Need Help With WordPress .htaccess | URL Re-Writing

[apondonet]

I have Wordpress installation (Ver. 2.0.1) that's been giving me headaches the last few days.

Here is what's happening:

In the admin panel I have set the permalink options (OPTIONS --> PERMALINK --> ) to the "Date and name based" option in the options list. My URLS are re-written to look like this: /blog/wordpress/index.php/2006/05/14/sample-post/

All URLs seem to work OK despite the fact that wordpress does not update the .htaccess file in installation root: /wordpress/ -- the .htaccess remains blank even when CHMODED to 777.

While the URLs seem to work fine the RSS FEED URLs generated for the MAIN FEED & COMMENTS are blank when viewed in a browser or a feed aggregator. Here is the feed format: /blog/wordpress/index.php/feed/ .

The same format appears in the the automatically generated AUTO-DISCOVERY tags, meaning the search engines are essentially picking nothing.

What heck is happening here?

Note: The default RSS feed URLs work fine:

Main Feed: /blog/wordpress/?feed=rss2
Comments Feed: /blog/wordpress/?feed=comments-rss2

 

[Teli]

Actually, the permalink structure you're using doesn't require .htaccess rewrite rules (that's why it's still blank). This structure previously caused problems in WP 1.2.x & 1.5.x, but it's much more rare with 2.0.x, so there may be other factors at play.

Without a URL to play with, it is more difficult to figure out what the specific problem for your website is. I would suggest changing the permalink structure to something else (removing the index.php portion) to see if it still gives you the same error. Be forewarned that you will need to update the .htaccess file for the new structure.

If the feeds start working, then you'll know it's a problem using index.php and if not, it may be a feed specific problem or even a problem with your content.

~ Teli

 

[apondonet]

Teli:

Thanks for your quick answer!

Do you have any sample .htaccess code I could play around with.

 

[Teli]

WordPress will create the .htaccess code for your automatically. Simply make sure your .htaccess file isn't writable, change your permalink structure in WP and it will spit out some code for you, copy it to notepad, and change your permalink structure back.

Instant .htaccess sandbox code - and it will be specific to your site.

~ Teli

By the way, do you have a name apondonet? Normally, I don't mind calling someone by their username, but it just seems strange...

 

[apondonet]

Call me James

 

[Teli]

Hi James, pleasure to meet ya

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Teli for jumping right in.

James Teli is the WP guru in case you couldn't tell.

Moved this to the RSS forum and out of the affilaite forum just to keep things more organzied by topic.

 

[apondonet]

Teli:

I did exactly as you said and selected the Custom structure: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/ in Admin

WordPress spit out the following code for .htaccess:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /blog/wordpress/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /blog/wordpress/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

The URLs still have 'index.php' in them for example:
/blog/wordpress/index.php/category/marketing/
/blog/wordpress/index.php/2006/05/14/website-update-05-14-2006/

How do I remove the index.php in the URL?

Also, all other URLs work fine except the Main RSS URLs which still are in the format:
/blog/wordpress/feed/
/blog/wordpress/comments/feed/

...and do not work. I guess they are re-written incorrectly. I believe the fix is a code snippet for .htaccess

The odd thing is that the Category feeds which are in the same format: /blog/wordpress/category/marketing/feed/ work fine!!

Any ideas?

 

[apondonet]

Miracle!

I added a comment to one of the posts and booom.... everything fixed itself: The "index.php" has disappeared from the URLs and the feeds are now working fine.

How this happened beats me. I am just glad everything is working OK now.

Thanks for your help Teli. I will get back to you if I experience any more problems.

What a relief!

 

[apondonet]

Here is one for you Teli:

After clicking the SAVE button when posting I get a blank page with post.php at the end of the URL.

This seems to be a widespread problem and I haven't been able to solve it.

Any ideas?

 

[apondonet]

Here is one for you Teli:

After clicking the SAVE button when posting I get a blank page with post.php at the end of the URL.

This seems to be a widespread problem and I haven't been able to solve it.

Any ideas?

Still waiting for an answer on this one. Haven't found a solution yet!

 

[Teli]

Actually, there isn't a simple solution as the problem has been linked to a number of things including the ping list you have set up. If one of the sites isn't responding properly, it could cause the post script to choke. It could also be server settings, which could cause the post script to choke, and it could also be the content within the post which is causing the post script to choke.

I would recommend deleting all the websites in your ping list and try posting again. If the entry publishes without a problem, chances are it's a website in the ping list or the ping list was just too long to begin with.

If the problem still occurs, try altering the post content to see if that may be the problem. And if that still doesn't help, chances are that it's a server issue.

Hope that gets you in the right direction,
~ Teli

 

[StephenR]

Teli is absolutely correct James. Nowadays there's really no reason IMHO to have an extensive list of ping directories. You can still test it but there are only a handful of authority ping sites you need to be concerned about.

HEADS UP for all of you WordPress users. You may want to consider coverting your feeds to the Feedburner format. You can accomplish this by downloading the WordPress Feedburner Plugin. This plugin is stable and I use it on all my WP blogs.

 

[apondonet]

That seems to be the problem. Quite accurately diagnosed. Thank you very much Teli and co.

Question:

Which of these do you regard as authority ping sites. Note - The default for WordPress is - http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

Here is the list:

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping.php
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc/
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://pingqueue.com/rpc/
http://ping.blogg.de/
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.britblog.com/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://rpc.wpkeys.com/
http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx
http://signup.alerts.msn.com/alerts-PREP/submitPingExtended.doz
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://www.imblogs.net/ping/
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://www.rssfwd.com/xmlrpc/api
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

 

[StephenR]

If you want to knock out all the major directories in one shot take a look at the following XML-RPC sites compiled by Robin Good from MasterNewMedia. I didn't re-check all these so some may now be obsolete.

The URLs between parentheses are not regular hyperlinks, but addresses of the respective ping services belonging to each directory.


Blo.gs (service URL: http://ping.blo.gs/) - verified

Weblogs (service URL: http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2) - ambiguous results

FeedBurner has a service called PingShot. With this service, FeedBurner automatically pings the services every time you add a new entry. It requires using FeedBurner for your feeds.

Technorati (service URL: http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping) - verified
Technorati Ping Configurations - Detailed instructions

MyYahoo! (service URL: http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping) - not found

BlogChatter (service URL: http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php) - not clear how this is supposed to work (site and link not working at last check)

PubSub (service URL: http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/) - not updated

BlogDigger (service URL: http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2)- unverified

Feedster (service URL: http://api.feedster.com/ping.php) - requires feed to be manually submitted first; not yet verified

BlogRolling (service URL: http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/) - not updated

BlogStreet (service URL: http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi) requires one-time manual blog URL submission

Moreover (service URL: http://api.moreover.com/ping) - not yet verified

Weblogalot (service URL: http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php) - not yet verified

IceRocket (service URL: http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/) - not yet verified

TopicExchange (service URL: http://topicexchange.com/RPC2) - not yet verified

BlogShares (service URL: http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php) retrieves its data from weblogs.com; requires one-time manual submission not yet verified

NewsIsFree (service URL: http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php3) not yet verified

Blog Buzz Machine (service URL: http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2) not verified