lucy24 - 9:46 pm on Jan 8, 2013 (gmt 0)

Let's say it in English.

If a request returns a 410 response, the human user is shown a 410 page-- either your own custom page or Apache's default. (But please do make your own, because the default is intimidating to ordinary humans.)

But this doesn't happen by magic. The server now has to ask internally for that 410 page. ("Internal" means that the user's browser isn't involved, so it won't show up in a {THE_REQUEST} condition.)

Gotta say I don't see the problem though, because you're returning 410 in response to specific filenames, right? The final batch of boilerplate rules ought to mean that if there's a request for any file that really does exist -- such as the 410 page -- it will duly get served up. Unless your rule says "everything in such-and-such directory is Gone" and you've got the 410 page living in that same directory. Then you get an infinite loop.

What exactly happens when the rule "doesn't work"? Insert Tolstoy paraphrase ad lib.

Can we assume that the whole htaccess is located in the right place -- in this case, in a directory where requests for your now-gone files will see it? And that the URL for those now-gone files is exactly as given?

www.example.com/unwanted/file-directory/file1\.htm

like that?