ikiwiki/doc/tips/htaccess_file.mdwn

[[!meta date="2010-03-14 14:58:13 -0400"]]

If you try to include a `.htaccess` file in your wiki's source, in order to
configure the web server, you'll find that ikiwiki excludes it from
processing. In fact, ikiwiki excludes any file starting with a dot, as well
as a lot of other files, for good security reasons.

You can tell ikiwiki not to exclude the .htaccess file by adding this to
your setup file:

	include => '^\.htaccess$',

Caution! Before you do that, please think for a minute about who can edit
your wiki. Are attachment uploads enabled? Can users commit changes
directly to the version control system? Do you trust everyone who can
make a change to not do Bad Things with the htaccess file? Do you trust
everyone who *might* be able to make a change in the future? Note that a
determined attacker who can write to the htaccess file can probably get a
shell on your web server.

If any of these questions have given you pause, I suggest you find a
different way to configure the web server. One way is to not put the
`.htaccess` file under ikiwiki's control, and just manually install it
in the destdir. --[[Joey]]

[Apache's documentation](http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/htaccess.html)
says:
> In general, you should never use .htaccess files unless you don't have
> access to the main server configuration file.