various ramblings

-- justin kelly

.htaccess and Apache VirtualDocumentRoot

If you using VirtualDocumentRoot in your Apache set you need to make a minor change to your .htaccess rewrites to make them work 
- just add a slash before the url and it'll work 

refer below

from: 
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^/?([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)-([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)$ index.php?module=$1&view=$2 [L]

to: 
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^/?([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)-([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)$ /index.php?module=$1&view=$2 [L]

How to create a self signed ssl cert with no passphrase for your test server

$openssl genrsa -out server.key 1024


Generating RSA private key, 1024 bit long modulus
..........................++++++
..................................................................................++++++
e is 65537 (0x10001) 

$openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr

You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:
Locality Name (eg, city) []:
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:
Email Address []:

Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:
An optional company name []: 

$openssl x509 -req -days 366 -in server.csr -signkey server.key 
-out server.crt

Signature ok
subject=/C=AU/ST=Some-State/O=Internet Widgits Pty Ltd
Getting Private key 

$ls

server.crt
server.csr
server.key
server.pem

Now add the below lines into your apache conf and ensure ssl is enabled 

 
SSLCertificateFile /path/to/ssl/server.crt 
SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/ssl/server.key

dropbox as an apache folder

Create an apache config file for dropbox 

sudo vi /etc/http/conf.d/dropbox.conf

paste in the below code - replacing 'username' with your user 
 Alias /dropbox /home/username/Dropbox/htdocs 
<Directory /home/username/Dropbox/htdocs/>
   order allow,deny
   allow from all
   #Deny from all
   allow from 127.0.0.1
</Directory>

Create a htdocs folder in your dropbox directory 
 
mkdir /home/username/Dropbox/htdocs 
 
Allow Apache access to your home dir 
 
chmod 755 /home/username 
chmod 755 /home/username/Dropbox 
chmod 755 /home/username/Dropbox/htdocs 

Reload the Apache conf
sudo /etc/init.d/httpd reload

Done, now http://localhost/dropbox is stored in dropbox