From: Rich Bowen <rbowen@apache.org>
Date: Sun, 17 May 2026 22:30:48 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: rewrite docs: Add warning box for leading-slash patterns in .htaccess, add section... 
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/gitweb/index.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=f7d50a0c848456f47a5fcfcbfdab09e25104d00b;p=thirdparty%2Fapache%2Fhttpd.git

rewrite docs: Add warning box for leading-slash patterns in .htaccess, add section on 301 browser caching

git-svn-id: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/httpd/httpd/trunk@1934325 13f79535-47bb-0310-9956-ffa450edef68
---

diff --git a/docs/manual/rewrite/htaccess.xml b/docs/manual/rewrite/htaccess.xml
index 02ddd88340..143ed3fae7 100644
--- a/docs/manual/rewrite/htaccess.xml
+++ b/docs/manual/rewrite/htaccess.xml
@@ -132,12 +132,16 @@ mechanism is also why rules can loop &mdash; see
 <a href="#loops">below</a>.</p>
 
 
+<note type="warning"><title>Do not start .htaccess patterns with /</title>
 <p>Because the directory prefix (including the trailing
 slash) is stripped before matching, patterns in
 <glossary ref="perdirectory">per-directory context</glossary>
 will <em>never</em> match a leading slash. A pattern
 beginning with <code>^/</code> will never match in this
-context.</p>
+context. A rule like <code>RewriteRule "^/foo" ...</code> will
+silently fail to match anything when placed in a
+<code>.htaccess</code> file.</p>
+</note>
 
 <p>If you need to match against the full original
 URL-path (including the directory prefix), use
@@ -384,4 +388,28 @@ performance.</note>
 
 </section>
 
+<section id="caching"><title>Browser caching of 301 redirects</title>
+
+<p>When you issue a <code>301 Moved Permanently</code> redirect
+(via <code>[R=301]</code> or <directive module="mod_alias"
+>Redirect permanent</directive>), the browser is allowed to cache
+that response indefinitely. This means that even after you fix an
+incorrect redirect rule in your configuration, returning visitors
+may continue to be sent to the old (wrong) destination without
+ever contacting your server again.</p>
+
+<p>While debugging redirect rules, use <code>[R=302]</code>
+(temporary redirect) instead of <code>[R=301]</code>. Switch to 301
+only after you have confirmed the rule is correct. If you have
+already issued an incorrect 301, affected users will need to clear
+their browser cache (or use a private/incognito window) to see
+the corrected behavior.</p>
+
+<note>Search engines also cache 301 redirects. An incorrect 301
+may take days or weeks to be re-crawled, even after the
+configuration is fixed. This is another reason to test with 302
+first.</note>
+
+</section>
+
 </manualpage>