.htaccess

[stevenha]

Could someone teach me the basics of setting up a .htaccess file?
My old host didn't allow mod-rewrite, so I never got interested in persuing it. But JaguarPC seems to.

I am confused about a few things. When I use cpanel to set permanent redirects, are these stored somewhere other than a .htaccess file? ( like in httpd.conf ). If I use the cpanel feature to block hotlinking, does that go into a .htaccess file?, and if so, can I continue to edit the .htaccess file anyway, and not screw up cpanel?

[Raven]

Well why dont you do one of those things and then look at whats in your htaccess file? Id have to guess that chances are it does use htaccess to setup your password protected directories. Im not sure if they would store any of your personal data in the server config (httpd.conf) so again I would assume thats in the htaccess file too.

To learn you could check out pages in the Apache manual on htaccess, but that might be a little confusing for a beginner. Try searching Google and Im sure you will turn up a bunch of results. I tend to like the tutorials/explanations at this site myself. They are thorough and pretty easy to grasp as they explain everything.

[Connie]

I can't answer all your questions, but yes hot link protection
will go in your .htaccess file.

Here is what I use. This redirects the request to a 5 x 5 pix
image. But as I understand it you could redirect to your home page
or to another page on your web site.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.yourdomain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://yourdomain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|bmp)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/blank.jpg [R,NC]

If you don't want to redirect them then use this for the Rewrite Rule

RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|bmp)$ - [F,NC] If I remember correctly this
results in a 404 error page.

If you place this in the root directory then all sub folder will inherit the rule.

If you only want to protect certain folders you can put the .htaccess file in
the folder you want to protect.

You can continue to edit the .htaccess file without screwing up CP.
a .htaccess file can become very large.

Redirects are stored in the .htaccess file, but I haven't been successful
in using them to date, but I haven't spent a lot of time trying to get
them to work.

After this weekend is over there will probably be more help available.
There are a lot of very knowledgeable people here who are more than willing
to help.

[Connie]

Raven

The link you provided in your post is one of the best tutorials
I have seen on .htaccess. Thanks.

[Vin DSL]

Originally posted by clssam
Raven

The link you provided in your post is one of the best tutorials
I have seen on .htaccess. Thanks.

Anchors away...

http://www.google.com/search?q=htaccess+tutorial

[Vin DSL]

For lazy ppl...

http://www.thepcmanwebsite.com/hot_l..._stopper.shtml

[stevenha]

Thanks for all of this. Some of those are good tutorials.
And I take it then, that plopping a .htaccess file in the root directory isn't going to interfere with settings made in the cpanel.
( I appreciate the advice to try it and find out.. but I don't want to risk mistakes that block visitors. I read somewhere that, as far as .htaccess goes, its better to ask, than to trial&error.)

[Vin DSL]

Yeah, well, htaccess is a powerful tool when used right, but it can definitely screw the pooch if you don't know what you're doing. I have a 5K htaccess file in my root directory with mostly rewrites in it, and it's a godsend. It makes my Nuke site Google friendly.

Basically, htaccess is just a text file that browsers read before doing anything, so yes, htaccess will override Cpanel 'settings', so to speak. Cpanel is just an interface to a variety of programs. Think of Cpanel as a menu system, not a program.

If it was me, I'd use the 'lazy link' I posted above, and have it generate the htaccess code for you, do a little studying, then go back and start tweaking it.

Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps...

[Vin DSL]

Originally posted by stevenha
...I am confused about a few things. When I use cpanel to set permanent redirects, are these stored somewhere other than a .htaccess file? ( like in httpd.conf )...

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention --- if you want to edit htaccess through Cpanel, you'll have to do it from the file manager, not the htaccess tool. You probably figured this out already though...

I use a proggie called WinSCP2 and shell into my account. You can also use a FTP client like WS_FTP to edit htaccess files. Cpanel kinda sucks, you know? It's a crutch...

[stevenha]

Here's something I've discovered, that harkens back to my original question. Using the File Manager ( instead of WS_FTP), it showed me that a .htaccess file was present, (just invisible with WS_FTP), and it contains some Redirect statements ( which presumably were put there when I used CPanel to specify redirects).

So, I presume then, that once I manually edit .htaccess, adding lots of mod rewrite conditions to block spiders/harvesters, then I probably shouldn't expect the CPanel's Redirect feature to usable again... so I'll be giving up that crutch/feature in CPanel. ( That is, unless someone tells me that CPanel's Redirect editor feature is really smart, well-behaved, and tested to work OK with hand-edited .htaccess files.)

Vin DSL, thanks for the hint about WinSCP2. I'll check it out.

[jason]

Yes, WS_FTP hides any files that start with a "."--its a general Unix convention that any file that starts with a dot is a hidden file.

It seems as if CPanel is smart enough not to mess up your .htaccess files when you use it to set up redirects and whatnot, but I haven't really tested it. I'm more of a do-it-yourself kind of guy when it comes to hings like this (I'm a programmer/sys admin, so it can be expected). Since you've already got some redirects set in your .htaccess, if you want to set up new ones, I'd suggest that you use the old ones as a template. If you ever get stuck, we're here to help.

--Jason

[lookout]

I prefer to edit the .htaccess file directly with a basic ASCII editor (like the Windows Notepad) myself. I've found that the cpanel stuff seems to work OK with hand-edited files. Last I looked, the cpanel tools for managing redirects and hot-linking simply added a line or two of generic code to your .htaccess file, which may or may not suit your purposes.

Reading up on "regular expressions" would be time well invested when dealing with redirects on any serious basis. At least that should give you a clearer understanding of what's going on in with such commands.

Since Hotlink prevention examples have been discussed here already, this thread may be of interest. It explains in greater detail what the code actually means.

Be aware that most hotlink prevention schemes rely on evaluating the referring URL, which is not always given. Whether it is or isn't depends on the visitor's computing environment. Such measures should viewed as a means of reducing, rather than eliminating, hotlinking.

[shwn]

It is possible to see .htaccess with WS_FTP. On the far right, under MkDir, there is a little text box called File Mask. If you -a in there, hidden files will be displayed.

[JonathanB]

It is possible to see .htaccess with WS_FTP. On the far right, under MkDir, there is a little text box called File Mask. If you -a in there, hidden files will be displayed.

Thanks for posting this Shwn. I've been using WS_FTP for years and I never knew this.

I guess I should read those help files more often.