R0b0t1
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Forum Tweak (Transmogrify Links)
Hello, posting to ask if it would be possible to change /talk/ to /whisper/ or vis versa automagically if connecting via the respective URL. I'm sure
it could be done, but not sure how much would need to be changed/written. Thanks if it could happen, though. Won't be killed if it can't 
Ta, R0b0t1.
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Polverone
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Do you mean that if you accidentally type in
http://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/post.php?action=reply&...
that you want to be transparently redirected to
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/post.php?action=reply&...
and vice versa?
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R0b0t1
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No, sorry I wasn't very clear, exactly. I wanted it to translate links embedded in posts to the respective forum you're currently viewing. Ex: I click
on a link that's /talk/, it brings me to /whisper/, if I am viewing from /whisper/.
EDIT: Actually, that might be what you mean. I just couldn't tell.
[Edited on 5-1-2010 by R0b0t1]
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Polverone
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I think that should be possible with the Apache rewrite module, by checking the referrer and rewriting the link if the destination appears to be a
forum URL, the referrer appears to be a forum URL, and there is a mismatch between the two (talk going to whisper or whisper going to talk).
If there's anyone more familiar with the rewrite module than I am who wants to take a crack at the problem, I'll try rules you can come up with.
Otherwise a fix may be slow in coming, because rewrite rules make my eyes glaze over and I have so far avoided learning to use the module.
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R0b0t1
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Hm, I was thinking you'd do it with the forum software (I would think it would be easier than an Apache module), but if that's the way that stands out
to you, I might look it up, later...
Besides saying "omgz apache sux", I'll be on my way. Maybe someone else can get something working?
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watson.fawkes
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Quote: Originally posted by Polverone  | | I think that should be possible with the Apache rewrite module, by checking the referrer and rewriting the link if the destination appears to be a
forum URL, the referrer appears to be a forum URL, and there is a mismatch between the two (talk going to whisper or whisper going to talk).
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That should work, but I'm completely with you about the eyes-glazing-over problem with rewrite rules.
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turd
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You mean something as blunt as:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} https://(www\.)?sciencemadness\.org/.*
RewriteRule /talk/(.*) https://hostname.goes.here/whisper/$1 [R,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} http://(www\.)?sciencemadness\.org/.*
RewriteRule /whisper/(.*) http://hostname.goes.here/talk/$1 [R,L]
??
(Untested since I have no webserver - will need some tweaking)
Wouldn't solve the problem that when using https:// for "security" by the time you are getting the redirect the URL has been sent plaintext.
BTW: For some weird reason the board sets the "security-flag" only for two out of five cookies. (The password and the username cookie).
Edit: need '\' before '.' of course..
Edit: and '?' instead of '+', sheesh...
[Edited on 5-1-2010 by turd]
[Edited on 5-1-2010 by turd]
[Edited on 5-1-2010 by turd]
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Polverone
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The forum software cannot handle this. If anything, it will be Apache that handles this. Thanks for that starting point for rewrite rules, turd.
A few years ago you could access https://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/ or http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/ with equal ease. That stopped one or two XMB software upgrades ago. The problem is that part of XMB's
configuration requires an absolute path to the forum root, and a path starting with https is different from one starting with https. I asked the XMB
developers why my old setup worked with the older forum software and they said it was a mistake that it had ever worked with https and http both going
to talk. So I configured an almost-identical copy of the XMB software for the https site, with the only difference that the directory used is
'whisper' instead of 'talk' with the configuration file changed accordingly.
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Polverone
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no success so far
I started out with a single rule, for the whisper-origin version of the problem. I enabled the rewrite module and added these directives to the
top-level .htaccess in /var/www/:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} https://(www\.)?sciencemadness\.org/.*
RewriteRule http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/(.*) https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/$1 [R,L]
It does not seem to do anything. I always browse the https site, but clicking on links that go to /talk/ still sends me to /talk/. I tested a very
simple rewrite rule and it worked, so I think the module is running. I just have not given it the proper incantation to fix up the forum URLs.
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turd
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Ho hum... I had a look at the "wonderful" documentation.
This:
--- RewriteRule http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/(.*) https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/$1 [R,L]
is definitely wrong. At this point there is no hostname anymore. It should read somehow like this:
--- RewriteRule ^/talk/(.*) https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/$1 [R,L]
The caret means only match at the start - you probably don't want to rewrite any URL with a "/talk/" inside.
As to the RewriteCond line, in principle it looks correct, unless I'm missing something that is. It could be optimized by a caret and a [NC], meaning
case insensitive:
--- RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^https://(www\.)?sciencemadness\.org/.* [NC]
In any case, maybe try it without the RewriteCond. Then it should rewrite the /talk/ links every time, but at least it will be clear which one (if not
both) of the two lines is problematic.
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Polverone
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Thanks for your continuing help. I first commented out the RewriteCond. Links are still not rewritten. Then I replaced the existing RewriteRule with:
RewriteRule ^/talk/(.*) https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/$1 [R,L]
When I clicked on /talk/ links they were still not rewritten. I thought the rules themselves would not be too different from RedirectMatch commands,
which I am using without trouble, but so far I have no luck.
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turd
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Sorry, then I don't know what the problem is.  It does looks ok. Maybe it clashes
with other RewriteRules or is transformed before it reaches the RewriteRules?
The only last idea I have is to turn on RewriteRule debugging:
RewriteLog "/path/to/some/writeable/directory/rewrite_debug.log"
RewriteLogLevel 3
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