All that I could find about logging Apache2 mod-rewrite rewrites is confusing and contradictory.

Most (e.g. http://www.easymodrewrite.com/guide-logging) inform me that the way I have installed it on my Linux Mint desktop testbed server is correct (see mod_rewrite directives included below in /etc/apache2/conf.d/testbed3.conf):

Alias /testbed3 /usr/share/testbed3

<Directory /usr/share/testbed3/>
Options +Indexes +FollowSymLinks +Multiviews
AllowOverride All
order allow,deny
allow from all
<IfModule mod_rewrite>

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /testbed3/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ ?q=$1 [L,QSA]
RewriteLog "/var/log/apache2/testbed3Rewrite.log"
RewriteLogLevel 9

</IfModule>

</Directory>

... even though it fails to even create the log file, let alone write output.

This failed to produce any output.

The Apache web-site LogLevel Directive documentation tells me this is how to do it:

LogLevel info mod_rewrite:debug

... or:

LogLevel mod_rewrite:debug

... in place of the RewriteLog and RewriteLogLevel directives shown above. (Note: no separate RewriteLog specified this time.)

Yet, when I put in either of these directives, I still failed to see any output (this time in /var/log/apache2/access.log) that looked anything like mod_rewrite log statements.

Can anyone tell me how to get mod_rewrite logging to work (so I can debug my Drupal content-managed web-site), or point me to documentation which will show me how to do it?

Thanks for your attention.

Is sufficient for logging.
Do you have module mod_rewrite loaded in Apache? Did you restarted Apache after changes? Did you created directory "/var/log/apache2"?

Thanks eSelix, for your response:

You asked:Yes:

You asked:Yes:

You asked: It was created when I installed Linux Mint 11:

So, as far as I can see, I have done everything I need to. The only way I can see how to move forward is to compile Apache2 from the source code and put some debugging statements around where it it calls mod-rewrite.

Any othersuggestions for an easier approach would also be most appreciated.

I just tried to run mod_rewrite on another Linux Desktop computer. It was an Ubuntu machine, rather than a Linux Mint machine.

That seems to preclude a peculiarity of Linux Mint causing the problem. However, Linux Mint is based upon Ubuntu (which is in turn base upon Debian), so just possibly a peculiarity of Ubuntu may be the cause.

I could try installing another Linux distribution (maybe CentOS) on another partition and see if the problem with mod_rewrite remains.

Hi,

Try to put the RewriteLog stuff outside a <Directory ..></Directory> part.
If you're using vhosts better put RewriteLog directives inside the vhost stanza

Regards

Thanks, bathory.

Firstly, one obvious possible error ins the use of the term 'mod_rewrite' instead of just 'rewrite'. There in no module 'mod_rewrite' in /etc/apache/mods-available, only 'rewrite' (or, rather 'rewrite.load'). My flawed memory (literally speaking - my head was knocked 18 months ago in a road accident) must have caused me to think that 'mod_rewrite' was the syntactically correct way to refer to the 'rewrite' module.

However fixing that and follwing your suggestion did not solve my problem.

I am going go try to get the rewrite module to work on a Debian Linux 6.00 partition, rather than on a Linux Mint or Ubuntu partition and see if that changes anything. If necessary, I will (try to) debug the C source code.

I have tried that (see APPENDIX 1,), but it didn't work.

By "the vhost stanza", you mean, for example, "<VirtualHost *:80> ...</VirtualHost>"?

I am not using that on my desktop testbed machine.

Appendix 1

This is /etc/apache2/conf.d/testebed2.conf with suggestion of bathory (crudely) applied. It didn't solve the problem. (I commented out "RewriteBase /testbed2/" because apache complained, "RewriteBase: only valid in per-directory config files".)

Why did you change that (from 9 to debug)? You need a number there to specify verbosity, e.g.
BTW you can leave the RewriteLog* directives outside the <Directory...></Directory> part, while use the rest of the rewrite directives inside that

Regards