How Can I get mod_rewrite to run on 10.6.4?

Question

Hi there,
I've carried over a local wordpress install for some debug/dev purposes on to my local comp and encountered a few issues in getting permalink/mod_rewrite functions to run cleanly.
I've noticed there's a number of posts in this forum about this but none of them appear to give a solution so far.
My setup is as follows:
/private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
/*Module section*/
*LoadModule rewrite_module libexec/apache2/mod_rewrite.so*
/* didn't know we needed this but read it on a blog post so gave it a shot*/
*AccessFilename .htaccess*
/* in <Directory> sections */
*Options FollowSymLinks*
*AllowOverride All*
/* in <Directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents"> sections */
*Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews*
*AllowOverride All*
I realise that the AllowOverride All at the <Directory> and <Directory "parent site"> are potentially overkill given that I only want to run the mod_rewrite for a particular user's directory. This then brings me to the specific users conf file (verbose here):
/Private/etc/Apache2/users/[username].conf
*<Directory "/Users/[username]/Sites">*
*Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks*
*AllowOverride All*
*Order allow,deny*
*Allow from all*
</Directory>
I then created a .htaccess in the user's site directory to call-up the mod_rewrite:
*<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>*
*Options +FollowSymlinks*
*RewriteEngine On*
*RewriteBase /~tariqscherer/*
*RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]*
*RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f*
*RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d*
*RewriteRule . /~tariqscherer/index.php [L]*
</IfModule>
This code above was the rewrite recommended by WordPress, so I assumed that it would work. However, I do not get any rewrite action occurring whatsoever.
The Apache error log (/var/log/apache2/error_log) gives me a File does not exist result:
Mon Sep 06 16:03:55 2010 error client 192.168.1.18 File does not exist: /Users/[username]/Sites/about, referer: http://dasein-im-welt/~*[username]*/
This error links back to the access log's GET 404 error (/var/log/apache2/access_log):
192.168.1.18 06/Sep/2010:16:03:55 0200 "GET /~[username]/about/ HTTP/1.1" 404 218
I've then tried to debug this process a little bit by starting a rewrite log over in the httpd.conf file with the following syntax:
*RewriteLog /var/log/apache2/rewrite_log*
*RewriteLogLevel 3*
And then retrying hoping to trace some of the errors. Much to my surprise the log remains empty so I can only assume that the rewrite is simply not operating at all.
I then thought I should try a simple rewrite test to ensure that the error wasn't from the wordpress .htaccess cod: and put through the following in my .htaccess file:
*<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>*
*Options +FollowSymlinks*
*RewriteEngine On*
*#RewriteBase /~tariqscherer/*
*RewriteRule ^alice\.html$ index.php*
*#RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]*
*#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f*
*#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d*
*#RewriteRule . /~tariqscherer/index.php [L]*
</IfModule>
I expected this rewrite to give me a rewrite over to index.php for an address entry of alice.html. However, no difference in terms of the end result - browser gives me a fail and logs are as follows:
Access_Log:
192.168.1.18 06/Sep/2010:16:19:15 0200 "GET /~[username]/alice.html HTTP/1.1" 404 222
Error_Log:
Mon Sep 06 16:19:15 2010 error client 192.168.1.18 File does not exist: /Users/[username]/Sites/alice.html
Oh and the rewrite_log, though created, remains blank.
I can therefore only assume that the mod_rewrite is simply not being called at any point and not rewriting the http GET requests in any form whatsoever to correct directory.
My Question therefore is.
Has anybody managed to get the mod_rewrite running under Mac OS X 10.6.4? Taking into account that:
1. .htaccess is set by the AccessFile in httpd.conf
2. AllowOverride All is set in the httpd.conf root <Directory> and <Directory "location"> sections, as well as in the [username].conf file.
3. FollowSymLinks is also set under all options
4. +FollowSymLinks is also set as an added precautionary measure in the .htaccess file
I would be greatful for any help on this whatsoever.
Tariq Scherer
PS: the username used on my comp was substituted by [username] above, I hope this can help for anybody else to just substitute the entries out on their own local config or to provide a comparison entry.

Answer 1

HI All,
This isn't a solution per se, but in order to overcome the .htaccess rewrite calls limitations I had to:
1. Rebuild Apache (up to 2.2.16) and explicitly specifying a rebuild with enable-rewrite
2. Rebuild PHP in order to get a native module going.
This solution works, I event went as far as just carrying over the exact same config files over to the new Apache install. There seems to be a block in the native Apache binary build that prevents usage of .htaccess (security reasons I presume?).
The catch, however, is you will get pid locks over the two installs unless you explicit a separate lock file and you won't be able to call up the new Apache install from the preference panel in OS X fashion - need to be a bit patient with the terminal is all.
For the apache install, you have to make sure you set a prefix location that suits you (and remember the put that prefix then over for the module load in your config as it won't be able to access your old .so modules):
sudo ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache2 --enable-rewrite
Also note, that when recompiling php with mysql support, a few config options need to be set to disable the cgi build options (not sure why, but it does the trick). The command for the PHP rebuild is as follows:
./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-mysql=/usr/local/mysql --disable-cgi
Kind Regards,
Tariq Scherer
http://twentyfoursomething.wordpress.com/