mod rewrite - How to debug Apache mod_rewrite

Question

I have two main problems with mod_rewrite:

1. There is no meaningful error reported when I have an invalid rule

   

2. To reliably test each modification, I have to erase Google Chrome's cache. This isn't rocket science, but I have to hit Ctrl + Shift + Delete, click OK, and close the window, and reload.

I'd like to see if any of the gurus are willing to share their secrets to efficiently managing mod_rewrite code.

Answer 1

One trick is to turn on the rewrite log. To turn it on, try this line in your Apache HTTP Server main configuration or current virtual host file (not in .htaccess):

LogLevel alert rewrite:trace6

Before Apache httpd 2.4 mod_rewrite, such a per-module logging configuration did not exist yet. Instead you could use the following logging settings:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteLog "/var/log/apache2/rewrite.log"
RewriteLogLevel 3