mod rewrite condition !-f being violated

Question

I am using Wolf CMS, which is served by PHP.

I want to redirect /index.html to /index.php.

I put the following in .htaccess:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteBase /

  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ^index.html$ [NC]
  RewriteRule ^index.html$ index.php [R=301,L]

  # Wolf CMS rewriting
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?WOLFPAGE=$1 [L,QSA]
</IfModule>

This works in that index.html is rewritten as index.php, but then index.php is rewritten as index.php?WOLFPAGE=index.html, which should not occur as the WOLFPAGE rule has a condition that it should only apply if the file does not exist, as indicated by the !-f rewrite condition.

index.php does exist, so why is it being rewritten? Why is the condition being violated?

Update - the server version is:

Server: Apache/2.2.17 (Unix)
- mod_ssl/2.2.17
- OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5
- mod_bwlimited/1.4
- mod_perl/2.0.4
- Perl/v5.8.8
- X-Powered-By: PHP/5.2.16

Update2 - I have since moved the site from /test to /, and the problem is not occurring any more. Looking at .htaccess above, I had the incorrect rewrite base; hence the server could not find index.php, which matched the conditions for the WOLFPAGE rewrite.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 07 '11 at 05:29

2

I failed to specify that the website was in the folder /test.

If I had of done so, it would of been clear RewriteBase / is incorrect; it should of been RewriteBase /test/.

answered Nov 07 '11 at 05:29

Steve

1,456
3
18
38

Ah ha! That makes perfect sense. Glad you figured it out! – Josh Nov 07 '11 at 12:27

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 03 '11 at 09:03

1

If you simply want to perform a redirect, use

Redirect 301 /index.html http://www.example.com/index.php

answered Nov 03 '11 at 09:03

Simone Carletti

3,479
19
25

Thanks - I agree the redirect is preferential to the rewrite in this case, but replacing the rewrite with a redirect does not stop the subsequent rewrite from taking place (on the Apache server in question), which is the main problem. – Steve Nov 04 '11 at 09:43

Josh · Answer 3 · 2011-11-04T00:02:47.423

1

Try dropping this line entirely:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ^index.html$ [NC]

Also, because it is a PCRE, you should escape the dot:

RewriteRule ^index\.html$ index.php [R=301,L]

You could also try not redirecting with R=301:

RewriteRule ^index\.html$ index.php [L]

I tested with the following .htaccess on my server and it worked just fine:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteBase /

  RewriteRule ^index\.html$ index.php [R=301,L]

  # Wolf CMS rewriting
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?WOLFPAGE=$1 [L,QSA]
</IfModule>

Note that even after I removed this htaccess, index.html still redirected to index.php because my browser remembered that it was a permanent redirect. I had to clear cache and restart my browser to remove that effect.

edited Nov 04 '11 at 00:02

answered Nov 03 '11 at 23:47

Josh

130
7

Thanks. It doesn't matter what format the rewrite is in - they all work fine, initially. The subsequent rewrite should not be occuring, but it does occur with both rewrite rules you have listed above. The essential question is why? Why is this server not following the condition? – Steve Nov 04 '11 at 09:48
@Steve hm, that's odd, as the rules above work on my server. The subsequent rewrite did not occur. Can you edit your question with some server details? (Version numbers, OS, etc) – Josh Nov 04 '11 at 12:06
I'll try to reproduce using the same version... in the meantime have you cleared cache and restarted your browser? If you remove the rewrite completely does your browser still redirect? ( that indicates the 403 is cached) – Josh Nov 05 '11 at 20:05
when the problem was occuring, the website was in the folder /test for testing purposes. I have now moved it into the public root folder, and the subsequent WOLFPAGE rewrite is not occuring, presumably because the server can see index.php in the root folder, but couldn't see it in the /test folder, perhaps because .htaccess was setup incorrectly. – Steve Nov 07 '11 at 05:23
RewriteBase / is not correct when the site is inside /test/ - my mistake, not the server's. – Steve Nov 07 '11 at 05:24

mod rewrite condition !-f being violated

3 Answers3