more probably coming

Apache > mod_rewrite > MediaWiki >

Terms: mod_rewrite, Rewriting, URL rewriting, Friendly URLs, pretty URLs, etc.

2005-08-15 -- Redirection apparently hasn't been working for weeks.
- This means that all references to the old URLs won't really work. I tried fixing this, but mod_rewrite is a nightmare.
I had an old todo that said that rewriting was breaking Google sitemaps.

Table of Contents [hide]

1 A Simple rewrite solution for MediaWiki
- 1.1 In the root
- 1.2 In a subdirectory
2 My mod_rewrite rules
- 2.1 My mod_rewrite rules
3 2008-02-23 - MediaWiki 1.11.1
- 3.1 in the root
- 3.2 Installed in a subdirectory
4 Learn if mod_rewrite is active
5 Resources

A Simple rewrite solution for MediaWiki ∞

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL

In the root ∞

.htaccess

php_flag register_globals off
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]
# one person adds:
# RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?title=$1 [PT,L,QSA]

LocalSettings.php:

$wgArticlePath      = "/$1";

In a subdirectory ∞

Our example uses the "wiki" directory.

.htaccess

php_flag register_globals off
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /<b>wiki</b>/index.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]

LocalSettings.php:

$wgArticlePath      = "/<b>wiki</b>/$1";

My mod_rewrite rules ∞

This wasn't updated since I moved my wiki from / to the subdirectory /wiki. It was also never properly documented.

`[[Special:Version]]` ∞

[[Special:Version]] reports:

MediaWiki https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki  ^[ 1 ] was [[archive:http://wikipedia.sf.net/|]] ): 1.3.11 
PHP https://www.php.net/ ): 5.0.3 (apache2handler) 
MySQL https://www.mysql.com/ ): 4.1.10

`LocalSettings.php` ∞

(MediaWiki LocalSettings.php)

I don't use localhost/wiki/Main_Page or the like.. just localhost/Main_Page. This means that I changed references to /wiki to / and also customised my $wgArticlePath:

$wgArticlePath      = "/$1";

`httpd.conf` ∞

Modify Apache's httpd.conf and uncomment the line which looks like:

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Append the following to the bottom of your httpd.conf:

The rules ∞

# Enable the rewriting feature
RewriteEngine on

# RewriteBase /wiki

# Don't rewrite for official subdirectories and files:
# I believe "skins" should be added for 1.4:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(stylesheets|images)/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(redirect|texvc|index).php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/error/(40(1|3|4)|500).html
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/favicon.ico
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/robots.txt

# Don't rewrite query strings, but do rewrite searches
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^$ [OR] %{REQUEST_URI} ^/Special:Search

# Maybe subdirectories need this:
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/wiki$

# One of these would be the main rule:
# This truncates question marks (%3F)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php$1 [L,QSA,NE]
# Fails with ampersands? (not tested)
#RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?title=$1 [L,QSA,NE]

Issues ∞

You'd have to edit any templates which are hard-coded.
I don't know how to have .htaccess available as a wiki page.
Does mod_rewrite support variables?
- The installation directory.
- Main_Page
Somehow these rules allow lowercase searches to go to an uppercase-titled page.
- i.e. Main page goes to http://localhost/Main_Page
"Edit" URLs are ugly
- http://localhost/index.php?title=Main_Page&action=edit
Everything after a questionmark (?) is ignored.
- Does MediaWiki even allow page titles with a questionmark?

Testing rewriting ∞

Copy-paste this into a page in MediaWiki.

{|
|-
! Source
! Target
! Result
|-
| http://localhost/<br>{{SERVER}}
| http://localhost/
| pass with<br />http://localhost/Main_Page
|-
| http://localhost/Main_Page<br>{{SERVER}}/Main_Page
| http://localhost/Main_Page
| pass
|-
| http://localhost/Testing<br>{{SERVER}}/Testing
| http://localhost/Testing<br />(if it exists)
| pass
|-
| http://localhost/index.php/Special:Search?search=Testing<br>{{SERVER}}/index.php/Special:Search?search=Testing
| http://localhost/Testing<br />(if it exists)
| pass
|-
| http://localhost/index.php/Special:Search?search=Special:Version<br>{{SERVER}}/index.php/Special:Search?search=Special:Version
| http://localhost/Special:Version
| pass
|-
| http://localhost/Special:Randompage<br>{{SERVER}}/Special:Randompage
| http://localhost/<b>Page</b><br />(as appropriate)
| pass
|}

Rewrite rules, with MediaWiki in a subdirectory ∞

An update:

dev/.htaccess -> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /dev/index.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]   
dev/LocalSettings.php -> dev/$wgArticlePath      = "/dev/$1";

This has been tested and works!

# The RewriteCond ensures that next RewriteRule is only executed under certain conditions.
# This is to help eliminate the chance for administrator screwups and might improve speed.

# Rewrite www.example.org/wiki to www.example.org/wiki/Main_Page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}/wiki$ ^/wiki/*
RewriteRule ^/wiki/$ /wiki/index.php/Main_Page [QSA,NC,L]

# Rewrite www.example.org/wiki/ to www.example.org/wiki/Main_Page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}/wiki/$ ^/wiki/*
RewriteRule ^/wiki/$ /wiki/index.php/Main_Page [QSA,NC,L]

# Rewrite www.example.org/wiki/foo to www.example.org/wiki/index.php/foo but display as www.example.org/wiki/foo
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}/wiki/(.*)$ ^/wiki/*
RewriteRule ^/wiki/(.*)$ /wiki/index.php/$1 [QSA,NC,L]

Testing ∞

Copy-paste this into a page in MediaWiki.

{|
|-
! Source
! Target
! Current status
|-
| http://localhost/wiki/<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki/
| http://localhost/wiki/
| works
|-
| http://localhost/wiki (no trailing slash)<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki
| http://localhost/wiki/
| works
|-
| http://localhost/wiki/Main_Page<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki/Main_Page
| http://localhost/wiki/Main_Page
| works
|-
| http://localhost/wiki/Testing<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki/Testing
| http://localhost/wiki/Testing<br />(if it exists)
| works
|-
| http://localhost/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=Testing<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=Testing
| http://localhost/wiki/Testing<br />(if it exists)
| dies
|-
| http://localhost/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=Special:Version<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=Special:Version
| http://localhost/wiki/Special:Version
| dies
|-
| http://localhost/wiki/Special:Randompage<br>{{SERVER}}/wiki/Special:Randompage
| http://localhost/wiki/<b>Page</b><br />(as appropriate)
| dies
|}

2008-02-23 - MediaWiki 1.11.1 ∞

in the root ∞

/.htaccess

(.htaccess)

RewriteEngine On

# Don't rewrite requests for files in MediaWiki subdirectories,
# MediaWiki PHP files, HTTP error documents, favicon.ico, or robots.txt
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(stylesheets|images|skins)/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(redirect|texvc|index).php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/error/(40(1|3|4)|500).html
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/favicon.ico
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/robots.txt

# Rewrite http://subdomain.example.com/article properly, this is the main rule
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/?title=$1 [L,QSA]

LocalSettings.php

(MediaWiki LocalSettings.php)

# short urls
$wgArticlePath      = "/$1";
$wgUsePathInfo = false;

Installed in a subdirectory ∞

/.htaccess

(.htaccess)

php_flag register_globals off
php_flag safe_mode off
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /dev/index.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]

LocalSettings.php

(MediaWiki LocalSettings.php)

$wgArticlePath      = "$wgScript?title=$1";

Learn if mod_rewrite is active ∞

Create /index.php with:

<?php

if (isset($_GET['section']))
echo "Rewriting works properly!<br>";  

?>
<a href="./test_link">Click here</a>

/.htaccess:

(.htaccess)

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([\w]+)/?$ index.php?section=$1 [L,QSA]

Resources ∞

rewriting the edit and other URLs in MediaWiki
- Doesn't work for me, but it might be useful to investigate one year later.
Apache v1.3+ Module mod_rewrite URL Rewriting Engine ^[ 2 ] old, archive
- http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/misc/rewriteguide.html Apache v1.3+ URL Rewriting Guide ^[ 3 ] old, archive
https://www.sitepoint.com/guide-url-rewriting/
- http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183202
https://www.yourhtmlsource.com/sitemanagement/urlrewriting.html
https://www.sitepoint.com/guide-url-rewriting/
http://www.workingwith.me.uk/articles/scripting/mod_rewrite
Doriat's mod_rewrite tutorials

https://web.archive.org/web/20091215104620/http://www.southeasttelephone.com/tools/htAccessor/htaccessor.php
- I might still have this downloaded somewhere or other. ^[ 4 ] A note said it was htaccesser-0.11.tar.gz which is 17kB

[ + ]

1.	^	was [[archive:http://wikipedia.sf.net/\|]]
2.	^	old, archive
3.	^	old, archive
4.	^	A note said it was `htaccesser-0.11.tar.gz` which is 17kB

2 comments on “MediaWiki mod_rewrite”

spiralofhope on 2019-11-19 at 7:50 am said:

partially ported

I'll have to go through more things to determine what goes here and what should go in the main mod_rewrite topic.

MAAAAAYBE one day I might want to use this information. Maybe. Oh god, maybe.. that sounds like a self-threat.

spiralofhope on 2020-02-17 at 7:08 pm said:

ported

MediaWiki mod_rewrite

A Simple rewrite solution for MediaWiki ∞

In the root ∞

In a subdirectory ∞

My mod_rewrite rules ∞

My mod_rewrite rules ∞

[[Special:Version]] ∞

LocalSettings.php ∞

httpd.conf ∞

The rules ∞

Issues ∞

Testing rewriting ∞

Rewrite rules, with MediaWiki in a subdirectory ∞

Testing ∞

2008-02-23 - MediaWiki 1.11.1 ∞

in the root ∞

Installed in a subdirectory ∞

Learn if mod_rewrite is active ∞

Resources ∞

2 comments on “MediaWiki mod_rewrite”

Leave a Reply to spiralofhope Cancel reply

Search

`[[Special:Version]]` ∞

`LocalSettings.php` ∞

`httpd.conf` ∞