Can I mod rewrite to a different document root?

Question

Given a URL:

http://example.com/some-file.zip

The document root for example.com is /var/www/example.com/

I want apache to:

If /var/www/example.com/some-file.zip exists, serve it.
If /var/www/example.com/some-file.zip doesn't exist, check /var/www/shared/some-file.zip
If /var/www/shared/some-file.zip doesn't exist, send a 404

Is this possible?

I've looked in to the Alias directive, but I think this will require me to have something in the URI indicating where the resource is.

This would be pretty trivial with nginx's `try_files`. Ever considered switching? — Michael Hampton, Jun 02 '13 at 20:50
Thanks Michael, you just convinced me to switch. Do you have any links regarding the triviality of a setup like this? — jshawl, Jun 03 '13 at 00:06

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 02 '13 at 20:45

6

For files outside the DocumentRoot, check out the aptly named documentation section on "Files Outside the DocumentRoot" -- you're looking at creating an Alias, and you may be able to do it without a redirect.

answered Jun 02 '13 at 20:45

KM.

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I think this is on the right track.. but it will require me to have some indicator of the resource in the URI.. e.g. I can't just alias "/" – jshawl Jun 03 '13 at 00:34

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 02 '13 at 17:18

3

RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}$1 !-f
RewriteRule (.*) /var/www/shared$1 [last]

answered Jun 02 '13 at 17:18

200_success

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core:error "The given path was above the root path" – tim Jun 16 '20 at 00:32
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This directive is to be used in a _server_ or _virtualhost_ context, not `.htaccess` (or other _directory_ context). However, you'll still need to grant access to `/var/www/shared` in the server config, if not already. @tim – MrWhite Dec 12 '20 at 01:01
this works only for apache – gdm Jan 21 '21 at 16:25

Can I mod rewrite to a different document root?

2 Answers2