[SOLVED] Redirect tilde addresses to non-tilde

Cyrolancer · 01-07-2013, 04:15 AM

Hello,

I am running a web server with mod_userdir enabled. The system works like this:

http://example.com/~cyro

I am trying to convert this URL pattern to

http://example.com/cyro

In my configuration, the home directories of the users are mounted like,

Code:

/webhome1/
/webhome2/
/webhome3/

and user cyro's files are stored in

Code:

/webhome2/cyro/public_html

Other users are seperated into other webhome directories and it is impossible for me to change this configuration.

Is it somehow possible to convert the tilde links to non-tilde in my configuration?

Thanks a lot.

kbp · 01-07-2013, 06:37 AM

If the webhomes are not real unix home dirs then you should disable mod_homedir and use mod_rewrite to redirect requests to the appropriate location. You'll need to be able to programatically determine the relevant location so you can use a regex in the rewrite rule.

Cyrolancer · 01-07-2013, 07:10 AM

It is possible to use custom directories in mod_userdir configuration. That's how it is working right now. Now, I am trying convert tilde addresses to non-tilde addresses and completely disable mod_userdir.

There are some guides on the net, using RewriteMap etc. but generally they convert example.com/~cyro to cyro.example.com. In any case, I tried to make RewriteMap method work on directories and I got no result.

The guide I have found is here: https://lopsa.org/node/677

I managed to build a script that gets in the input from stdin and echoes the output. An example is below:

Code:

$> echo cyro | /etc/local/find-a-user
/webhome2/cyro

However, I couldn't make it. It just doesn't work as expected. I couldn't understand what I am doing wrong.

Additionally, I tried some other rules like:

Code:

RewriteRule /([a-z0-9]+) /$1 [R]

The DocumentRoot I use for my domain (without the tildes) is /home/web/public_html. The above rule does not work, I think due to having no physical location like /home/web/public_html/cyro.

I have stuck at this point. Do you have any ideas?

kbp · 01-07-2013, 03:47 PM

You don't need to redirect, you can just rewrite what the user sees in the location if you want.

Cyrolancer · 01-07-2013, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kbp

You don't need to redirect, you can just rewrite what the user sees in the location if you want.

That's the exact point that I stuck at.

Cyrolancer · 01-07-2013, 09:17 PM

Oops! Double post. Sorry about that.

kbp · 01-08-2013, 06:00 AM

Have a read of the doco, let us know if you still can't get it working

Cyrolancer · 01-08-2013, 06:03 AM

I have already read the docs, but I think I should have some Apache logs and done a small addition to my "find-a-user" script. I will post the results.

Thanks

Cyrolancer · 01-09-2013, 02:42 AM

Hello again,

I couldn't make it

Let me give some info about my config and logs.

vhost file:

Code:

....
....
DocumentRoot /home/web/public_html
....
....
RewriteEngine on

RewriteMap users prg:/etc/apache2/sites-available/find-a-user

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# Preserve tilde addresses
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/~
# Preseve direct domain access
RewriteCond (${users:$1}) !NULL
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ ${users:$1}/public_html

Apache sends a request to find-a-user script like this: /cyro/

And my script converts it into: /webhome2/cyro

Apache error.log

Code:

[Wed Jan 09 10:26:24 2013] [notice] caught SIGTERM, shutting down
[Wed Jan 09 10:26:24 2013] [warn] mod_rewrite: Running external rewrite maps without defining a RewriteLock is DANGEROUS!
[Wed Jan 09 10:26:24 2013] [notice] Apache/2.2.16 (Debian) configured -- resuming normal operations

I am going to define RewriteLock file, after I make it run.

RewriteLog file:

Code:

X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:23 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7682a20/initial] (5) map lookup OK: map=users key=/cyro/ -> val=/webhome2/cyro
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:23 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7682a20/initial] (2) rewrite '/cyro/' -> '/webhome2/cyro/public_html'
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:23 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7682a20/initial] (2) local path result: /webhome2/cyro/public_html
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:23 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7682a20/initial] (1) go-ahead with /webhome2/cyro/public_html [OK]
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:24 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7688a50/subreq] (2) init rewrite engine with requested uri /cyro/index.html
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:24 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7688a50/subreq] (3) applying pattern '^(.*)$' to uri '/cyro/index.html'
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:24 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7688a50/subreq] (4) RewriteCond: input='/cyro/index.html' pattern='!-f' => matched
X.X.X.X - - [09/Jan/2013:10:27:24 +0200] [example.com/sid#7f7dd7630708][rid#7f7dd7688a50/subreq] (4) RewriteCond: input='/cyro/index.html' pattern='!^/~' => matched

I still couldn't make it work. I call http://example.com/cyro from the browser and it keeps waiting. After I reload Apache, I get 403 error.

I think this is a permissions problem, but I still don't know how to solve it, what permissions I should give.

kbp · 01-09-2013, 02:55 AM

I'll have a play and get back to you

Cyrolancer · 01-09-2013, 03:03 AM

Thank you

Waiting your for your answer.

Cyrolancer · 01-09-2013, 04:25 AM

Hello again,

I have solved the problem finally. The "find-a-user" script is the main cause of the problem. I have integrated it in a different way and the problem seems solved. This script is specific to my needs and I don't want to share it. Sharing such a script will be a security problem but if somebody has a problem in implementing such a system, I will gladly help.

Thank you for your help and support kbp.