Using .htaccess Files with Apache Page 4

If your .htaccess file contains directives that aren't covered by the current set of override categories, they won't cause an error -- the server will just ignore them. So your file can contain directives in any -- or all -- of the categories, and only those in the categories listed in the AllowOverride list will be processed. All of the others will be checked for syntax, but otherwise not interpreted.

Overrides: Limiting Which Directives Will Be Processed

Apache directives fall into seven different categories, and all can appear in the server-wide config files. Only five of the categories can be used in .htaccess files, though, and in order for Apache to accept a directive in a per-directory file, the settings for the directory must permit the directive's category to be overridden.

The five categories of directives are:

AuthConfig

This category is intended to be used to control directives that have to do with Web page security, such as the AuthName, Satisfy, and Require directives. This is the most common category to allow to be overridden, as it allows users to protect their own documents.

FileInfo

Directives that control how files are processed are

Indexes

Directives that affect file listings should be in this category. It includes IndexOptions, AddDescription, and DirectoryIndex, for example.

Limit

This category is similar to the AuthConfig one in that the directives it covers are typically related to security. However, they usually involve involuntary controls, such as controlling access by IP address. Directive in this category include Order, Allow, and Deny.

Options

The Options category is intended for directives that support miscellaneous options, such as ContentDigest, XBitHack, and Options itself.

A special directive, which is usable only in the server-wide configuration files, dictates which categories may be overridden in any particular directory tree. The AllowOverride directive accepts two special keywords in addition to the category names listed above:

All

This is a shorthand way of listing all of the categories; the two statements below are equivalent:

    
    AllowOverride AuthConfig FileInfo Indexes Limits Options
    AllowOverride All
    

None

This keyword totally disables the processing of .htaccess files for the specified directory and its descendants (unless another AllowOverride directive for a subdirectory is defined in the server config files). 'Disabled' means that Apache won't even look for .htaccess files, much less process them. This can result in a performance savings, and is why the default httpd.conf file includes such a directive for the top-level system directory. .htaccess processing is disabled for all directories by default by that directive, and is only selectively enabled for those trees where it makes sense.