I've got a problem with rewriting a URL to a fastcgi dispatcher. If I leave only:
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi/$1 [L,QSA]
I expected L (last rule) to cause only a single rewrite. Instead, it keeps prepending dispatch.fcgi until apache reports an error.
I know it can be fixed with:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi/$1 [L,QSA]
But what is the reason for multiple rewrites? Does L do something else than I think it does?
I know it's an old question, but to others searching for the REAL answer, here it is:
The [L] flag DOES work in .htaccess files. It tells the rewrite module to skip all of the following rules in that particular .htaccess file. It does its job, Apache rewrites the url and exits the .htaccess file.
However, at the end of the .htaccess file if the request url has been rewritten, the whole url matching process starts again with the new url.
This is what happens above, ^(.*)$ will always match the current url, it causes an infinite loop, only the maxredirect rewrite option (10 by default) stops it.
The !-f file attribute test (as mentioned by the questioner) would solve the problem, since the url will match a real filename:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi/$1 [L,QSA]
now, if we request http://example.com/toappend, .htaccess rewrites it to dispatch.fcgi/toappend and no rewrite loop will happen.
Hy , add this after RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} 200
RewriteRule .* - [L]
.. and it should work stoping loops .
Apparently -- and I only read this here, I have no first hand knowledge -- the [L] directive does not work in .htaccess files, only if its in your .conf file.
See: Hidden features of mod_rewrite
within the .htaccess context, [L] will not force mod_rewrite to stop. it will continue to trigger internal
Faced the same problem, and it turns out that the best solution in Apache 2.3.9+ is to use END flag instead of L as it prevents mod_rewrite from looping over rules.
