[OT] Debian mailinglists [was: RE: Debian or Ubuntu?]

[Les Mikesell]

Derek Broughton wrote:
>
>> What are the possible choices for RewriteRules or ProxyPass directives
>> in an apache config?  You can verify that server won't crash with some
>> contents you choose but not that it will actually function correctly or
>> at all.  There are any number of configuration options where the entries
>> are completely arbitrary.
> 
> You can't verify it any more if you hand-edit the file either.  So there's
> no advantage there using a text editor.  However, if you really want to to
> semantic validation too, this is a fine example - since I actually have had
> to do this recently :-)
> 
> I have an apache server that proxies a bunch of Plone servers.  The rewrite
> rules look like:
> 
> RewriteRule ^/cmb(.*) \
> http://localhost:9080/VirtualHostBase/http/www.DOMAIN:80/cmb$1 [L,P]
> 
> So the first thing I do after adding one of these is:
> # wget http://localhost:9080/VirtualHostBase/http/www.DOMAIN:80/cmb/
> # wget http://www.DOMAIN:80/cmb/
> 
> The first verifies that the rewrite target is valid, and the second verifies
> that the source is valid.  That would be easier to do in the config tool...

Except that (A) you'd have to write this mythical config tool first, (B) 
you'll find it impossible to describe in general how to construct the 
URL that tests your rule, and (C) the test target may not be ready or 
working at the time you want to add the rule.

By the way, if you like the idea of canned/programmed configs, you might 
  like SME server (http://www.contribs.org) which takes the concept 
about as far as anyone so far.  If you want an internet NAT gateway with 
firewalling, and/or smb/ftp/web/email servers you can have them by 
filling in simple forms - and it can do things like mapping different 
host/domain names to different virtual servers on the same box.  But if 
you want anything else you probably won't like it at all because the 
configs are mostly rewritten from templates and web form entries on any 
change.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com