteRule ^ /redir_internal [END]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^.]+)\.
RewriteCond -d %1
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [END]
RewriteRule ^ /something_that_acts_as_a_fallback
Consult the documentation for more details:
https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html
It is a good idea to start out with a 302 temporary redirection and only change that to a 301 permanent redirection later, once you are certain everything is correctly set up. That prevents caching issues while trying things out...
In case you receive an internal server error (http status 500) using the rule above then chances are that you operate a very old version of the apache http server. You will see a definite hint to an unsupported [END] flag in your http servers error log file in that case. You can either try to upgrade or use the older [L] flag, it probably will work the same in this situation, though that depends a bit on your setup.
This implementation will work likewise in the http servers host configuration or inside a distributed configuration file (".htaccess" file). Obviously the rewriting module needs to be loaded inside the http server and enabled in the http host. In case you use a distributed configuration file you need to take care that it's interpretation is enabled at all in the host configuration and that it is located in the host's DOCUMENT_ROOT folder.
And a general remark: you should always prefer to place such rules in the http servers host configuration instead of using distributed configuration files (".htaccess"). Those distributed configuration files add complexity, are often a cause of unexpected behavior, hard to debug and they really slow down the http server. They are only provided as a last option for situations where you do not have access to the real http servers host configuration (read: really cheap service providers) or for applications insisting on writing their own rules (which is an obvious security nightmare).

Apache 2.4 Internal mod_rewrite is not working

I have the following excerpt in my .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On
# Whether RewriteBase is commented does not appear to have an impact on my problem
# RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^admin/(.*) members/$1 [L]
The idea is that the pages in /admin load from the /members directory, since certain features are duplicated between them, so that I don't have to duplicate my code. (There are other directives in the file that are related to a CMS system, and those are working as expected.)
On the current Apache 2.2 server, everything works fine. My client's webhost wants to upgrade to a server with Apache 2.4, and on the test server the rewrite rule fails. Instead of loading the page, it just displays "File not found."
All other rules are executed as expected, it's just that one that fails. I have tried adding/removing / characters and removing [L] from the rule, it always fails. I tried adding [R] to send the redirect to the browser, but even that failed. But if I change the url to the same filename but in the members directory, then the file loads successfully.
Being able to change one directory name to another seems like a pretty basic function of mod_rewrite. What am I missing?

Apache %{REQUEST_URI} not working correctly

I am not using Virtual Hosts or anything fancy though I have some .htaccess files setup. Following is my rewrite rule in httpd.conf:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/app/smsapi [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) https://www.example.com/uri=%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]
This rule basically says that if the uri does not begin with /app/smsapi then fire the rewrite. But when I restart the server and try it I get some weird results.
When I request the URL https://www.example.com/app/smsapi/index.php, I get a 200 Success code which is as expected. But, when I request the URL http://www.example.com/app/smsapi/index.php, it redirects to https://www.example.com/uri=/app/smsapi/index.php. So it actually fires the rule even though the request URI does not satisfy the condition.
So, then I decided to turn off the rewrite rules and give it a go. Now, both those URL give me a 200 Success code.
Now, I know this problem cannot be solved easily by other people who do not have access to the server, but am I right in saying that this is certainly a problem with REQUEST_URI not firing correctly? I have shown that without the rewrite rule, everything works normally, but with the rewrite rule, the second URL is redirected. Therefore, the redirection must be caused by the rewrite rule? Additionally, the condition for redirect rule is not satisfied. Doesn't this prove that there is something wrong with the functioning of the rewrite rule?
Is there any other possibility?
UPDATE
Something very weird is happening here. I setup a local server and tried the same rule and what I got for the URL http://192.168.0.112/app/ is
http://192.168.0.112/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/uri=/app/
which is correct because as long as the URL is not like /app/smsapi, it should redirect it. Wonder why this is not happening on the real server. Also, where you insert these rules seems to make a difference. (I am only including these rules after the LoadModule command).
On localhost, if I put these rules either above or below the Directory section, it won't work. But, if I include it inside the Directory section it will.
On server, if I include the rules inside the Directory section, they won't work. But, if I include them either above or below the Directory section, they start working.
This seems to me to be due to a difference in the versions. My localhost is an Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 running Apache 2.4.18. While the server is CentOS 6.8 running Apache 2.2.15.
But, i think the mystery as to why on the server redirect happens only once (though it is configured to go upto 20 times) has something to do with https. Which is also related to the original problem in which https is redirected even on a non-matching rule.
Clues anyone?
UPDATE
I updated the httpd.conf file with the same rules but I used http:// instead of https:// and it gave me the correct result with 20 redirects. That means I have isolated the problem to https.
You are reporting the exact issue in the first phrase: "I am not using Virtual Hosts or anything fancy though I have some .htaccess files setup"
.htaccess is "fancy" and overcomplicated, not virtualhosts.
If you had defined that RewriteCond in virtualhost in the first place it would work, but .htaccess is per-dir context (aka a nightmare) and the regex ^/ will never match in that context.
If you want to match REQUEST_URI in per-dir context (directory or .htaccess) you need to drop the initial slash, that is:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^app/smsapi [NC]
Extra, also consider you MAY NOT need to add a RewriteCond for this:
RewriteRule ^(?!app/smsapi)(.*) https://www.example.com/uri=$1 [R,L]

using proxy instead of redirection with htaccess rewriteRule

I'm developing a webapp and for the static files I'm simply using apache at localhost while the backend is on a couchdb instance running at localhost:5984.
The webapp interacts with files from the backend all the time. So what is happening when trying to test on apache all file requests to localhost:5984 are getting blocked due the cross-domain policy so the only way to get that working is starting the browser by setting flags to ignore that.
But again I get stuck when trying to test the app on mobile such ipad or iphone.
Currently I have this on my .htaccess file.
RewriteEngine on
# these are 302 http redirections instead of serving as a proxy
RewriteRule auth http://localhost:5984/auth [L]
RewriteRule db/([\s\S]+) http://localhost:5984/db/$1 [L]
RewriteRule send/([\s\S]+) http://localhost:5984/send/$1 [L]
# these are just redirections to static files and work great
RewriteRule ^([a-z/.]+) _attachments/$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^$ _attachments/ [L]
As you can see I have really no idea on how to deal with apache configuration unfortunately.
But what is happening right now is that for some of these rules apache is simply redirecting the page instead of provide it as a proxy server which causes the issue with cross-domain.
Also on the first auth rule I send POST and DELETE requests which as a redirection instead of proxy it won't pass the data being POSTed through.
So what I would like to achieve is to activate some kind of feature (if it exists) which will make apache simply render the page as it was on the localhost domain instead of redirect it. (I named this a a proxy, but perhaps that's not even the right term, sorry for any mistake committed with the nomenclatures).
Is is possible to achieve such action?
Thanks in advance
Have a look at these links / options:
[P] flag:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/rewrite/flags.html#flag_p
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/rewrite/proxy.html
mod_proxy (possibly -- but I think #1 should be enough if it's on the same server):
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_proxy.htm

How to configure apache (ubuntu) such that www.mysite.com will direct to www.mysite.com/drupal6/?

I am a newbie to ubuntu and apache. Can someone tell me how I could direct to
www.mysite.com/drupal6
when user address www.mysite.com?
Thanks a lot.
Cheers.
If you are running Apache and Ubuntu, there is actually a really easy way to force this redirect using a simple php script.
Create an index.php file in the root of your server and paste the following code into it
<?php header("location: drupal6/") ?>
This will cause the site to auto-redirect to the drupal6 folder whenever it is visited.
This should work. Create a file in the root folder of your server called .htaccess - the dot at the beginning is very important as this helps the server identify the file as a hidden / system config file.
Open the file and paste the following lines of code in :
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ www.mysite.com/drupal6/$1 [R,L]
This should force all traffic to the server to redirect to your custom folder.
A brief explanation of the .htaccess code
If you want rewrites to work, you have to enable the Rewrite Engine and tell the server to follow symlinks.
The second section establishes the rule - specifically applying it to all traffic on the standard web port of 80.
The final line tells the server to grab everything after the URL and append it to the new address (mysite.com/drupal6).
There's a lot more you can do with .htaccess files but you really need to Google for good examples to test out.
Look at Apache's mod_rewrite documentation. You will need a RewriteRule in your apache configuration at the minimum, you may also need RewriteCond's to define when the RewriteRule is used.
Your rewrite pattern will be rewriting the REQUEST_URI with something from: ^/$ to: /drupal6. The ^ and $ are essential to prevent Apache getting into an infinite loop while rewriting the base URI by only matching "/" and not "/anything-else".
I assume you're on a recent version of Ubuntu and Apache? If so, see the Apache 2.2 documentation on mod_rewrite.