ikiwiki/ tips/ htaccess file

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 says:

> In general, you should never use .htaccess files unless you don't have access to the main server configuration file.