Topic: help with accept-ranges

[Doug22]

I'd like to test out putting a damper on serving out partial content. I know this involves doing something like

accept-ranges none

but I frankly don't know where to put that command line! Can I put it in my .htaccess, or does it have to go in my http.conf? This is with 1.1.33.

When I've put that line in my http.conf, even as

Header set Accept-Ranges none

my server won't boot the Apache server. It doesn't like it.

When I put it in .htaccess, and look at my Response Header, it reports that my site is dead.

Aargh. I think I need some very specific instructions!

[glsmith]

As in Apache 1.1.33? What is that, from 1986? I don't think you even have the option with 1.x.

Starting with 2.0 (which is still at end of life) you do have the MaxRanges directive.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#maxranges

Looking at the context of the directive, it tells us it can be used server wide, per virualhost or in a directory container. it is not allowed in a .htaccess file.

[Doug22]

1.3.33 is actually from 2003, on a Mac that is being used as a dedicated server, and can't be upgraded past 10.3. Works great as a server, except for that.

If indeed it is possible to do it in 2.0, you still didn't tell me where to put it, though it's interesting to know that it can't be in .htaccess.

Maybe you're saying that I had the right command in httpd.conf, but 1.3.33 doesn't know what to do with it?

[glsmith]

The directive is MaxRanges and yes, 1.3.33 would fail to start because it doesn't know what that directive is.

If you can go 2.0, you may as well go 2.2, or better yet 2.4.

When looking at the Docs, the "Context" in the box below the directive tells you where it can go.

server config = anywhere in httpd.conf outside of <VirtualHost> or <Directory> containers.

virtual host = inside a <VirtualHost> container.

directory = inside a <Directory> container.

htaccess = the directive may be places inside a .htaccess file. These will usually require a override which is then listed last on the next line in the box, if it's say FileInfo, then AllowOverride would need to have FileInfo listed.

AllowOverride FileInfo

[Doug22]

Thanks. Good to know.

But I'm not sure where that leaves the "accept-ranges" directive. Does "accept-ranges none" not do the job? Is that directive not permitted in 1.3?

[glsmith]

Well, if Header set doesn't work, what does the error log say about why it doesn't work?

Header set Accept-Ranges none

works for me in .htaccess on 2.4
AllowOverride must be set to FileInfo for the directory though.

[Danll]

[glsmith]

Well, in 1.3 mod_headers I see "Header" in the directives, line 165
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/httpd/httpd/branches/1.3.x/src/modules/standard/mod_headers.c?view=markup

So, is mod_headers loaded?

[Danll]

[James Blond]

with httpd -M

[Danll]

httpd -M doesn't work

httpd: illegal option -- M
Usage: httpd [-D name] [-d directory] [-f file]
[-C "directive"] [-c "directive"]
[-v] [-V] [-h] [-l] [-L] [-S] [-t] [-T] [-F]

But, we're making progress. I uncommented

LoadModule headers_module libexec/httpd/mod_headers.so

and

AddModule mod_headers.c

in my httpd.conf file, restarted Apache, and put

Header set Accept-Ranges none

in my .htaccess, and my Apache seems happy with that. So, um, how do I know it's really not accepting ranges now?

[glsmith]

Use something to send a request like Curl and see what the server sends back or if you have Firefox, install the Live HTTP Headers extension. It will show you all the headers the server sends back;

[Danll]

Sigh, did curl --head http://x.y.z.net

and got back

machine:~ danll$ curl --head http://x.y.z.net
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 20:12:19 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.33 (Darwin)
Last-Modified: Thu, 18 Aug 2009 18:21:44 GMT
ETag: "32771-7b0-4304d1b8"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 1968
Content-Type: text/html


No errors recorded.

And I also have a bunch of strings of 206 requests in my log. So I'm still missing something. It's still accepting ranges when I've asked it not to.

[glsmith]

Well, it's easy to build 1.3 so I gave it a go.

in .htaccess just using Header set I still got the "bytes" answer as you are observing, so I tried;

[Danll]

Hmmm. Well, each time I change my /etc/httpd/httpd.conf, I restart Apache. At least I think I do. My experience is that Apache reads that file only when it is starting up. The way I do it (on a Mac, again), is in SysPrefs to turn off Personal Web Sharing, and then turn it back on.

When I do this, after changing the httpd.conf file, and adding the Unset command into the .htaccess file I still get

Accept-Ranges: bytes
in response to the curl command.

Yes, I probably need to see if/how I can install Apache 2 in 10.3.9.

One other question. I'm a little confused about multiple .htaccess files. I have one in my /user/danll/Sites directory, that controls access to the websites in that Directory. There seems to be another one in /user/danll that I haven't been paying any attention to. What's that second one for? Should I have put

Header set Accept-Ranges none

in that second one as well?? How are the responsibilities of these two .htaccess files different?

[glsmith]

the .htaccess file in /user/danll will also affect what is in /user/danll/Sites.

the .htaccess in /user/danll/Sites will not affect anything in /user/danll.

see http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/configuring.html#htaccess

[Danll]

[glsmith]

A little trial and error should make this clear, but anything /user/danll/Sites/.htaccess should override what is in /user/danll/.htaccess as far as I know.

[Danll]

Many thanks. I very much appreciate your insights.