Textpattern CMS

#1 2013-03-22 22:01:08

uli

Moderator

From: Cologne

Registered: 2006-08-15

Posts: 4,306

The dot problem in ".htaccess"

We’ve a lot of questions on the forum about links not working, “not found on this server”, 404s, caused – on at least all Mac OS’ – by the invisibility of the .htaccess files that people can’t copy over to their server by hand. I assume that’s just the tip of the iceberg, and the amount of users turning their back on Textpattern right at the beginning because of “Textpattern not working properly” will be even bigger than the number of people asking for help on the forum.

In order to reverse that, could the installation/setup process be made to rename a file from “htaccess” (visible on Macs) to “.htaccess”?

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#2 2013-03-23 02:02:58

phiw13

Plugin Author

From: Japan

Registered: 2004-02-27

Posts: 3,196

Website

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

uli wrote:

In order to reverse that, could the installation/setup process be made to rename a file from “htaccess” (visible on Macs) to “.htaccess”?

No objection by itself to do that.
But as far as I know, all FTP clients on OS X do show dot files in their ‘local’ panes (and their ‘server’ panes). Of course if people drag-and-drop from the Finder directly, they won’t see the htaccess file (or if they install Textpattern locally).

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#3 2013-03-23 07:37:29

philwareham

Core designer

From: Haslemere, Surrey, UK

Registered: 2009-06-11

Posts: 3,564

Website GitHub Mastodon

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

I think an update to the readme file is all that is needed.

#4 2013-03-23 08:21:40

philwareham

Core designer

From: Haslemere, Surrey, UK

Registered: 2009-06-11

Posts: 3,564

Website GitHub Mastodon

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

Note added in r5441

#5 2013-03-23 10:38:48

gaekwad

Server grease monkey

From: People's Republic of Cornwall

Registered: 2005-11-19

Posts: 4,263

GitHub

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

phiw13 wrote:

But as far as I know, all FTP clients on OS X do show dot files in their ‘local’ panes (and their ‘server’ panes).

They can show invisible (dot) files, but quite often they’re disabled by default. I use Transmit and Coda, and from memory they both have invisible files turned off by default.

Last edited by gaekwad (2013-03-31 15:47:24)

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#6 2013-03-23 16:29:37

bici

Member

From: vancouver

Registered: 2004-02-24

Posts: 2,092

Website Mastodon

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

philwareham wrote:

I think an update to the readme file is all that is needed.

agreed. the documentation area is where this is issue is best addressed.

p.s. this issue is not unique to Textpattern.

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#7 2013-03-24 14:59:12

merz1

Member

From: Hamburg

Registered: 2006-05-04

Posts: 994

Website

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

philwareham wrote:

Note added in r5441

Good. But why not also add a link to the repository/wiki?

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#8 2013-03-29 16:48:15

uli

Moderator

From: Cologne

Registered: 2006-08-15

Posts: 4,306

Re: The dot problem in ".htaccess"

Sorry for the delayed response, I’m substituting my two bosses ATM, no time left for the forum.

philwareham wrote:

I think an update to the readme file is all that is needed.

Thanks for adding a note there, Phil, it will make many conscious of the issue.

Yet I think that laymen tending to use only the tools and methods they know already (Finder and drag’n‘drop) should not be given an unintuitive application like Terminal. When I find a little time I’ll see if I can work out a method that’s easier to acomplish.

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_{In bad weather I never leave home without wet_plugout, smd_where_used and adi_form_links}