mod rewrite for php files

[gmseed]

Hi

I have the following .htaccess file in my root /index.php folder on my own local Apache/MySQL/PHP dev setup:

=====

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule ^(.*)\.xml$ $1.php [nc]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?module=$1 [L,QSA]

# Enforce Unicode ubiquitously
AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
DefaultLanguage en-GB
php_value default_charset UTF-8

=====

and I've uncommented:

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

and set <Directory> to:

<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Allow from All
</Directory>

in my apache .httpd.conf file

but links such as (without the ".php"):

../news

are not loading

Is there something else that Apache requires to activate mod-rewrite?

Thanks

Graham

[g1smd]

Is this Apache 1.x or 2.x?

There are configuration differences between the versions.

[jdMorgan]

Turn off MultiViews (and on Apache 2.x) AcceptPathInfo and DirectorySlash to start. Any of these can pre-empt mod_rewrite.

Tweak the code for security, portability, and efficiency:

# Next two lines for Apache 2.x only
DirectorySlash off
AcceptPathInfo off
#
Options +FollowSymlinks -MultiViews
RewriteEngine on
#
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.xml$ /$1.php [NC]
#
RewriteCond $1 !(^index\.php|\.(gif|jpe?g|png|ico|css|js|swf|flv|avi|mov|mp[34]|wmv|pdf|doc|xls))$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?module=$1 [QSA,L] 

By excluding filetypes that your script does not and cannot generate from the two filesystem "exists" checks, you can greatly improve the performance of your server. In some cases, these checks may require a physical disk access, which can markedly slow your server response and result in premature hard drive failure.

On a busy site on shared hosting, you will likely get an obvious performance improvement with this simple change.

It is not necessary to enumerate *all* filetypes which are not handled by your script. It is most beneficial to simply include the most-often-requested filetypes (usually .gif and .jpg images) which your script cannot or does not actually create/generate. The filetypes I listed are only examples; this list represents neither a specific recommendation nor a comprehensive implementation. Consult your server stats to determine the most-frequently-requested filetypes for your site.

If you wish to rewrite *only* extensionless URL requests to your script, you could eliminate all three RewriteConds and just use the rule

RewriteRule ^(([^/]*/)*[^./]+)$ /index.php?module=$1 [QSA,L]

This rule will reject any 'page name' request in any 'directory level' which contains a period (indicating a filetype) and all URL-paths with a trailing slash (indicating a directory request).

Jim