Roll your own Apache Rewrite Log

Posted on November 28, 2006 in Function by Jeff Starr

Note to self: Here is the .htaccess code for creating an Apache Rewrite log. This is definitely helpful for testing .htaccess rewrite rules, permalinks, etc. Update: as jc points out in the comments section, Apache versions 2.2 or better no longer allow RewriteLog directives in htaccess files. For these versions, it is necessary to coordinate logging through the server configuration file or via virtual host. For more information, check the source. For pre-2.2 versions of Apache, continue reading to learn how to Roll your own Apache Rewrite Log!

via http.conf

Twist one up via the Apache configuration file by placing this code at the foot of your http.conf (remember to edit the path):

# Roll your own Rewrite log
# Log details via scale of 1 to 9
# 1 = few details, 5 = enough details, 9 = too much detail
RewriteEngine On
RewriteLog "/absolute/path/to/your/wwwroot/public_html/rewrite.log"
RewriteLogLevel 5

via htaccess

Roll one tuf via your site’s root .htaccess by placing this code at the end of the file (remember to edit the path):

Example

Here is an example indicating the type of data logged by the RewriteLog directive:

64.246.32.000 - [07/July/2007:07:07:07 - 0700] [example.com/sid#80077333][rid#800b7a33/initial] (2) init rewrite engine with requested uri /press/wp-comments-post.php
64.246.32.000 - [07/July/2007:07:07:07 - 0700] [example.com/sid#80077333][rid#800b7a33/initial] (2) rewrite /press/wp-comments-post.php -> http://64.246.32.000/
64.246.32.000 - [07/July/2007:07:07:07 - 0700] [example.com/sid#80077333][rid#800b7a33/initial] (2) explicitly forcing redirect with http://64.246.32.000/
64.246.32.000 - [07/July/2007:07:07:07 - 0700] [example.com/sid#80077333][rid#800b7a33/initial] (1) escaping http://64.246.32.000/ for redirect
64.246.32.000 - [07/July/2007:07:07:07 - 0700] [example.com/sid#80077333][rid#800b7a33/initial] (1) redirect to http://64.246.32.000/ [REDIRECT/301]

7 Responses

jc says:

April 30th, 2008 at 12:58 am

Don’t know which version of apache you use, but apache 2.2 does not allow rewritelog in .htaccess files.

Perishable says:

April 30th, 2008 at 7:59 am

Still using Apache 1.3.41 on a shared host, and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time — don’t know what I’d do without direct control over my Apache rewrite logs. Interesting indeed.. I wonder why Apache decided to make the change. Security or performance? In any case, I certainly appreciate you bringing this to my attention. I will update the article with a note explaining this information. Thank you, jc!