mod_rewrite On-the-fly Content-Regeneration not working

Hello,
After reading the URL rewriting guide and several other documents, I
still haven't figured this out.
Basically this what I am trying to approach:
- User requests domain.com/page.html
- mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
domain.com/static/page.html
- if page does exist, it's served
- if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
- domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html

So, assuming the original URL is domain.com/page.html
here are my last two (failed) attempts:
# Attempt 1:
# enable the rewrite module
RewriteEngine on

# use static html file if exists (from static/)
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1 [C,E=WasHTML:yes]

RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static$1.html [S=1]

RewriteCond %{ENV:WasHTML} ^yes$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php


# Attempt 2:
# enable the rewrite module
RewriteEngine on

# rewrite to php page if request does not exist in domain.com/static
RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-s
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.php [L]

What am I doing wrong? I know this can work if I keep the HTML and PHP
file in the same directory, but shouldn't it be possible to keep the
static file in another directory as well? The reason why is that I only
want the static directory to have writing permissions, others not.

Thanks in advance,
DrTebi

DrTebi wrote:

> Hello,
> After reading the URL rewriting guide and several other documents, I
> still haven't figured this out.
> Basically this what I am trying to approach:
> - User requests domain.com/page.html
> - mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
> domain.com/static/page.html
> - if page does exist, it's served
> - if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
> - domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html
>
> So, assuming the original URL is domain.com/page.html
> here are my last two (failed) attempts:
> # Attempt 1:
> # enable the rewrite module
> RewriteEngine on
>
> # use static html file if exists (from static/)
> RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1 [C,E=WasHTML:yes]
>
> RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static$1.html [S=1]

Did you try the following at all?

RewriteCond static/%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]

--
Justin Koivisto - spam@koivi.com
http://www.koivi.com

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:13:50 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:

> DrTebi wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>> After reading the URL rewriting guide and several other documents, I
>> still haven't figured this out.
>> Basically this what I am trying to approach:
>> - User requests domain.com/page.html
>> - mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
>> domain.com/static/page.html
>> - if page does exist, it's served
>> - if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
>> - domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html
>>
>> So, assuming the original URL is domain.com/page.html
>> here are my last two (failed) attempts:
>> # Attempt 1:
>> # enable the rewrite module
>> RewriteEngine on
>>
>> # use static html file if exists (from static/)
>> RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1 [C,E=WasHTML:yes]
>>
>> RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
>> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static$1.html [S=1]
>
> Did you try the following at all?
>
> RewriteCond static/%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]

I just tried that, but it did not work either unfortunately.
What exactly is in "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" if, let's say the URL is
http://domain.com/page.html
shouldn't that be "page.html"? Or "/page.html"?

still confused :(

DrTebi wrote:

> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:13:50 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>
>
>>DrTebi wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hello,
>>>After reading the URL rewriting guide and several other documents, I
>>>still haven't figured this out.
>>>Basically this what I am trying to approach:
>>>- User requests domain.com/page.html
>>>- mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
>>> domain.com/static/page.html
>>>- if page does exist, it's served
>>>- if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
>>>- domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html
>>>
>>>So, assuming the original URL is domain.com/page.html
>>>here are my last two (failed) attempts:
>>># Attempt 1:
>>># enable the rewrite module
>>>RewriteEngine on
>>>
>>># use static html file if exists (from static/)
>>>RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1 [C,E=WasHTML:yes]
>>>
>>>RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
>>>RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static$1.html [S=1]
>>
>>Did you try the following at all?
>>
>>RewriteCond static/%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
>>RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]
>
> I just tried that, but it did not work either unfortunately.
> What exactly is in "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" if, let's say the URL is
> http://domain.com/page.html
> shouldn't that be "page.html"? Or "/page.html"?
>
> still confused :(

Umm.. neither... more like: "/home/user/www/page.html", so change to this:

RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_URI} -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]

--
Justin Koivisto - spam@koivi.com
http://www.koivi.com

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 14:50:09 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:

> DrTebi wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:13:50 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>
>>
>>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hello,
>>>>After reading the URL rewriting guide and several other documents, I
>>>>still haven't figured this out.
>>>>Basically this what I am trying to approach:
>>>>- User requests domain.com/page.html
>>>>- mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
>>>> domain.com/static/page.html
>>>>- if page does exist, it's served
>>>>- if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
>>>>- domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html
>>>>
>>>>So, assuming the original URL is domain.com/page.html
>>>>here are my last two (failed) attempts:
>>>># Attempt 1:
>>>># enable the rewrite module
>>>>RewriteEngine on
>>>>
>>>># use static html file if exists (from static/)
>>>>RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1 [C,E=WasHTML:yes]
>>>>
>>>>RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
>>>>RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static$1.html [S=1]
>>>
>>>Did you try the following at all?
>>>
>>>RewriteCond static/%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
>>>RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]
>>
>> I just tried that, but it did not work either unfortunately.
>> What exactly is in "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" if, let's say the URL is
>> http://domain.com/page.html
>> shouldn't that be "page.html"? Or "/page.html"?
>>
>> still confused :(
>
> Umm.. neither... more like: "/home/user/www/page.html", so change to this:
>
> RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_URI} -f
> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]

Still not :(
I tried this, which seems logical to me (note the comments):
# remove .html extension, chain with next rule (/page.html -> /page)
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1 [C,E=WasHTML:yes]
# rewrite to /static/page.html if exists, skip next rule (/page -> /static/page.html)
RewriteCond /static$1.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1.html [S=1]
# if previous failed, but first rule matched, rewrite to .php extension (/page -> /page.php)
RewriteCond %{ENV:WasHTML} ^yes$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php

Please tell me two things:
1) what's the original before I do a rewrite,
let's say of http://domain.com/page.html
I assumed /page.html
2) Once a rewrite took place, like stripping the .html
from the request, is the next rule going to work on
/page or still on /page.html?

thanks :)

DrTebi wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 14:50:09 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:13:50 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Basically this what I am trying to approach:
>>>>>- User requests domain.com/page.html
>>>>>- mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
>>>>> domain.com/static/page.html
>>>>>- if page does exist, it's served
>>>>>- if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
>>>>>- domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html

<snip bad info ;) >

> Please tell me two things:
> 1) what's the original before I do a rewrite,
> let's say of http://domain.com/page.html
> I assumed /page.html

%{REQUEST_URI} = /page.html

> 2) Once a rewrite took place, like stripping the .html
> from the request, is the next rule going to work on
> /page or still on /page.html?

When you perform a RewriteRule, you are then working with the result of
the rule, not the original request anymore...


Here's how I think it should work for what you want to accomplish (turn
on rewrite log file and check if you want to see):

User sends GET request to: http://domain.com/page.html
%{REQUEST_URI} = /page.html

RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_URI} -f
If static/page.html is a file, do the next rule

RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ static/$1.html [L]
Rewrite /page.html to /static/page.html, end processing (L flag)

RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.php [L]
Rewrite /page/html tp /page.php, end processing
This rule is only reached if no L flag was encountered above.

--
Justin Koivisto - spam@koivi.com
http://www.koivi.com

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:55:12 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:

> DrTebi wrote:
>> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 14:50:09 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>>On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:13:50 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>>>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Basically this what I am trying to approach:
>>>>>>- User requests domain.com/page.html
>>>>>>- mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
>>>>>> domain.com/static/page.html
>>>>>>- if page does exist, it's served
>>>>>>- if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
>>>>>>- domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html
>
> <snip bad info ;) >
>
>> Please tell me two things:
>> 1) what's the original before I do a rewrite,
>> let's say of http://domain.com/page.html
>> I assumed /page.html
>
> %{REQUEST_URI} = /page.html
>
>> 2) Once a rewrite took place, like stripping the .html
>> from the request, is the next rule going to work on
>> /page or still on /page.html?
>
> When you perform a RewriteRule, you are then working with the result of
> the rule, not the original request anymore...
>
>
> Here's how I think it should work for what you want to accomplish (turn
> on rewrite log file and check if you want to see):
>
> User sends GET request to: http://domain.com/page.html
> %{REQUEST_URI} = /page.html
>
> RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_URI} -f
> If static/page.html is a file, do the next rule
>
> RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ static/$1.html [L]
> Rewrite /page.html to /static/page.html, end processing (L flag)
>
> RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.php [L]
> Rewrite /page/html tp /page.php, end processing
> This rule is only reached if no L flag was encountered above.

Thank you so much for helping... your idea is very logical, but still does
not work. The problem is simply looping:
/page.html requested
/static/page.html exists, redirect to /static/page.html
/static.page.html requested
/static/static/page.html does not exist
/page.php

Can you see that? I am pretty sure that's it. I have hacked together now
ansomething that works, by having the user request .htm pages, and look
for.html pages in the static directory:
# Dynamic Caching 6 (this finally works ;))
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.htm$ $1 [C,E=HTM:yes]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/static/%{REQUEST_URI}l -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]
RewriteCond %{ENV:HTM} ^yes$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php

This would go like this:
page.htm requested
page.htm rewritten to /page
domain.com/static/page.html condition matches
static/page.html requested
end ;)

And would the page not exist:
page.htm requested
page.htm rewritten to /page
domain.com/static/page.html condition does not match
page.php requested
end

Puhh! That was a hard one. It's a bit ugly now, but I will get used to it ;)
Thanks for all your help!

DrTebi

Now,
here is my final solution, it looks nicer and is much shorter, however I
have a final question... read on:

Idea:
user requests domain.com/page.php
mod_rewrite checks if domain.com/static/page.php.static exists
if yes: Apache serves domain.com/static/page.php.static
if no: the original request, domain.com/page.php will be served
domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.php.static

RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/static/%{REQUEST_URI}.static -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.static [L]

The question I have now is how Apache handles the PHP Interpreter. Will it
initialize it _before_ the mod_rewrite rules, since it was a .php request,
or will it wait for mod_rewrite to rewrite the URL, and _not_ initialize
the PHP interpreter?

Since the whole idea is to avoid this initialization, I hope the latter is
true. I found that PHP pages served with only a couple simple MySQL
statements can already be up to 20 times slower than serving the static
page instead.

DrTebi

DrTebi wrote:

> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:55:12 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>
>
>>DrTebi wrote:
>>
>>>On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 14:50:09 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>>
>>>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 13:13:50 +0000, Justin Koivisto wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>DrTebi wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Basically this what I am trying to approach:
>>>>>>>- User requests domain.com/page.html
>>>>>>>- mod_rewrite checks if requested page exists in
>>>>>>>domain.com/static/page.html
>>>>>>>- if page does exist, it's served
>>>>>>>- if it does not exist, mod_rewrite redirects to domain.com/page.php
>>>>>>>- domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.html
>>
>><snip bad info ;) >
>>
>>>Please tell me two things:
>>>1) what's the original before I do a rewrite,
>>>let's say of http://domain.com/page.html
>>>I assumed /page.html
>>
>>%{REQUEST_URI} = /page.html
>>
>>
>>>2) Once a rewrite took place, like stripping the .html
>>>from the request, is the next rule going to work on
>>>/page or still on /page.html?
>>
>>When you perform a RewriteRule, you are then working with the result of
>>the rule, not the original request anymore...
>>
>>
>>Here's how I think it should work for what you want to accomplish (turn
>>on rewrite log file and check if you want to see):
>>
>>User sends GET request to: http://domain.com/page.html
>> %{REQUEST_URI} = /page.html
>>
>>RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_URI} -f
>> If static/page.html is a file, do the next rule
>>
>>RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ static/$1.html [L]
>> Rewrite /page.html to /static/page.html, end processing (L flag)
>>
>>RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.php [L]
>> Rewrite /page/html tp /page.php, end processing
>> This rule is only reached if no L flag was encountered above.
>
>
> Thank you so much for helping... your idea is very logical, but still does
> not work. The problem is simply looping:
> /page.html requested
> /static/page.html exists, redirect to /static/page.html
> /static.page.html requested
> /static/static/page.html does not exist
> /page.php
>
> Can you see that? I am pretty sure that's it. I have hacked together now
> ansomething that works, by having the user request .htm pages, and look
> for.html pages in the static directory:
> # Dynamic Caching 6 (this finally works ;))
> RewriteRule ^(.*)\.htm$ $1 [C,E=HTM:yes]
> RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/static/%{REQUEST_URI}l -f
> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.html [S=1]
> RewriteCond %{ENV:HTM} ^yes$
> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php
>
> This would go like this:
> page.htm requested
> page.htm rewritten to /page
> domain.com/static/page.html condition matches
> static/page.html requested
> end ;)
>
> And would the page not exist:
> page.htm requested
> page.htm rewritten to /page
> domain.com/static/page.html condition does not match
> page.php requested
> end
>
> Puhh! That was a hard one. It's a bit ugly now, but I will get used to it ;)
> Thanks for all your help!
>
> DrTebi
>

Ahh... simple logic error:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static
RewriteCond static%{REQUEST_URI} -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ static/$1.html [L]

RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.php [L]

That should actually do it. No need to tell it to skip or set
environment variables. ;)

--
Justin Koivisto - spam@koivi.com
http://www.koivi.com

DrTebi wrote:

> Now,
> here is my final solution, it looks nicer and is much shorter, however I
> have a final question... read on:
>
> Idea:
> user requests domain.com/page.php
> mod_rewrite checks if domain.com/static/page.php.static exists
> if yes: Apache serves domain.com/static/page.php.static
> if no: the original request, domain.com/page.php will be served
> domain.com/page.php generates domain.com/static/page.php.static
>
> RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/static/%{REQUEST_URI}.static -f
> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ static/$1.static [L]
>
> The question I have now is how Apache handles the PHP Interpreter. Will it
> initialize it _before_ the mod_rewrite rules, since it was a .php request,
> or will it wait for mod_rewrite to rewrite the URL, and _not_ initialize
> the PHP interpreter?
>
> Since the whole idea is to avoid this initialization, I hope the latter is
> true. I found that PHP pages served with only a couple simple MySQL
> statements can already be up to 20 times slower than serving the static
> page instead.

All Apache stuff will finish before the page is attempted to load. PHP
won't fire until the page load attempt.

--
Justin Koivisto - spam@koivi.com
http://www.koivi.com