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Site Restoration

#11916 Kickstart restore to XAMPP Should handle htaccess files

Posted in ‘Site restoration’
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Environment Information

PHP version
n/a
CMS Type
Other
CMS Version
n/a
Backup Tool Version
n/a
Kickstart version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Tuesday, 10 April 2012 03:53 CDT

Monday, 09 April 2012 10:17 CDT

tabletguy
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Yup
Have I searched the tickets before posting? No
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yup
Joomla! version: 1.5.25
PHP version: 5.3.8
MySQL version: mysqlnd 5.0.8-dev
Host: XAMPP on Windows 7
Akeeba Backup version which took the backup: most recent for Joomla 1.5
Kickstart version used to extract the backup: 3.4.1

Description of my issue:

Suggestion. I'm "restoring" a live site to a local XAMPP copy. I decided to see what issues might come up under php 5.3 (for me), so I am using the 5.3.8 php version. I did modify the php.ini file as suggested (thanks!)

I want to suggest that you handle detection of an ".htaccess" file in a similar manner to your warning/detection of running under XAMPP. After installation, etc. I found that it only gives a 500 error, until I rename/remove the .htaccess file.

Similarly, when I read the suggested FAQ/Documentation pages (yes I did), although it mentioned the "500" error, it didn't suggest a possible solution of removing the .htaccess file.

Hope the above is clear

Stephan

Monday, 09 April 2012 11:15 CDT

nicholas
Hi Stephan,

Actually our post-restoration troubleshooting page does mention the cause and the solution:

ENABLING APACHE'S MOD_REWRITE



If you are restoring on a local host, you have to make sure that your server is loading the mod_rewrite module, otherwise you will most assuredly get a blank page or a 500 Internal Server Error.



If you are using WAMPserver on Windows you must note that mod_rewrite is not loaded by default. In order to enable it, you have to click on WAMPserver's tray icon, Apache, Modules and make sure that Rewrite is checked. If not, click on it and wait for the server to restart. This is required only the first time you restore to a WAMPserver installation and only if you have SEF URLs turned on and you are using Joomla!'s .htaccess file.



Other local servers, like XAMPP, also come with the mod_rewrite Apache module disabled. These servers require you to edit the httpd.conf or run other system commands. Please consult your server package's documentation for more information on enabling mod_rewrite.



Some live hosts also do not have Apache's mod_rewrite enabled. If trying to use Joomla!'s stock htaccess.txt renamed to .htaccess causes an immediate blank page or Internal Server Error 500 page on your site, please consult your host. We can not help you with that. It's all up to your host.


The reason I have the troubleshooting page instead of throwing a big, fat warning when restoring is that, simply put, XAMPP, WAMPServer and other local server packages do not advertise themselves to PHP. It's impossible to predict within any degree of certainty if it's a local server with mod_rewrite turned off :)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Monday, 09 April 2012 22:50 CDT

tabletguy
Well, that's embarrassing! I did read specifically about 500 errors. But I didn't see any reference to "local host", which is what I was scanning for. I must have been reading another page. Sometimes the dialog presents quite a few possible solution pages.

In my case at least, the php_info() shows a local drive letter for php.ini.

Also, mod_rewrite IS already enabled. It came that way, since this is a vanilla installation of latest xampp.

So, (just now) I looked at the Apache error log, which I should have done in the first place (except that the rename had "fixed" the problem and ...

Apache error log says:
[Tue Apr 10 09:08:54 2012] [alert] [client 127.0.0.1] F:/Xampp/htdocs/ahymsin/main/.htaccess: Invalid command 'ExpiresActive', perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration


So, just now, I turned on "expires" module and restarted Apache and that fixed it!
LoadModule expires_module modules/mod_expires.so





Wasn't suggesting you automatically do anything, but I had liked the previous warning where it suggested/asked if I was running a local WAMP/XAMPP and to change the php.ini file, etc.					


					
									


				

					
					
									

			

		

	


					

	

		
			
		

				
			Tuesday, 10 April 2012 02:38 CDT		

			

	

		

			

												

					
				

				
				
				

					

													nicholas											

									


				
				
				
				

	

					

				
				
			

							

				
				
			

			


			

						

				

					

						I think you haven't used Admin Tools to regenerate your .htaccess file over the last 8 months or more. It was about that time when I added an if-clause around the expiration code in the generated .htaccess to explicitly avoid this situation :)

					


					
											

							
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos


Lead Developer and Director


🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens 
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!
						

									


				

					
					
									

			

		

	


					

	

		
			
		

				
			Tuesday, 10 April 2012 03:38 CDT		

			

	

		

			

												

					
				

				
				
				

					

													tabletguy											

									


				
				
				
				

	

					


			

						

				

					

						Thanks. I never noticed that in release notes, but often I just update without checking. Just a thought (I'm lazy I know!), but when the update is applied, could the text of the release/change notes for that version be displayed as part of the installation success message? Or even just a link to the release notes?



Anyway, closing this ticket.



Again, thanks.					


					
									


				

					
					
									

			

		

	


					

	

		
			
		

				
			Tuesday, 10 April 2012 03:53 CDT		

			

	

		

			

												

					
				

				
				
				

					

													nicholas											

									


				
				
				
				

	

					

				
				
			

							

				
				
			

			


			

						

				

					

						Well, the release notes are always available in our RSS feed. I've tried many ways to push them, but it seems that RSS is by far the most convenient method. I'd suggest subscribing to the main page's RSS feed and check it out before updating. Joomla! 1.6/1.7 support is going to be dropped from all of our components in their upcoming releases. Starting August, we'll also stop supporting Joomla! 1.5. It's best to read the release announcements before updating to avoid any nasty surprises.

					


					
											

							
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos


Lead Developer and Director


🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens 
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!
						

									


				

					
					
									

			

		

	


			


	

		
	
			


					

				

			

			
					

	






	

		

			

			
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