For those of us running Apache, htaccess rewrite rules provide an excellent way to block spammers, scrapers, and other scumbags easily and effectively. While there are many htaccess tricks involving blocking domains, preventing access, and redirecting traffic, Apache’s mod_rewrite module enables us to target bad agents by testing the user-agent string against a predefined blacklist of unwanted visitors. Any matches are immediately and quietly denied access. There are many ways to obtain an effective htaccess blacklist. There [...] • Read more »
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Harvesting cPanel Raw Access Logs
Harvesting Raw Logs For those of us using cPanel as the control panel for our websites, a wealth of information is readily available via cPanel ‘Raw Access Logs’. These logs are perpetually updated with data involving user agents, IP addresses, HTTP activity, resource access, and a whole lot more. Here is a quick tutorial on accessing and interpreting your cPanel raw access logs. Part One: Grab ‘em To grab a copy of your raw access logs, log [...] • Read more »
Compressed JavaScript Compression
In this article, we extrapolate our favorite CSS-compression technique for JavaScript. Below, we outline the steps required to auto-compress your JavaScript documents via gzip and PHP. Two different compression methods are presented. The first method does not require htaccess, but rather involves the manual editing of JavaScript files. The second method employs htaccess to do all the work for you, thus requiring much less effort to implement. In either case, the result is the same: automatically compressed [...] • Read more »
Fast, Effective PHP Compression
PHP compression is an excellent method of conserving bandwidth and reducing client download times. We have already discussed an excellent method for CSS compression, and in this article we share a super-easy technique for compressing all PHP content without editing a single file. Using two PHP files and two corresponding lines of .htaccess, it is possible to compress your PHP files via gzip-encoding. Browsers and other user-agents capable of interpreting gz-encoded data will employ the compressed content, [...] • Read more »
Invite Only: Visitor Exclusivity via the Opt-In Method
Web developers trying to control comment-spam, bandwidth-theft, and content-scraping must choose between two fundamentally different approaches: selectively deny target offenders (the "blacklist" method) or selectively allow desirable agents (the "opt-in", or "whitelist" method). Currently popular according to various online forums and discussion boards is the blacklist method. The blacklist method requires the webmaster to create and maintain a working list of undesirable agents, usually blocking their access via htaccess or php. The downside of "blacklisting" is that [...] • Read more »
Roll your own Apache Rewrite Log
Roll your own Apache Rewrite log! Rocking your own rewrite log is super-helpful for testing .htaccess rewrite rules, WordPress permalinks, etc. For more information, check the source. 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 [...] • Read more »
Time Test
This post exists entirely for the sake of tweaking time functionality in Apache, PHP, SQL, and WordPress.. Immediate findings: Date/time limit into the past for WordPress: December 13, 1901 @ 15:45 WordPress will display December 13, 1901 @ 15:45 properly for all functions except wp_get_archives All dates prior to 12/13/1901 in MySQL will display as December 31, 1969 @ 19:00 in the WP Admin > Post Timestamp panel SQL timestamps of 0000-00-00 00:00:00 display as 0 via [...] • Read more »
Block Spam by Denying Access to No-Referrer Requests
What we have here is an excellent method for preventing a great deal of blog spam. With a few strategic lines placed in your htaccess file, you can prevent spambots from dropping spam bombs by denying access to all requests that do not originate from your domain. How does it work? Well, when a legitimate user (i.e., not a robot, etc.) decides to leave a comment on your blog, they have (hopefully) read the article for which [...] • Read more »
Stop Bitacle from Stealing Content
If you have yet to encounter the content-scraping site, bitacle.org, consider yourself lucky. The scum-sucking worm-holes at bitacle.org are well-known for literally (404 link removed 2013/03/28), blatantly, and piggishly stealing blog content and using it for financial gains through advertising. While I am not here to discuss the legal, philosophical, or technical ramifications of illegal bitacle behavior, I am here to provide a few critical tools that will help stop bitacle from stealing your content. The htaccess [...] • Read more »
Compressed CSS Compression
In this article, we discuss two practical methods for compressing CSS documents. • Read more »
Stupid htaccess Tricks Redux
One of our most popular posts, Stupid htaccess Tricks, has been completely rewritten and now includes almost twice as many stupid htaccess tricks. Plus, we have added a library of regex character definitions, more information for many of the directives, and several handy references. But wait, there’s more — we even threw in a “quick-jump” Table of Contents and a complete set of “up” [ ^ ] links for easy navigation. Utterly amazing! • Read more »
Website Attack Recovery
Recently, every website on our primary server was simultaneously attacked. The offending party indiscriminately replaced the contents of every index file, regardless of its extension or location, with a few vulgar lines of code, which indicated intention, identity, and influence. Apparently, the attack occurred via Germany, through a server at the University of Hamburg. This relatively minor attack resulted in several hours of valuable online education. In this article, it is our intention to share experience with [...] • Read more »
The htaccess Rules for all WordPress Permalinks
Update 2012/07/15 all code updated with the new .htaccess rules (changed in WP 3.0). The code in this article should work with all versions of WordPress. </update> I recently performed a series of tests on a fresh installation of WordPress 2.8.6 to determine the exact htaccess rewrite rules that WordPress writes to its htaccess file for various permalink configurations. Under the WP admin option menu, WordPress lists four choices for permalink structure: Default: http://perishablepress.com/press/?=123 Date and name [...] • Read more »
Permalink Enlightenment
I recently enabled the permalinks feature for a fresh WordPress 2.0.2 upgrade. The process required several hours of research and approximately 90 minutes to fully implement. This brief article summarizes the process and applies to at least the following setup: WordPress 2.0.2 Apache Server with mod_rewrite enabled The ability to access/modify your .htaccess file(s) You have decided to use the /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/ permalink format (actually, any format will work; simply swap your preferred format for the one mentioned [...] • Read more »
Stupid htaccess Tricks
Welcome to Perishable Press! This article, Stupid htaccess Tricks, covers just about every htaccess “trick” in the book, and is easily the site’s most popular offering. In addition to this htaccess article, you may also want to explore the rapidly expanding htaccess tag archive. Along with all things htaccess, Perishable Press also focuses on (X)HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, security, and just about every other aspect of web design, blogging, and online success. If these topics are of [...] • Read more »