Php – Apache2: 400 Bad Request with Rewrite Rules, nothing in error log

apache-2.2loggingmod-rewritePHP

This is driving me nuts.

Background: I'm using the built-in Apache2 & PHP that comes with Mac OS X 10.6

I have a vhost setup as follows:

NameVirtualHost *:81

<Directory "/Users/neezer/Sites/">
    Options Indexes MultiViews
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

<VirtualHost *:81>
    ServerName lobster.dev
    ServerAlias *.lobster.dev
    DocumentRoot /Users/neezer/Sites/lobster/www

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond $1 !^(index\.php|resources|robots\.txt)
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L,QSA]

    LogLevel debug
    ErrorLog /private/var/log/apache2/lobster_error
</VirtualHost>

This is in /private/etc/apache2/users/neezer.conf.

My code in the lobster project is PHP with the CodeIgniter framework. Trying to load http://lobster.dev:81/ gives me:

400 Bad Request

Normally, I'd go check my logs to see what caused it, yet my logs are empty! I looked in both /private/var/log/apache2/error_log and /private/var/log/apache2/lobster_error, and neither records ANY message relating to the 400. I have LogLevel set to debug in /private/etc/apache2/http.conf.

Removing the rewrite rules gets rid of the error, but these same rules work on my MAMP host. I've double-checked and rewrite_module is loaded in my default Apache installation. My http.conf can be found here: https://gist.github.com/1057091

What gives? Let me know if you need any additional info.

NOTE: I do NOT want to add the rewrite rules to .htaccess in the project directory (it's checked into a git repo and I don't want to touch it).

Best Answer

For complicated mod_rewrite rules, it's a good idea to log the sequence of events to see what's happening. Do this using RewriteLog, and crank up the RewriteLogLevel to see the details.

mod_rewrite is very flexible and one can do many things with the rewrite rules, and is also quite complicated. An outsider will have trouble debugging your rules without seeing the broader context. The best thing you can do debug it on your own. Watch the logs in one window while you experiment with configuration changes in a second window. Make a small change, save the file, reload apache and hit the URL again. Repeat.

Here's a good description of RewriteLog from the Apache manual:

Rewrite Log

When using the powerful and complex features of mod_rewrite, it is almost always necessary to use the RewriteLog to help in debugging. This log file produces a detailed analysis of how the rewriting engine transforms requests. The level of detail is controlled by the RewriteLogLevel directive.

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